Video Game / Hitman 2: Silent Assassin

47 is back in business.

Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, released in 2002, is the second game in the Hitman series by IO Interactive.

Some years after the events of Codename 47, the famed contract killer has given away his fortune and taken refuge in a monastery in Sicily to atone for his life of crime. A changed man? Regrettably (for The Mafia), he is forced out of retirement by his Sicilian friend's mysterious kidnapping. The price tag for Father Vittorio's freedom is $500,000 — money that 47 no longer has. It appears that his large donation to the church has attracted the attention of the local mafia don who wants a piece for himself... or something more sinister might be afoot. In any case, this spurs 47 to reconnect with The Agency and ask them for help, which means he has to return to the deadly job he was conceived for. Praise the Lord... and pass the ammunition.

So it's time for another jaunt around the globe, beginning in Mr. 47's stomping ground of Sicily and onward to: the streets of Russia's Saint Petersburg, the mountains of Japan, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, cities and terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan and a religious community in Punjab, India.

The gameplay was very ambitious for the time — not to mention riddled with bugs. Regardless, it plays much more stealthily than the original and introduces elements that would become iconic to the franchise (47unveiling his signature pistols, for one). Other new stuff:

• Non-lethal disposal methods (anesthetic, pistol whipping)
• Real-time mapping which allows you to track NPCs
• Weapons found in enemy turf are re-used in later levels
• Lockpicking
• Stealth-based scoring
• Tinkering with the lights (utility and fuse boxes, or just shooting the lights out) to distract guards
• LOTS of civilians. There are 50 people in the "Basement Killing" mission, including the Target.

It's worth mentioning a few other toys that were deployed in SA before they became permanent fixtures: little things like lobbing a distraction (Diana's pager, or honking a car horn), clinging to balconies, crawling through vents, ducking a surveillance camera, or leaving behind a remote-controlled mini-bomb. Also, rival hitmen who aren't mentioned in the briefings will suddenly appear to harass you, which should be familiar to fans of Blood Money. "The Jacuzzi Job" even introduced the notion of making kills look like a "robbery" or "accident".

Not to be confused with the much later, similarly named, seventh entry of the Hitman Franchise; Hitman 2, the second game in the World of Assassination Trilogy.

