Line #21 Trivia/HitmanAbsolution


1	* CelebrityVoiceActor: Several of the characters are played by various B-list Hollywood actors and actresses.
2	** [=LaSandra=] Dixon, leader of the Saints is voiced by Creator/VivicaAFox.
3	** Benjamin Travis is voiced by Creator/PowersBoothe.
4	** Jade is voiced by Creator/ShannynSossamon.
5	** Traci Lords voices Layla. Evidently, her voice work impressed IO enough that she returned in ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'' as Maya Parvati and Dexy Barat.
6	* ColbertBump: Apparently, [[Creator/ConanOBrien Conan]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XLrtLsGt_g rates]] this game an aquamarine on a scale from dark red to green.
7	* CreatorBacklash: While IO haven't completely disowned the game, it's apparent from retrospective discussions about it that they believe the game could and should have been better than the controversial sequel that it was.
8	* ExecutiveMeddling: This is the reason why there was such a long gap between ''Blood Money'' and ''Absolution''. Apparently, the developers started work on a new game for release in 2009 or 2010, but Eidos decided that the ''VideoGame/KaneAndLynch'' franchise (also developed by IO Interactive) was going to be the next big thing (spoiler: it wasn't) and ordered them to produce a sequel to that game instead. Square Enix, on the other hand, were far less enamored with ''Kane & Lynch'' and, upon buying out Eidos, they put that franchise out to pasture and let IO get back to its flagship series.
9	* FollowTheLeader:
10	** It being an odd-numbered sequel, it's time for ''Hitman'' to revamp itself yet again, with characteristic subtlety. Now we're freezing time and gobbling up pain pills like VideoGame/MaxPayne. Some of the Chicago levels should look familiar: Beat-up hotel, explosive foot chase, subway, nightclub, hospital. The final mission, involving a helipad and a timer, draws heavily from the original ''Max Payne''.
11	** Instinct Mode sounds suspiciously like [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries "Detective Mode"]]. It lets you see through walls, draws out NPC patrol routes, highlights items of interest, and ''reads peoples' thoughts.'' (Which the tutorial lady says is due to 47's rigorous "training".) Also, if you fail a boss fight, you also get a NonStandardGameOver of 47's adversary lording it over you.
12	** The graphics go through a grain overlay, which reminds one a bit of the GTA DLC ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIVTheLostAndDamned The Lost and Damned]]''. It gets more intense on some levels and especially [[CriticalAnnoyance when you're low on health.]]
13	** Point shooting is similar to the "Dead Eye" mechanic in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption''
14	** The plot is more or less identical to the latter-day ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' games (Sam shooting an associate to buy them time, before declaring war on the agency he works for).
15	* MeaningfulReleaseDate: ''Absolution'' was released in territories other than Japan on the 20th of November in 2012, during the ''47th'' week of that year.
16	* TheOtherDarrin:
17	** The original voice actress for Diana (Vivienne [=McKee=]) was replaced by Creator/MarshaThomason.
18	** Narrowly averted for Agent 47 himself in the English language - in previews, IO revealed that 47's long-time voice actor, Creator/DavidBateson, had been replaced by Creator/WilliamMapother (Creator/TomCruise's cousin). Following fan backlash, Bateson was called back in at the last second and did the voice work again in ''Absolution'', though 47's motion capture and face model is still Mapother's in the final product. IO would later poke fun at this in ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'' by casting Mapother as Dino Bosco.
19	** Creator/BrianBloom does not voice [[VideoGame/KaneAndLynch Kane]] in [[TheCameo his brief appearances]].
20	** 47's European French voice from ''[[VideoGame/Hitman2SilentAssassin Silent Assassin]]'', ''[[VideoGame/HitmanContracts Contracts]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney Blood Money]]'', Creator/PhilippeDumond, was replaced by Creator/JeremieCovillault. Oddly enough, Dumond was still in ''Absolution'', as the voice of Blake Dexter.
21	* PlayingAgainstType: Very apparent in the Japanese dub: Victoria is voiced by Creator/AyanaTaketatsu, a voice actress well-known for voicing sweet, cute girls like [[Manga/KOn Azusa Nakano]] or [[Literature/OreImo Kirino Kousaka]]. Victoria is anything but sweet.
22	* PreOrderBonus: ''Hitman: Sniper Challenge'', a standalone game set some time before the events of "A Personal Contract", sees the player killing Richard Strong along with his 14 bodyguards at a [=SkyLounge=] in Chicago. Because Blake Dexter's company, Dexter Industries, purchased 34% of Stallion Armaments after the death of its CEO, it was implied that Dexter himself was the one who hired the ICA to kill Strong. This is confirmed in the Blake Dexter ICA File trailer. Whoops.
