History VideoGame / HitmanAbsolution

* DifficultySpike: If you want to keep it clean, "Attack of the Saints" will tax your patience and memorization.

* HotterAndSexier: Dominatrix Nuns, Diana's shower sequence (shown repeatedly in the opening), Layla Stockton doing a striptease, and more.

* NoGearLevel: "Operation Sledgehammer". After being captured by Sheriff Skurky and stripped of his gear, 47 must escape captivity and kill him, all while dodging his ex-cohorts from The Agency.

* BeautyMark: Seen on Dexter's girlfriend/secretary, Layla.

* Subduing is quick and clean: [[NeckSnap snap necks]] or [[ChokeHolds put 'em to sleep]]. (Who said it was a "neck snap"? It's definitely a chiropractic neck adjustment)

* ChainReactionDestruction:
** The overturned tanker on Main Street ("Operation Sledgehammer") sets off a chain reaction which destroys much of the town.
** In "Shaving Lenny", Tyler will often stop by the gas pump at the auto shop. Rig the pump, wait for Tyler to come by, and ignite the gasoline by shooting it. Note that this method isn't very subtle at all since it will trigger a chain reaction which blows up several cars and kills a lot of bystanders.
** The gas station blowup fun can also be used with the Saints, killing two of them and multiple of her mooks instantly. It's even possible to get a quadruple reaction: detonate a bomb which lights the gas...which explodes the station... which explodes the cars.

** Wade announcing his intention to rape your corpse? Lenny telling you how much of an idiot you are for blowing yourself up? Sanchez standing victorious over your dead body in the arena? Skurky gloating over you for taking too long to shoot? Layla Stockton shooting you in the head and grinding her stiletto heel in your groin while wearing nothing but a bra and panty? Blake Dexter blowing up the roof? Travis mocking 47's decision to defect from the corrupted Agency? Talk about a good reason not to die or be detected.

** Wade announcing his intention to rape your corpse? Skurky gloating over you for taking too long to shoot? Blake Dexter blowing up the roof? Travis mocking 47's decision to defect from the corrupted Agency? Talk about a good reason not to die or be detected.

* GroinAttack: If you lose a duel to Layla in the panic room, she will stomp on the camera with her stiletto heel and crush 47's crotch in his last moments.

* EyeScream: If you lose a duel to Layla, she will stomp on the camera with her stiletto heel. By the sounds of it, she gouges out 47's eyeball.

* CanonDiscontinuity:
** From ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'' onwards, this game is scarcely referenced, with the "Legacy" trailer from ''2016'' showing 47 shooting Dom Osmond through the reflected mirror in the club, and that's the most concrete info on its canonicity. This suggests that the events of this game are different to what is actually canon, but to what degree, IO Interactive clearly don't want to say. There are multiple minor references to Blake Dexter, a similarly-named {{Expy}} NPC in Hokkaido (Amos Dexter, who is also a stereotypical Texan), and in ''Hitman 3'', [[spoiler:pointing a gun at Diana will make her quip she's getting a sense of Deja Vu]]. Other than that, the game is in a bit of a ContinuitySnarl.

** ''Absolution''[='s=] is a fairly standard "Revenge Movie" premise. The story ties you down to rural America and you spend most of your time in bleak, monochrome locations, particularly those blasted factories and labs. If you count the original sites of the ICA training levels (Australia and Cuba), we've already visited more countries in the first episode of ''Hitman'' (2016) than ''Absolution''. (The epilogue takes place at Diana's tomb, in some undisclosed part of the United Kingdom.)

* NotSoDifferent: Travis declares war on a pondunk town, reducing it to a smoking crater, all to get at Mr. 47. Blake, meanwhile, is the sort of over-achiever who will send a wet team to an orphanage just to extract ''one'' girl, and later attempts to blow up his own high-rise in the hopes of catching 47 in the blast. And then they finally meet face-to-face:
-->'''Blake''': Hey there, fuckface.\\
'''Travis''': Alright, dickhead, where's the girl?