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Tropes

Tropes A-C

• Added Alliterative Appeal: "Tubeway Torpedo", "Shogun Showdown" and "The Jacuzzi Job."
• Always Check Behind the Chair: The key to the Ferrari is on the Don's brother, Vito (the other fat guy in white). But there's no easy way to get it without making unnecessary kills and/or noise. It's possible to kill only one additional enemy (Vito) and not incur a penalty, but you may just consider it a sort of consolation prize if your mission turned into a bloodbath. Bizarrely, Vito lost his other set of keys in a tree(?) next to the roof access ladder.
• Air-Vent Passageway: The hospital where Deewana Ji is staying has huge air vents as big as the rooms themselves. You can them to determine which operating room the cult leader is in and/or snipe him.
• The All-Seeing A.I.:
  • The Psychic Guard phenomena. There are instances where you will sedate a guard for his outfit instead of killing him for it. When that guard wakes up, you will get a warning about everyone "LOOKING FOR A SUSPICIOUS GUARD." On some missions, 47 will be instantly attacked regardless of how hidden you are, even if you are wearing a completely different outfit. Either the guards have some sort of invisible 'field' around them, or the entire floor goes on 'lockdown', or some combination of both. If you are close enough to the warning zone when the message is issued, then you will be immediately shot. Furthermore, you will only be attacked at the time the warning comes up; not before and, most importantly, not after. So, what you need to do when sedating a guard is get as far away from his body as possible and wait for him to wake up. Then wait for the warning to come up and disappear before going about your business.
  • In the mountains, disguises aren't quite as useless as elsewhere; They keep the snipers off you. But if you get too close, guards will demand to see your ID. When a guard shouts for you to stop, he won't seem to notice if you don't, and will walk to where you were and check your ID, no matter how far away you are. He will then figure out you're a round eye, even if your round eyes are 50 feet away in heavy snow and around a corner.
  • Kuala Lumpur is a mission where you can be pinned down by Psychic Guards if you try to sedate anyone, including the SysAdmin. The guards will continuously jog rings around the office, thus preventing you from safely moving about. Therefore, if you wish to sedate rather than kill, then you need to complete your objectives on this floor and make your escape across the SkyBridge before the victim wakes up.
  • There are two Guards that patrol the SkyBridge. If you try to cross the SkyBridge while the guards are on alert, then these two will automatically see through your disguise when the warning comes up, regardless of whether or not they can actually see you behind the air conditioning units, and will run up to attack you. Very annoying.
  • Purple Turban Guy. It's just next to impossible to sneak up on him. That guy is chock full of bugs.
• Apocalypse Cult: Deewana Ji is the self-proclaimed guru of a doomsday cult who worship a malevolent goddess of war. The cult also has its own police force. (Namaste.)
• Artificial Stupidity:
  • Guards now look left to right, but they don't respond at all to physical contact. So long as the suspicion meter is low, and 47 is in sneak mode, you can literally have your head up their ass and they still won't spot you.
  • Not all NPCs are created equal. So if you somehow manage to get inside the off-limits Kirov Park without sounding an alarm, the mob boss and his general will not react to your presence. Pull out a kitchen knife and stab them both as they're embracing. Mission done.
  • Also, NPCs can get stuck in their walk cycle when descending stairs, giving you ample time to KO/wire 'em. Try it with the Geisha in Hayomoto's place.
  • "Kirov Park Meeting": This is funny. Zupikov's chauffeur will run down any Russian soldiers who get in the way of his car if he is alerted by 47's presence.
  • "Hidden Valley": Sometimes the trucks run over ninjas in the tunnel. No, really. Stop laughing! We're being serious here! You'll know it's happened if you get a message like, "guards are alerted" when they find a body and you haven't killed anyone. Oh, and those kills count against you. Fun, eh? What's interesting is that not all ninjas are affected by the trucks; the ones who carry katanas are immune to them. (Even these guys aren't immune to bugs, though: see YMMV.)
