Hitman Sniper: The Shadows was a 2022 mobile shooting gallery video game, set within IO Interactive's Hitman franchise, and is made by Square Enix Montreal, under the supervision of IO Interactive. It is an In Name Only sequel to Hitman: Sniper, and a side series to the mainline World of Assassination Trilogy and Hitman series as a whole.
It prominently features both Agents Knight and Stone, the characters from the Co-Op portion of the Sniper Assassin mode in Hitman 2, as well as other unlockable operatives made for this game; Kolzak, Espelho, Soji, and Kiya; all with different perks and abilities to differentiate themselves from each another. They are part of a group called "Initiative 426"; otherwise known as "The Shadows", and are a team of ICA Agents that specialise in being an elite sniper unit, and are sent to fill in for legendary assassin Agent 47 after he disappears. The game consists of several sniper maps, and will feature a solo campaign, as well as a PVP mode that has players go against one another.
It was set to release in late 2021, and was even given an early access release in Brazil and Canada in October of that year, but full rollout was delayed following issues with crashes and the dev team cited that they needed more time to complete the game
, and was instead released five months later, on March 3rd, 2022 for iOS and Android.
Watch the Release trailer here, while the E3 2021 trailer can be found here. The website, which also lists the playable characters and abilities can be found here.
Due to Square Enix shutting down developers Studio Onoma, the game was delisted on December 7th, 2022 alongside Deus ex Go, and later taken offline on January 12th, 2023.
Following the disappearance of Agent 47, The Shadows have been tasked at collecting the Tropes:
- Ad Reward: You were earn a free crate daily that will give you Blood Money, Blue Diamonds, weapon part XP and weapon parts for characters.
- A.K.A.-47: None of the sniper rifles are called the same thing as their real life counterparts, but a few do share corrupted names based on their originals:
- Knight's weapon is called a Sintac. Inc. S200, but appears to be a modified Steyr HS .50
- Stone's weapon is named the "Precision Global, MCAX", but is actually a Remington MSR Mk 21 Precision Sniper Rifle.
- Kolzak's weapon of choice is named the Marincorp, Parragon SVD, which a corruption of the SVD Dragunov's name.
- Espelho's weapon is called the YHK TIA, NRF-114N, but appears to be made up from an amalgamation of guns.
- Soji's sniper file is named the Raifuru, K65 Tactician, a corruption of the Blaser R93 Tactical 2 moniker.
- Kiya's weapon of choice is named the Desert Ballistics, VGA-T2, but is actually a modified Desert Tech SRSa1.
- Knight's weapon is called a Sintac. Inc. S200, but appears to be a modified Steyr HS .50
- Ambiguous Time Period: As with Hitman: Sniper, the game doesn't give much indication of when it takes place in Hitmans' continuity, and muddling things further is the inclusion of Agents Knight and Stone, two characters introduced into Hitman 2 that play a starring role here, which were introduced in that game as being on the ICA's watchlist for ICA agent induction (which came to pass in this game).
- Art Evolution: The returning characters have their textures updated to be more stylised and cartoonish instead of the realistic look the main games aim for, which was done to better fit the games' other unique characters.
- Aura Vision: The entire cast has Instinct, with primary targets being highlighted in red, secondary targets (like guards), as well as interactable objects (such as electrocution traps and accident kill opportunities) being marked in orange.
- Ascended Extra: Both Agents Knight and Stone come from the Co-Op portion of the Sniper Assassin mode in Hitman 2, where they were sent on sniping missions as induction tests for the ICA.
- In Name Only: It's called "Hitman Sniper: The Shadows", which may suggest it's a sequel to the original 2015 game, but it isn't. While it shares similar weapon upgrade mechanics, as well as an identical mission layout system, it differs in numerous ways. For a start, Instinct is usable with everyone, not just on specific rifles, accident kills were encouraged (and aren't reported as loud kills; the direct inverse of what happens in Hitman: Sniper and Hitman 2), and 47 isn't in this game! It shares a lot more of its gameplay with the Hitman 2 Sniper Assassin mode more than anything.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: Averted, but you can make cars explode if you shoot the gas canisters some of them have attached to the back of them.
- Loot Box: Awarded as rewards for progression, and gaining points when completing mission objectives and daily tasks. You can also buy them with Blue Diamonds, and those award you with a Rifle Part. Unlike a lot of other examples of this trope, the game treats them purely as a way to level up, not as a way of getting cosmetics or making the game pay to win.
- Level Grinding: The game is primarily based around this:
- In order to take on contracts, you need to earn "Power", which can be gotten by playing in the PVP mode, or spending Blood Money on agent upgrades.
- Weapon and Agent upgrades, the former of which has you find parts for your weapons via Lootboxes, and as the name suggests, lets you earn more points for doing kills in specific ways (like headshots or killing the primary target). Upgrading agents and weapons also earns you more power, and increases the point scores you get in a contract, making it easier to take on even more contracts.
- There's also a Reputation Road, which is one long track of rewards filled with weapon part crates, agent schema's, and Blood money that unlock every time you gain reputation in the PVP mode, and caps at 40,000.
- Agent schema's were needed to unlock the agents (Stone at 10, Kolzak at 30, while Espelho, Soji, and Kiya are unlocked at 100). Schema's usually came in lumps of 2 or more, and were found in Lootboxes, Reputation Road, PVP mode, and can be also be bought with Blood money and Blue diamonds. They were also used to level the agents up and gain more power levels to take on later contracts.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: The gameplay loop is based around this. You find accident traps in the level, and kill targets this way to gain a massive amount of points. Specific traps were also highlighted that earn you more points if you kill them with them.
- Microtransactions: Present and accounted for. Blue Diamonds serve as this frontend, which can be used to buy weapon part crates, Blood Money, Agent schema's, and can be bought in larger quantities, instead of being grinded for in the main game's campaign. They can be gotten at a pretty decent rate, given the game expects you to replay the same levels again to get their tiered rewards.
- Player Versus Player: An optional mode was this, where you competed against another player to earn a specific reward (some contracts were even named after what they reward you with). Contracts rotate in and out every few days, and were rewarded with Blood money, Agent schema's and weapon parts.
- Self-Plagiarism: Several mechanics were ported over from the mainline games, such as Instinct (which highlights potential accident kills, distractions, and traps), while Knight's "Headshot in a radius" mechanic is a direct port of the shockwave bullets from the Hitman 2 Sniper Assassin mode in terms of functionality.
- Sniper Rifle: The game is cantered around using one of these; certain characters have specific perks and abilities to help you.
- The Voiceless: None of the cast have any in-game voice lines, even in PVP mode when you win or lose. Diana does have voice lines for her briefings in the game, but that's it.
- Timed Mission: The PVP mode has a set timer, and the person with the most points from killing targets and guards wins. The clock will run down faster if either player draws attention to themselves after a messy kill.
