History VideoGame / Hitman2016

* ChekhovsGunman: Attending the IAGO auction is Andrea Martinez, one of the targets in ''Hitman 2's'' Columbia level.

* ClockTampering: 47 can mess with the grandfather clock in the house to help trigger a neurotic episode for Sean Rose (see SuperOCD below).

* SuperOCD: Sean Rose has a couple of compulsions. He requires that his watch be synchronized with his grandfather clock and that the pencils on his desk be arranged in a line. Messing with these will agitate him and he'll have a smoke to calm down. 47 can lace his cigarettes with hallucinogens, which will make him isolate himself. He'll also wash his hands in his bathroom, which can also be used to isolate him.

** If you tamper with [[spoiler: the Curator's mood-enhancing chip]], he becomes agitated and talks about "a place for everything and everything in its proper place". [[SuperOCD Sean Rose]] in Colorado says the same thing.

* AdaptationDistillation: The developers at IO Interactive have stated this is something they wanted to do for the game. They've downplayed the gonzo sci-fi elements of the previous games, gotten rid of all of the grindhouse elements of ''Videogame/HitmanAbsolution'', and generally made the game much more serious than previous instalments.

* CuttingOffTheBranches: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-lXfmWToIY Judging by the opening "Legacy" cinematic]], 47 canonically killed [[Videogame/Hitman2SilentAssassin Hayamoto Jr.]] by poisoning his sushi with fugu, garroted [[VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney Don Delgado]] while he was playing his cello, and shot [[Videogame/HitmanAbsolution Dom Osmond]] through a one-way mirror (albeit with a Silverballer, which 47 didn't have for that mission as Birdie had taken them). Oddly, he is shown drowning Fritz Fuchs, which is very difficult to pull off in the [[Videogame/HitmanCodename47 original game]], as the player had to wait for civilians to leave the area. Drowning him was a more viable option in ''VideoGame/HitmanContracts'', which was in a dream.

* DrivenToSuicide: While on his way to the church, Abiatti takes a photograph with a woman and proceeds to flirt with her. Her fiancé gets extremely upset and will throw himself off the pier if provoked.

** The main campaign of ''2016'' never mentions anything about a Cassandra Snow franchise or anything else Patient Zero related, and the developers did not go back to add any world building references into these missions, which made this campaigns' canonicity debatable (much like how the Elusive Targets had a similarly questionable canon status prior to ''Hitman 3''). This was rectified from ''Hitman 2'' onward, as their levels ''do'' contain minor references to this campaign; the above-mentioned Cassandra Snow novels get referenced many times.
** The timeline of the campaign itself, however, from what little info the game gives us, seems to take place directly after "Club 27" (and in the gap between that mission and "Freedom Fighters"). Given the urgent nature of the campaign, The Class' sound crew are still in the hotel, the two [=NPCs=] in the outside bar from "Club 27" are still there discussing the events of "A Gilded Cage" as if it were recent news, and a female NPC named Sujin Noppachorn will mention "that rockstar" and [[CuttingOffTheBranches the gassing of the hotel's atrium]] if one of the targets is killed in front of her, meaning Jordan is unambiguously dead, Diana doesn't yet recognise the compound in Colorado, and "Are We Stars" was released shortly after Jordan's death (it can be heard playing in Hokkaido).

* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The events of the campaign take place roughly within the same week. Diana considers the whole thing "an emergency", and we see 47 travelling the globe via plane, which further emphasizes this. Also the reason for the lack of starting locations and dead drops is due to the rush.

* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Bradley has a striking resemblance to Creator/MattSmith in his Series/DoctorWho attire, bowtie and all.

* [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer When All You Have Is A Sniper Rifle...]]: You can use your sniper shots to set up traps around the map, as well as to bait the targets to secluded locations.

* NeverHurtAnInnocent: Averted, big time. Your target carries a deadly virus and can spread it to others, who then spread it further. The mission requires 47 to stop the virus at the hospital, and anyone who carries the virus must be eliminated. It’s possible to prevent anyone from getting infected by Cage, allowing you to complete the mission without killing anyone innocent.