  • They don't make ninjas like they used to. If you subdue a guard while he's scanning you, it's only counted as a "close call" rather than an alert. They're so stuck in this routine, you can even wait til they walk up to you, circle around 'em and drug 'em in the middle of the ID check.
  • "Shogun Showdown": The shinobis will clamp down on security when Hayomoto dies, but so long as you're disguised and WALK (don't run) downstairs, they won't raise the alarm, or even prevent you from leaving in Hayomoto's chopper. In fact, if you sneak your way across the roof, they won't even pursue you downstairs.
  • In "Basement Killing", guards get annoyed if you trespass in the employees-only area. But toss a smoke bomb down the garbage chute and they won't even blink.
  • "The Motorcade Interception": This is the second mission where people can die from an accident you had no hand in. You have limited control over when the U.N. motorcade appears on the map; if you are a little slow on the draw, they may plow through a guard on the main road.
• BFG:
  • The M195 is considered one of the most powerful rifles in the world. It is important to note that the game considers this to be both a Sniper Rifle AND a Heavy Weapon due to its enormous power. It's actually an anti-vehicle rifle, capable of shooting through engine blocks to disable them. Imagine what this could do to a human head.
  • The M-60 is a more dakkatastic take on this trope.
• Bad Job, Worse Uniform: The pizza boy. Once dressed in your oh-so-chic new pink and turquoise outfit, walk over to the pizza window and take Charlie's order.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: The well-dressed Spetnaz Agent in "Invitation to a Party" is gunning for the same suitcase as you. Instead of breaking into Embassy safes looking for it, you could just let the agent steal it, then nab him outside the parking garage. What's interesting is that if you get the suitcase before the agent does, then he will leave the Embassy and try to ambush you near the dock. It's always best to just get him out of the way and keep him from springing any surprises on you.
• Battle Butler:
  • A peace-loving Sicilian priest and his assassin gardener.
  • If the Don becomes alarmed, he will be holed up in his office. His lawyer will join him shortly with a shotgun.
  • Hayamoto Jr's chef is packin' heat and won't hesitate to fill any trespassing Gaijins full of lead.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: The MIB is Sergei's accomplice. His motives are a mystery; presumably this was a sequel hook which wasn't picked up on. Or maybe he's a reference to Half-Life. We'll never know.
• Big Fancy Castle: "Shogun Showdown." As you can guess, there are plenty of traps in the kingpin's multi-story Castle. Although the Castle itself is very "old and creaky", it is equipped with all of the latest security systems.
• Bittersweet Ending: At the end of Silent Assassin, although 47 manages to save Father Vittorio, he decides to leave behind his peaceful religious sanctuary in Sicily to return to his life of crime; more human, but still forlorn, unsure of whom to trust and whom not to.
• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Both the Don and Sergei refer to Father Vittorio in these terms.
  Giuliani's letter: "Meanwhile, we will be entertaining your host, Padre Vittorio. He very much enjoys fishing."
  [later]
  Sergei: "Let's just say he's here for spiritual guidance".
• Bodyguard Babes: Charlie Sidjan's bodyguards are all bikini-clad females.
• Book Ends: The game opens, and closes, on 47 at the Gontranno Sanctuary confessing his sins to Vittorio.
• Boring Yet Practical: The silenced Beretta. While it might not be a Hand Cannon like the Desert Eagle, the Revolver, or the Silverballers, nor have the uniqueness of the Silenced .22 or the .54 pistol, its fifteen round magazine, suppressor, and extremely common ammunition make it a very useful weapon. The best part? It's available right from the beginning of the game on normal difficulty, making even the regular Beretta pretty much redundant.
• Bowdlerize: At the time the game was released there was some controversy concerning some material within the game (guns stashed around the Shiva temple and inside an altar) that was offensive to Indians. Some of this was either altered or removed, depending on which version you have.
• Broken Bridge:
  • The castle defenses have to be dismantled before you can get at Hayamoto.
  • Crossing the Petronas Towers in order to get close to Charlie Sidjan.
  • Go meet the Agency "contact" in the temple city and you will find it's Agent Smith again. He's holed up in his spy headquarters and pretty drunk. As usual, he was just there to do some basic surveillance and all of a sudden everyone was trying to shoot him. Smith wants 47 to find the hitmen, kill them, and photograph them as proof before he'll agree to stick his neck outside. When 47 returns with the pictures, Smith will sober up—for about 3 seconds, then point him to the secret passage which is located in another shop before passing out.
• Call-Back:
  • As the game opens, we see a pair of men investigating Boris' old ship, the Katarina Ivanova. The American finds a laptop tracing Boris to Dr. Ort-Meyer's asylum from the last game. When they get there, they find the place in shambles. They look over the surveillance tapes which show the carnage as it happened.
  • Lei/Mei Ling is the woman you rescued in Codename 47 (and will again in Contracts) and, to 47's disgust, she has managed to hook up with another crime lord: Hayamoto. You can rescue her again if you want, but there is no reward for doing so. She will, however, give you a keycard granting access to the upper echelon where Hayomoto is, and you will get a bonus save.
• The Caper:
  • The new missile guidance system in Hayomoto's collection.
  • "The Jacuzzi Job". 47 clambers his way into Charlie's bachelor pad, kills him as instructed, then makes the hit look like a robbery by lifting some valuables from the premises. The alarms will go off if you try to steal anything with the power still on, so that's yet another hurdle. Charlie has a taste for expensive art; this means additional guards are on patrol inside the place.
• Ceiling Cling: The rafter-dwelling ninjas. Fortunately, they don't seem to be as psychic as their friends. They won't spring into action until you either kill Hayomoto or cause an alert.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Silent Assassin has a rare instance of the binoculars being useful. Find out which window Mister 17 is hiding in and stay out of that line of fire.
  • 47 fesses up to his previous contract work, but Father Vittorio tells him that he still has a good heart. In the final mission, Sergei is holding the priest hostage inside of the confession booth. Grab a sniper rifle (once you've shot up the church, there's plenty lying around) and line up a shot on the heart picture in the confessional. Blast it, and Sergei will be temporarily blinded and flee the booth.
  • While wandering 47's home between levels, you may notice a hidden door next to the side entrance. This also leads to Vittorio's room where he keeps his key. It disappears from the inventory, but keep it in mind for next time. Some of the church locks are too old to be picked, and the mobsters in "Redemption" have got the main entrance covered. If you reclaim the key, 47 can administer some Veritas Aequitas to Sergei & friends.
• Cloning Gambit: Feel free to dress up in your brother's clothes. (After all, when 47 first picks up the headset, he pretends to be Mr. 17.) It will work much better than your own suit, plus you can take his rifle. Just get to the exit before the mobsters catch wise. It's possible to hide his body in a specific part of the office so that the guards don't get suspicious at all.
• Computer Equals Monitor:
  • The security office computer and, later, Charlie Sidjan's computer. (You'd think you could disable them with that hefty ax, but apparently not.) Bizarrely justified, as there is no tower visible.
  • The "AIRCON" room in "Graveyard Shift". Pull out your silenced pistol and shoot the IED display, right where it says, "temperature normal." When the admin comes running, sneak into the server room (he forgets to lock the door) and drug/wire him while he attempts to reboot the poor thing.
• Concealing Canvas: The safe in Charlie's office. Don't forget to close up the safe and painting before you split with the cash.
• Continue Your Mission, Dammit!: Don't let Diana rush you. Once the St. Petersburg meeting starts, it doesn't seem to end.
• The Crime Job: Kuala Lumpur has a mission called "The Jacuzzi Job".
• Crosshair Aware: "Hidden Valley" and "At the Gates" display a HUD message when a sniper spots you. This gives 47 a chance to strafe behind a tree (or some other obstacle) and regroup.