** From ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'' onward, this game is scarcely referenced, with the "Legacy" trailer from ''2016'' showing 47 shooting Dom Osmond through a reflected mirror being the most concrete info on its canonicity, meaning the events of this game are different to what is canon, but to what degree, IO Interactive clearly don't want to say. There are multiple minor references to Blake Dexter, and in ''3'' where [[spoiler:pointing a gun at Diana will make her reference the start of this game]], suggesting events played out differently.

** ''Blood Money'' ends with the ICA being reinstated by Diana, but 47 having gone rogue somewhere in East Asia with Diana unable to even get in contact with him. At the beginning of ''Absolution'', ''Diana's'' gone rogue and ''47's'' back at the ICA. Even the prequel novel to ''Absolution'' starts with 47 working for the Agency again with no explanation why.
** ''Absolution'' appears to have been given this treatment in ''Hitman'' '16. The only reference that game makes to this is the time where 47 shoots someone through a reflected mirror. While the other games have a few ContinuityNod's here and there, ''Absolution'' has been ignored almost completely, which is especially notable given its conspicuous sequel hook.

* DevelopersForesight: Instead of causing immediate death like most toxins in the ''Hitman'' series, the U'Wa venom will cause hallucinations and disorientation in Layla, who giggles at visions of ladybugs swarming above her head. The whole thing ends with Layla--having decided that she has wings of her own--taking a flying leap to her death. Best of all? Instinct mode allows you to see the ladybugs.

* NonstandardGameOver: An atomic bomb is hanging from the ceiling in the Dexter Industries lobby. [[SchmuckBait Anyone tempted to shoot it]] will immediately discover it is ''not'' inert.

* SequelDifficultyDrop:
** There's very little reason to explore beyond what [[NoticeThis glows yellow]] or the blazing footprint paths of your targets, and the player interaction with the environment boils down to "''I can interact with sleeping pills and pizza, hmmm''" There's also another small issue which the Challenge notebook make very apparent: if 47 hasn't already thought of a way to kill your target, [[ICantReachIt you're out of luck.]]
** It takes less than 2 seconds to reload now, even with the Silverballers. Your Ballers also come with silencers by default.
** Hitman doesn't need a sedative or chloroform rag anymore. Put your enemies in a sleeper hold, and they're out like a light for the remainder of the mission.
** 47 can now conceal large two-handed weapons on his person, such as shotguns, assault rifles, and even sniper rifles (which no longer need assembly). This feature does away with the ICA crates and weapon briefcases.
** ''Hitman Absolution'' has {{regenerating health}}, but it only regenerates part of your health. To fully heal you need to use a first aid station.
** If 47 is caught in the middle of trespassing or some other suspicious activity, the rest of the [=NPCs=] won't be alerted immediately like in older games. Instead, he will be asked to leave (if trespassing) or held at gunpoint, giving him a chance to regain control of the situation by killing or knocking them out before they alert each other on the radio. 47 can also pretend to surrender, disarm them and take them as a human shield.
* SequelDifficultySpike:
** For one, it doesn't allow you to choose your guns. The sniper method is a bit messy since the Kazo TRG (which you can find sitting around) is unsilenced. This will attract attention, and on higher difficulties a S.W.A.T. team will be deployed after the shot is fired. Civilians will automatically identify the source of the ''second'' shot, so make the first one count.
** What makes ''Absolution'' harder is the lack of a real Save feature. The checkpoints in this game are far apart, even the extra ones you are given on any difficulty from Hard and below. It's a test of endurance. On top of that, activating a checkpoint only saves how far along you are in your mission, not the actual state of the level. If you reload a game, you'll find any complex accident kill you've set in place now has to be reset and all those guards you got rid of are suddenly alive and well.
** Having people recognize you if have their disguise on. (''I know every cop in America, and he's an imposter!'') A similar thing happened in ''Silent Assassin'', wherein if you got too close to staff they would look past your disguise and call for help. But it's somehow even worse here: An example would be the Chinatown mission. If you waddle out wearing a chef disguise, the disguise will constantly trigger chefs among the crowd, and you have to burn instinct or hide until it blows over. In most cases just wearing your suit is better, because trying to 'blend in' is actually ''less'' effective.[[labelnote:*]]Oddly enough, wearing a disguise only ''one'' person has will usually disguise you perfectly, even though it should be much more recognizable than someone in a uniform.[[/labelnote]]