23	* ScheduleSlip: ''Hitman 5'' (which would become ''Absolution'') was first announced in 2007. Development apparently only got going in 2009, only to stall again -- if not completely canned and subsequently restarted; reports vary. All because Eidos wanted more ''VideoGame/KaneAndLynch'' games. Instead of reprising his famous role, David Bateson was yanked into a recording booth to do a commercial for ''Kane and Lynch'' 1.
24	* ScrewedByTheLawyers: In 2018, Contracts mode is shut down, and is completely absent in the ''Hitman HD Enhanced Collection'' for legal reasons: IOI doesn't own the servers that ran the last-gen versions, and they don't have the resources to make it comply with Europe's General Data Protection Regulation. This means that half of the original game is simply not there, thus neutering the weapon and disguise CollectionSidequest, since you can't actually use them outside of Contracts mode like before.
25	* ThrowItIn: According to WordOfGod, ''Absolution'''s Instinct mechanic began life as a developer tool to determine pathfinding after the AI became so insanely complex they could no longer playtest properly. It was later added to the game proper, provoking much outcry, but it doesn't do much in higher difficulties other than helping you blend in.
26	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The developers really played around with ideas for this game. There's even a free Iphone app, ''Absolution Full Disclosure'', which provides info on the pre-release notes. Some examples:
27	** Early ideas of the plot explored even more radical changes to 47 and had darker tones. One, dubbed "The Angry Man", had 47 hunting a group of men who had been involved in the killing of a teenager, with a tone heavily inspired by revenge films of the 1970's. Another, "The Homeless Hitman", had 47 crossing the DespairEventHorizon over killing Diana, causing him to leave the Agency and descend into homelessness and poverty. They ultimately decided against these ideas as they were deemed too dark and too story-driven for a ''Hitman'' game, though elements of both ideas would find their way into the final game.
28	** David Bateson initially wasn't asked to return to voice 47, with William Mapother voicing the character in early demos. The developers eventually relented after backlash from the community.
29	** Early drafts of the story had many symbolic elements and a strong theme of 47 "rising from the ashes". Another idea was lyrically-driven gameplay, where the soundtrack and the gameplay would be intertwined with each other with the lyrics paraphrasing the gameplay. While ambitious, this idea was discarded due to being too creatively demanding.
30	** Cosmo Faulkner and Clive Skurky were meant to have greater roles in the story. An entire cut sub-plot revolved around Cosmo searching for 47 and questioning various characters throughout the story, many of which were recycled into various NPC's in the final game. One gameplay idea involved Cosmo walking 47, who was disguised as a coroner, through a murder scene of a young girl killed by Dexter. A level was planned to take place at Skurky's house, where 47 would find that he was at the courthouse waiting for his ex-wife's divorce papers.
31	** [=LaSandra=] Dixon, the leader of the Saints, also had a larger role in the story. Behind the scenes material show that 47 was to directly confront her in a cutscene. In fact, a significant amount of material related to the Saints was cut from the game, possibly due to the backlash at their debut trailer.
32	** According to Noclip's documentary, ''Absolution'' did not have any assassination targets in gameplay - all of 47's targets were killed in cutscenes with the gameplay consisting of reaching the targets. This was changed after the game was publicly revealed, and required significant design and story changes late into development.
33	** An early subtitle for the game was ''Burning Hope''.
34	** Travis's mechanical hand is a remnant from an earlier version of the story. Originally, he was to be present while 47 escaped with Victoria and would have been shot in the hand by 47 during their escape, prompting him to replace it. This part of the story was cut, but the developers kept the mechanical hand out of RuleOfCool.
35	** 47's tie was originally planned to serve as a substitute for his trademark Fiber Wire, and 47 could move while using environment objects to "blend in", but these were cut due to memory limits with then-current console hardware. 47 interrogating henchmen for information was another gameplay idea that was considered, but ultimately cut.
36	** Level ideas that didn't make it included a raging forest fire, a hot dog factory, an airplane that would crash mid-way through the mission, and a ship in a storm.
37	** Various ideas for mini-games were explored, such as 47 using a rocket launcher, Wade being a playable character, and a garden gnome smashing mini-game.
38	* YouSoundFamiliar: In French, Blake Dexter has the same voice actor 47 had from ''VideoGame/Hitman2SilentAssassin'' to ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'', Creator/PhilippeDumond (who was [[TheOtherDarrin replaced by]] Jérémie Covillault as 47 in ''Absolution'').

Context Trivia / HitmanAbsolution