At the behest of a reclusive millionaire going under the codename "Locksley", the ICA contracts Agent 47 to dismantle a [[ApocalypseCult death cult]]'s plans for bioterrorism. Locksley provides evidence that the cult, named "Liberation", is going to attempt to use a bioweapon in Bangkok. Naturally, you have to put a stop to it by killing its leader, Oybek Nabazov, and his second-in-command, Sister Yulduz, at the Himmapan Hotel, where they are presenting an art exhibition as subterfuge. Hopefully, the consequences of this contract won't have ripple effects... [[TemptingFate right?]]

* NoNameGiven: Sister Yulduz's first name is completely unknown. Even the ICA are clueless.

[[MyDeathIsOnlyTheBeginning ...Yeah, about that.]] Turns out eliminating Nabazov activated a ring of sleeper agents around the world. This leads 47 to Sapienza in pursuit of two such sleeper agents: Craig Black, writer of the ''Cassandra Snow'' novels, as well as Brother Akram, a Liberation operative who carries the virus that Black wants to unleash onto his audience in Sapienza.

* DevelopersForesight: Shooting the bell itself will make it chime, forcing the two targets out of their current routine and making them meet up early. This isn't really that useful of a trick unless you're speedrunning the level for a specific kill.

* CallForward: To Colorado's "Freedom Fighters" mission in the main campaign, as Diana fails to recognise the paramilitary compound from said mission.

* DevelopersForesight: You can use any poison to ruin [[spoiler:Soders']] stem cells; sedative poison in particular appears nowhere on the level, and it has the same effect as lethal or emetic poisons for this opportunity.

This game, alongside ''VideoGame/{{Hitman 2}}'', is set to be de-listed on storefronts on January 26th, 2023, as ''Hitman 3'' was rebranded as ''Hitman - World of Assassination'', which imports these levels for free regardless of game ownership. The move was done to avoid customer confusion that had plagued the latter two games' life on getting these levels' DLC packs. No word on the servers being shut down, however.

This game, alongside ''VideoGame/{{Hitman 2}}'', is set to be de-listed on storefronts on January 26th, 2023, as ''VideoGame/Hitman 3'' was rebranded as "Hitman - World of Assassination", which imports these levels for free regardless of game ownership. The move was done to avoid customer confusion that had plagued the latter two games' life on getting these levels' DLC packs. No word on the servers being shut down, however.

The sequel, simply titled; ''VideoGame/{{Hitman 2}}'', was released on November 13th, 2018,[[note]]'''48 days''' from the end of 2018...[[/note]] with IO Interactive now having Warner Bros. as their publisher. On a related note, ''this entire game'' is available in Hitman 2 as DLC, named the "Hitman 2 Legacy Pack", available since launch day. Season 1/ GOTY edition owners get the DLC for free, which incorporates ''Hitman 2'''s new features into the first games' levels. A second sequel, ''VideoGame/Hitman3'', was released on January 20th, 2021, with the same deal as before--previous games available with the third game.

** One challenge requires you to knock out Marv with a brick three times, a reference to a similar scene from ''Film/HomeAlone2''.

* CuttingOffTheBranches: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-lXfmWToIY Judging by the opening "Legacy" cinematic]], 47 canonically killed [[Videogame/Hitman2SilentAssassin Hayamoto Jr.]] by poisoning his sushi with fugu, garroted [[VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney Don Delgado]] while he was playing his cello, and shot [[Videogame/HitmanAbsolution Dom Osmond]] through a one-way mirror (albeit with a Silverballer, which 47 didn't have for that mission as they'd been stolen). Oddly, he is shown drowning Fritz Fuchs, which is very difficult to pull off in the [[Videogame/HitmanCodename47 original game]], as the player had to wait for civilians to leave the area. Drowning him was a more viable option in ''VideoGame/HitmanContracts'', which was in a dream.

* SeriesContinuityError: As revealed in the "Legacy" cinematic, 47 killed [[Videogame/HitmanAbsolution Dom Osmond]] by shooting him through a one-way mirror, but with an unsilenced Silverballer, which is a little odd, as 47 doesn't have it for that mission (they had been stolen prior to that point, and a mission later on at the shooting range is all about getting them back).

