History Trivia / Hitman2016

** According to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VysWXsuGPHQ this video]] this was originally intended to be a PC-exclusive multiplayer-only game as Square Enix was convinced that "consoles were done" due to flagging sales from the 360 and Playstation 3, but once the Playstation 4 and Xbox One started selling like hotcakes Square panicked and re-tooled the game to be multiplatform and added in a campaign (this explains why the game does not let you unlock progression offline).
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdI5beIwf9I Alpha builds of the game]] had briefcases around the level that 47 could use to store and carry weapons without arousing suspicion. It was cut before the first episode was released, likely because it made it too easy to sneak weapons by guards (something which the Legacy Pack in ''Hitman 2'' proves beyond a doubt).
** Supposedly the player was going to be able to take people hostage to use as a human shield, a feature possibly carried over from previous games.
** In the Beta, shooting an unsuppressed gun while out of sight caused the guards to inspect the area, and frisk 47 after the detection meter filled. If nothing was found, they would leave 47 alone and keep searching. In the released game, they will skip this step and just try to arrest him instead. It's likely that this was also cut for balancing.
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVqxMCZ3u6k E3 2015 trailer]] showed off essentially alpha-versions of the the first few game's targets. Viktor Novikov and Claus Hugo Strandberg are largely unchanged backstory-wise, though their faces are different (Novikov bears a passing resemblance to his in-game look, Claus does not and appears to be significantly older), while Silvio Caruso appears to be a wine connoisseur on top of being a biologist (though why he decides to drink ''while working with dangerous microbes'' is a mystery). There's also the curious case of a person who chats up a girl to photograph her and seemingly kills, who many speculate to be Jordan Cross, before he was rewritten as a JerkassWoobie musician.
** Some early footage had CirclingStars around an unconscious NPC's head. This wasn't very well liked and it was replaced by the current "[=YouTube=] buffering" dots.
** There will no longer be a second season, seamlessly integrated into the framework of this game alongside the currently existing content. Instead, a standalone sequel, ''VideoGame/Hitman2'' ([[RecycledTitle not to be confused with]] ''VideoGame/Hitman2SilentAssassin''), was announced on June 7, 2018, set to be released on November 13th. However, the devs managed to reverse the original plan; owning this game gives you free access to the legacy pack, allowing you to play this game's levels in the sequel.
** Several promotional pieces for Season 1 indicated that originally the game was only going to release two chunks of three, with Paris, Sapienza and Marrakesh in one chunk while Bangkok, Colorado and Hokkaido would be in the second batch. For undisclosed reasons, this was reverted to a more traditional episodic model of each episode released one at a time, but delays this caused were partly why the bonus Summer missions for Sapienza and Marrakesh were made.
** Silvio Caruso's elder brothers—Orlando and Renzo Caruso—were planned to be targets in an unreleased Elusive Target titled "The Brothers" set in Marrakesh. The intended [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y657oAPArFs mission briefing]] was able to be found via modding[[note]]They are also laying about in the Linux Port's directory, as the video files used in the level are not in the game files, and are just a bunch of [=webm=] files[[/note]]. [[spoiler: Weirdly enough, they appear on a target list in a cutscene in ''VideoGame/Hitman3'', which indicates these are canonical targets of the ICA at least.]]

** The targets of the Patient Zero campaign (excluding Sister Yulduz and Klaus Liebleid) were originally elusive targets and still have their briefing videos up:

* MeaningfulReleaseDate: The Linux Port was released by Creator/FeralInteractive on February 16th, 2017. For those who don't follow, February 16th was the 47th day of 2017. Agent 47 is the titular character of the game? [[DontExplainTheJoke Get it?]][[note]] For those curious, the UsefulNotes/MacOS port was released on the 172nd day of 2017 (June 21st), and all other versions were released on the 70th day of 2016 (March 11th).[[/note]]

** Usually, the names of each level in the games' files follow the naming scheme of the Location, then an animal; Paris Peacock (The Showstopper), Coastaltown Octopus (World of Tomorrow), Marrakech Python (A Gilded Cage), Bangkok Tiger (Club 27), Colorado Bull (Freedom Fighters) and Hokkaido Snowcrane (Situs Inversus), while the Tutorials' location is classified in-game, the files indicate it's meant to be based in Siberia; Ship (Freeform Training) and Graduation (The Final Test) being the suffixes for those missions.
** The codenames of the elusive targets are plainly visible on [=SteamDB=], and are named after...alcoholic drinks and cocktails.

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVqxMCZ3u6k E3 2015 trailer]] showed off essentially alpha-versions of the the first few game's targets. Viktor Novikov and Claus Hugo Strandberg are largely unchanged backstory-wise, though their faces are different (Novikov bears a passing resemblance to his in-game look, Claus does not and appears to be significantly older), while Silvio Caruso appears to be a wine connoisseur, not a biolab expert. There's also the curious case of a person who chats up a girl to photograph her and seemingly kills, who many speculate to be Jordan Cross, before he was rewritten as a JerkassWoobie musician.

