Hitman Absolution has been described by many as the black sheep in the franchise. Sacrificing non-linear gameplay that the series is known for, Absolution instead decided to focus more on the story aspect and delve into 47's life in a much more personal stake than the previous games. Being a Darker and Edgier entry, the game is bound to have disturbing moments.
- Due to the grainy artstyle, the game occasionally feels like a slasher film... where you are the killer. Not that this is a bad thing.
- We get our first glimpse of how horrible Blake Dexter is when he murders a hotel maid, frames 47 for it, and then sets the whole place on fire. It shows that while he may come off as absurd and/or stereotypical at times, he's not someone to be taken lightly.
- During the early levels, you can find strippers talking about "Going to Hawaii"; but soon it becomes clear that this is not a good thing. As it turns out, Dom Osmond and Wade have been raping and killing strippers for several years, and that "Going to Hawaii" is just a metaphor.
- The aftermath of Wade and co. assaulting the orphanage. Seeing the bloody corpses of innocent nuns can cause a player to go from "Silent Assassin who avoids killing" to "kill them all".
- The same applies to the Saints destroying a roadside motel and executing innocent guests simply because 47 was hiding there.
- One of the challenges for this mission is to do exactly that.
- The same applies to the Saints destroying a roadside motel and executing innocent guests simply because 47 was hiding there.
- The dirty cops of Hope can be seen beating an inmate to death and are organizing cage fights between them. The nonchalant way the judge reacts to the news one defendant had been in an "accident" before he could show up in court shows us this is a commonplace occurrence.
- Lenny's fate. Being captured by 47 is already bad enough, but 47 needs him alive so he decided to drive to the desert instead and force Lenny to dig his own grave, all while 47 is calmly asking him the location of Victoria. Doing all of this under the burning hot sun, in the middle of nowhere where the only living things in his vicinity are a pack of flesh-eating vultures and a stone cold assassin... it's definitely A Fate Worse Than Death for Lenny.
- Slightly mitigated with the easter egg. If the player kills the Vultures Lenny will be run over by an Ice Cream truck that has no reason to be in the middle of a desert.