** [[spoiler:Meta-subverted considering 47 ''is'' technically doing it for a revolution--the Shadow Client's revolution against Providence. Not that he knows or cares at this point, since the contract is legit.]]
* OhCrap: [[spoiler:The reaction of the Providence executives to the discovery that all of their files have been stolen.]]

* NobodyLovesTheBassist: Jordan's band features a guitarist, drummer, and vocalist, but lacks a bassist.

* PlayingWithFire: Nabazov puts his hands underneath fire during his ritual to show that he is the chosen one. One of the methods of killing him involves replacing his flame-retardant hand mixture with extremely flammable vodka.

* CausticCritic: One of the invitees to the book reading is Mike Vogt, who is purported to be one. He considers the writing in Cassandra Snow "dross and amateur" and he refuses to attend the book reading in protest, and just chats up a waitress at a nearby cafe instead.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Craig Black intends on using the virus to kill unaware fans of his book series at an upcoming "Cassie-con" book convention, simply because his other, more mature books have been completely overshadowed by "Cassandra Snow".

** Curiously, Salvatore Bravuomo is not allowed in the church hall's book reading, even if you manage to swipe an invite from someone else. It's not even a trespassing zone if you infiltrate manually, so him not being allowed in is a bit strange. The game gives no reasoning for this.

The ICA has managed to find the exact coordinates of the DeadMansSwitch Nabazov activated upon his death. This leads 47 to a paramilitary compound in the middle of Colorado, where he is tasked with killing Bradley Paine, a doctor and sleeper agent of Nabazov, as well as any infected mercenaries on the compound, in order to stop the spread of the virus.

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: 47 has to kill Owen Cage and all of those infected by the virus to contain it, and not just in the sense of "prevent them from leaving GAMA and spreading the virus"--Liebleid's notes in the mission state that killing the person stops the virus dead in its tracks. This would not work in real life, as a dead body can still be contagious, and spilling bodily fluids would be a good way to spread it further.

* MercyKill: 47 has to kill all the infected. The disease is fatal as it is, and given its effects on [[PatientZero Owen Cage]] (including TaintedVeins and being so delirious he can't even notice 47 no matter what he's doing), this is ultimately a more merciful way to go than letting the virus run its course.

* NeverHurtAnInnocent: Averted, big time. Your target carries a deadly virus and can spread it to others, who then spread it further. The mission requires 47 to stop the virus at the hospital, and anyone who carries the virus must be eliminated. It is possible to prevent anyone from getting infected by Cage, allowing you to complete the mission without killing anyone innocent.
* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackUp: There is only a single dose of the cure for the Nabazov virus, kept in a secure location in the Gama facilty. Its only gameplay purpose is so that 47 has a means to save himself if he gets infected with the virus.

* TheEndOrIsIt: In the ending cutscene, 47 points out it is highly unlikely that a simple [[ApocalypseCult death cult]] was able to attempt to pull off a global catastrophe all on its own, and must've had outside help from somewhere. In the next game, [[spoiler:[[https://i.imgur.com/1MgZ4Dl.png a manifesto of Nabazov's]] can be found in the Isle of Sgàil in The Keep, which heavily implies that either the Ark Society or Providence [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs (or perhaps both)]] were the ones responsible for the creation of the Nabazov Virus and its plans for a global pandemic.]]

* TheVirus: The Nabazov virus is a man-made virus that infects its host and anyone nearby via breathing in the same air. Symptoms include coughing, loss of skin color, and your body increasingly deteriorating. The notes Klaus leaves behind in the "Patient Zero" mission conclude that the Virus is intended to affect large cities, but not those in the countryside. He also notes that the virus rapidly dies off once a host is killed. It is also ''lethal'' to 47, as we find out in "Patient Zero".

* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: The morgue doctors [[spoiler: locked Smith in a freezer possibly to be harvested]]. There is also one master surgeon who is a drug addict.

** One of the challenge packs revolves around [[Franchise/{{Batman}} the scarecrow costume.]] Three of the five challenges are also named after Scarecrow's lines[[note]]They Scream, They Cry; Lighten Up; Taste of Your Own Medicine[[/note]] from ''Film/BatmanBegins''.