* CastingGag:
** The voice actor of Dino Bosco, Creator/WilliamMapother, was planned to replace David Bateson as 47's voice in ''Absolution'', but the fanbase protested, and Bateson was brought back at the last minute. His level has a few gags and SelfDeprecation about this.
** Someone at IOI or Square Enix must've been a big ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' fan, as Naoko Mori voices the KAI AI; Naoko Mori plays Toshiko Sato, the resident AsianAndNerdy tech expert in that show.

** There's a lot of ninja-disguise-related dialog the game never really uses as the Ninja disguise turns all of Hokkaido into a hostile area. The "Futo" suit released for the Definitive Edition (and later in ''Hitman 2'') never uses these lines either, despite explicitly being based on Futo's getup from ''VideoGame/MiniNinjas''. The cut lines reference that game pretty liberally too, from the Director professing their love for the game ("I just loved Mini Ninjas"), Yuki Yamizake making comparisons to the game ("Ninja's are for kids, you know that right? Like... Mini Ninja's -- you know that video game?"), while dialogue from guards who stop you going into restricted areas will admonish 47 for [[DoWrongRight not having the proper stealth technique to just sneak past them]] like the ninja he’s dressed as. Weirder still, is that these voice lines got re-recorded for every voice actor that appears in later games, despite logically only needing to do it for one level. The "White Shadow" suit in ''3'' would also use these lines, but again, Hokkaido is deemed a hostile area, meaning many lines go unused.

** The Hokkaido Fowlplay outfit (and the Motorbiker outfit) also has voice lines for people recognising you as such, despite both these outfits turning Hokkaido into a hostile area, even toward civilians.
** [[https://tcrf.net/Hitman/Unused_Videos The Caruso twins have an entire Elusive Target mission ("The Brothers") and briefing]] that are still found in the trilogy's files, and are in a complete state, with models, audio clips, really everything but a way to access it without modding the game. Interestingly, [[spoiler:they both appear during "End of an Era" in Hitman 3, when 47 is looking through his ICA files.]]

** The codenames of the elusive targets are plainly visible on SteamDB, and are named after...alcoholic cocktails.

* DummiedOut:

** There's a lot of ninja-disguise-related dialog the game never uses as the Ninja disguise turns all of the level into a hostile area. Even the later-released "Futo" suit never uses these lines, despite explicitly being based on Futo's getup from ''VideoGame/MiniNinjas''. The cut lines reference the series pretty liberally too, from people professing their love for the game, as well as making comparisons to the game and the Ninja suit (as Yamazaki does).

* DarkHorseCasting:
** Creator/JonnyCruz, voice of Jordan Cross in the Bangkok mission, wasn't a popular voice actor at the time of the games' release, though he would gain later fame for playing Lucio in ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}''.
** [[https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Dave-Hill/ Dave Hill]] has only one prior credit to his name; the voice of Nessican in ''WebAnimation/DeathComesToTime'' and...that's it.
** Traci Lords is a ''very'' odd pick, considering her prior work in adult films and fashion. However, she is one of the few voice actors to be in all three games in the World of Assassination Trilogy.
* {{Defictionalization}}: The Class was subject to some viral marketing, which included setting up a bandcamp, [[https://soundcloud.com/theclass_band soundcloud]] and Youtube account for the fictional band. The accounts all have the full rendition of [[https://soundcloud.com/theclass_band/the-class-are-we-stars-providence "Are We Stars"]] heard in the level, and also includes releasing two more songs not heard in the game; [[https://soundcloud.com/theclass_band/the-class-gun-show-providence "Gun Show"]] and [[https://soundcloud.com/theclass_band/the-class-shine-a-light-providence "Shine a Light"]].

** Creator/RochelleGreenwood voices various civilians, and a few of the notable mission-assisting ones, such as Hailey Brannen.

** Creator/JonnyCruz, voice of Jordan Cross in the Bangkok mission, wasn't a popular voice actor at the time of the games' release, though later averted as he's more well known for playing Lucio in VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: [[AcclaimedFlop Despite the critical success of the game]], in May 2017 Square Enix [[http://kotaku.com/square-enix-splits-with-hitman-creators-io-interactive-1795115574 cut all business ties with IO]] due to the game [[https://finans.dk/erhverv/ECE10824890/hitmanskaberne-skyder-papegoejen-tidobler-bundlinjen-et-aar-efter-faretruende-konkurs/?ctxref=ext turning out to be a financial failure]]. While IOI was somehow able to negotiate retaining the rights to ''Hitman'' as a newly-independent studio, their financials were in a dire state in 2017, with a serious possibility that [[CreatorKiller both of them would completely dissolve]]. Fortunately, [[NetworkToTheRescue a chance publication deal with]] Creator/WarnerBrosInteractiveEntertainment allowed IOI to continue operating and complete the second "season" of the game, releasing it as ''VideoGame/Hitman2'', which performed well enough that it gave IOI the momentum needed to bounce back while remaining independent.

** Someone at IOI or Square Enix must've been a big ''Series/Torchwood'' fan, as Naoko Mori voices the KAI AI; Naoko Mori plays Toshiko Sato, the resident AsianAndNerdy tech expert in that show.