-->[Kane smashes a biker's jaw]\\

** While the games in the series beforehand had a very strong noir feel, ''Hitman Absolution'', with its cast of eccentric and oddly-dressed characters, had a distinct [=70s=] [[ExploitationFilm exploitation]] feel to it. Seeing 47, dressed in a floral dressing gown, sipping a Piña Colada, look out the window only to see a nun with an RPG looking back at him saying "go with God motherfucker" is the perfect level of ridiculousness. Scenes like this make ''Hitman'' into a parody of itself, along with other over-the-top action games.
** Where could those hit-girls in the trailer possibly have been heading? Slutty nun/gun convention?
** Even during a mass shooting there's still time for [[http://i.imgur.com/93Hcq.jpg dick jokes.]]
*** Not to mention [[https://images.nonexiste.net/popular/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/When-you-put-two-people-inside-a-closet-it-looks-like-this-Hitman-Absolution.jpeg this]] is an integral part of the game.

** "Skurky's Law". This mission is a laugh riot. Whereas in previous games, high-profile targets known to the person could not be impersonated (at least not without a face covering of some kind), Hitman can steal the identities of either the defendant (Tinfoil Hat Man) or the Judge, then walk into a trial ''still in progress'' and throw the case. The bailiff won't see through the disguise, despite personally escorting the (bearded!) Tinfoil-Hat Man to jail numerous times for past offenses.

* LetsYouAndHimFight: Bar fights are commonplace in the Great Balls of Fire tavern due to the preponderance of bikers and truckers, two cliques that hate each other. The cops are called here almost nightly. You can start a brawl to distract the bar patrons... at the expense of poor Kane!
-->[Kane smashes a biker's jaw]\\
'''Trucker''': Haw haw! Pussy biker!\\
'''Nearby biker''': Who you callin' a pussy? [decks him]

** Lilly is an expert marksman on par with the Hitman himself. The way to 'win' back your Silverballers is to beat Lilly's high score at the shooting range. She is in fact so good that it is impossible to beat her without entering Point Shooting. Though, to be fair, female sharpshooters have been an attraction in the American West since Annie Oakley.

* BarBrawl: 47 can ignite one in the Great Balls of Fire tavern by cutting power to the jukebox.

** Frank provides his own if you try to 'accident' him in Chinatown. See "Retirony" below.
*** The laundry room in "Blackwater Park" seem to have unlimited amount of space for you to get rid of bodies. Dispose of 3 in a row undetected and you will get the "Laundry Day" achievement.

* SetAMookToKillAMook: The best way to eliminate Bill, one of the hitmen in "Hunter and Hunted", is to frame him so he gets killed by a crooked policeman.

*** And if you poke around in there, there is a big poster on the wall which says "[[TemptingFate FUCK THE POLICE]]".

* TrueCraftsman: "Joe" is a master electrician who is said to have survived a lightning bolt and gained supernatural powers.

''Hitman: Absolution'' (2012) is the fifth game in the ''{{VideoGame/Hitman}}'' series by Creator/IOInteractive, and the only one to be ([[VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney exclusively]]) released for the [[UsefulNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames seventh generation of consoles.]]

* FramingTheGuiltyParty: The best way to eliminate Bill, one of the hitmen in "Hunter and Hunted", is to frame him so he gets killed by a crooked policeman.