* TheMole: The contract for killing the militia leaders was fast-tracked by [[spoiler:Erich Soders, who is actually working for Providence]].

** There is also a soldier in the school arguing with his ex-wife and trying to make amends, to no avail.

* GildedCage: The mission is named as such because 47 must kill corrupt banker Claus Strandberg, who amassed billions of dollars [[spoiler:on behalf of Providence]] to provoke riots in the streets, and his partner General Reza Zaydan, who wants to use said riots to establish a military coup and dictatorship. What was not part of the plan was Strandberg stealing all the money for himself, hence the riot outside the consulate. Without a military figurehead capable of becoming a dictator, the plans are terminated.

* FortuneTeller: 47 can disguise as one. While it is no better than his starting suit, there's a series of challenges associated with it.
* GenreBlind: [[spoiler:The Constant]] claims conspiracies are a stupid thing to look for. [[spoiler:This from a man who is ''part of a massive conspiracy to control the world''. Of course, this could just be him appreciating the fact that [[CassandraTruth the sheer absurdity of the concept of Providence has proven to be an effective cover]]... ''mostly'']].

* FalseFlagOperation: General Zaydan is pulling one of these by bankrupting the Moroccan economy with his pawn Strandberg in order to trigger widespread rioting so he can, in turn, justify a military coup. [[spoiler:They're actually both agents of Providence.]] More specifically, he's having fake propaganda printed to connect the riots to a wholly unrelated pan-African liberation movement that isn't actually active in the area.

* AccidentalTruth: While plotting out his trashy spy novel, the school headmaster manages to accurately guess both General Zaydan's plot to use Strandberg to provoke a riot and that [[spoiler:there is a malevolent conspiracy behind Strandberg and Zaydan]].

47 heads to Morocco to kill Claus Hugo Strandberg, a Swedish banker who stole millions of dollars from the [[UsefulNotes/{{Morocco}} Moroccan]] people and is now hiding in the Swedish consulate at Marrakesh, as well as General Reza Zaydan, who is currently planning on staging a coup while assisting Strandberg's escape.

** In "World of Tomorrow", you are tasked with killing bioengineer Silvio Caruso, who is developing a new super-virus, and his assistant Francesca de Santis, who might be the only person capable of completing the virus without Caruso, and destroying the virus itself. With no means of recreating the virus, the project is cancelled afterwards.

* DesecratingTheDead: It is possible to steal dead or unconscious [=NPCs'=] clothes (in "The Author", you can even steal the two targets' clothes!), leaving them only in their underwear. Female targets and [=NPC's=] cannot have their clothes stolen, however.

* BadassIsraeli: Dalia may "just" be a superstar fashion model and information broker, but she controls a vast network of spies feared the world over. Which makes sense, as one conversation mentions that her father is a FourStarBadass who'd looked down on her modeling work.

* {{Retirony}}: Played with. During the first training mission, you can overhear one of Kalvin Ritter's associates confronting him about the fact that he promised his next job would be [[OneLastJob his last]], and yet he seems to be planning something else. Ritter replies that he didn't lie: he is simply going to become a "manager" and recruit other thieves to carry on the legacy of "The Sparrow". Naturally, he dies very shortly afterward.

* WithCatLikeTread: Hitman 2's [=GOTY=] Legacy pack has a [[LoopholeAbuse specific rules quirk]] that pertains to how Silent Assassin ratings work. So long as anyone infected doesn't report you to the guards, you're free to [[KillEmAll murder your way through the level's infected]] and still get the ''[[ViolationOfCommonSense Silent Assassin]]'' rating. Even if [=NPCs=] that ''haven't'' been infected get knocked out, ''then'' get infected, it still counts towards the rating.

* KillEmAll: If the player isn't fast enough, then the virus can spiral completely out of control and begin spreading faster than the infected can be killed. It's entirely possible this can result in needing to kill ''everyone'' in the entire level to contain the Nabazov virus.
** One challenge requires completing the mission after having 47 infected civilians alive ''at the same time''. Since 47 infected civilians at once means you can't really control the spread of the virus, doing this usually means your kill count will be ''significantly'' higher than 49 by the end of the mission.