Tropes D-H

• "Die Hard" on an X: "Redemption at Gontranno". Okay, this is it. You've got 21 highly alert, heavily armed, strategically located enemies to deal with, and you start with little more than a piece of string. There's no ratings per se, but you can do this mission without ever being shot at, which is about as Bruce Willis as you can get. 47 can even use a Beretta 92FS in this level, which is the updated version of John McClane's signature Beretta 92F.
• Early Game Hell:
  • "Anathema". You might be lulled into thinking this is a big, pretty map to get used to the new controls and paradigms of Silent Assassin. The primary challenge is just getting into the damn place. The staff all know each other. (And 47 is lacking a sweet Don Corleone coiffure, so get in their faces for too long and your mob suit won't last.) There are also plenty of rooms where even guards aren't allowed to go, only your targets. (Once you get the crossbow from "Hidden Valley" you can break that level so badly, it is hilarious.)
  • "St. Petersburg Stakeout". 47 opines that St. Petersburg isn't "an easy place for a comeback", and he's not kidding. The biggest problem here is just getting the sniper rifle out of the metro. Getting to the escalator without the passengers alerting the guards is no mean feat. There isn't any reliable way to avoid setting them off, but it works best if they spawn in the locker area with their backs turned. You could wait for them to get into a useful position, but you are on a timer here. The easiest thing to do is probably to just reload if they don't cooperate.
  • There is an easier way to circumvent both early challenges (namely: going around the outside of Giuliani's manor and climbing the ladder that leads right to his office balcony and taking out the guard pacing the locker room up the stairs first then taking the rifle in his outfit so the civilians don’t see anything out of the ordinary, but these missions seem tailored to get the player used to trial and error and looking for workarounds in levels.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Dumping an unconscious guard into the sewer after stealing his clothes will not work, as he respawns to street level upon waking up. In later games, your victims will remain unconscious so long as you stash their bodies in a manhole, cupboard, or whatever.
• Easter Egg:
  • "Graveyard Shift." This mission spoofs the world's first webcam, which showed a coffee pot so that the office workers would know when there was coffee available.
  • Silent Assassin contains a tongue-in-cheek reference to another IOI game. Zoom in on some ammo boxes (.45 ACP) and read the inscription: Favorite ammo of Chris Walker, freedom fighter and all-around good guy. You can also spot a screenshot from the game in "Shogun Showdown" on a computer monitor, even though Freedom Fighters (2003) was released a year later. Hence the re-naming of "Chris Walker" to Christopher Stone.
• Evil Is Petty:
  • Zhupikov has a habit of helping himself to the cocktails that are meant for other guests.
  • Mohammad Amin supplying the rebels with a stolen warhead. Not only that, he's a cheapskate to boot.
  • It's obvious that Von Kamprad is fleecing her own patients. She bogarts some flowers and candy from them in the opening cutscene.
• Fake Difficulty: Silent Assassin is probably the most random stealth game ever put out. If you manage to get Silent Assassin in "Hidden Valley" on the 360 version, don't be surprised if your Xbox Live account is audited for suspected cheating.
  • Unfortunately, there are actually two missions in the game where a guard can be killed through no fault of your own: "Hidden Valley" and "The Motorcade Interception".
  • ID Checks. The very moment the words "Stop it!" appears on the bottom of the screen, start running. Do not stop running until the ninja is just a speck on the horizon.
  • Also, if gunning for the SA rank, you have to kill a few targets manually, since some of the computer terminals will cost you a bullet. One annoying thing about most melee weapons is that they only work on people. You can smack somebody upside the head with a Fire Axe but you cannot break a simple window with it.
• For Doom the Bell Tolls: In the final mission, Sergei orders the church bell to be rung, to summon 47 back to Gontranno. In the tutorial level, Vittorio rang the bell to signal that it's time for confession.
• Gag Censor: The character model of the whizzing guard is actually holding one of his fingers with his other hand, to give the amusing illusion of the model having a penis.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: No matter how quietly you killed General Bardichenko, a Russian soldier will always run after 47 and Smith in the elevator. Fortunately, when he tries to alert the upstairs guard, he's just ignored.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Infra-red goggles only serve to make the Shinobis, not you, easier to see.
• Gratuitous Ninja: Hayamoto resides on the 6th Floor of a castle along with four shinobis waiting in the rafters. The 5th Floor has several additional guards and sword-wielding ninjas. The ninjas on the ground floor are less vigilant: most of them are just propping open doors or meditating.
• Guide Dang It!:
  • Notice how some guards don't even carry their guns visibly? That means you shouldn't either. (The Nuristan terrorists are less uptight about this.) And although some of the hospital guards are carrying guns, don't bother with it since it only serves to make the nurses edgier.
  • The NPCs in this game hate running. Passionately. Maybe their parents all died in some sort of marathon accident, but they all get really agitated when you run. Now, maybe they do things differently in the Russian Army, but if they saw a fellow soldier running toward them, their first reaction would probably not be to OPEN FIRE!
  • Just like in H:C47, the soldiers will get suspicious if you're carrying an odd weapon. The SVD looks enough like the AK that the Russians will be fooled if you stay about 20 feet away from them, as long as you have it holstered.
  • Do NOT arm the mini-bomb before dropping it first, regardless of what the game says. JUST drop it.
  • "Showgun Showdown:" Generally, you can get away with annoying a few shinobis (causing the suspicion meter to go berserk). The problem is, the more times you make the SAME guards suspicious, the more likely they are to open fire. This is the whole key to the Castle mission. Many players have trouble when trying to get out, but what they don't realize is it's because of things they did going in.
  • "The Motorcade Interception": The game designers wanted you to use the engine-busting capabilities of the MI95 to halt the front jeep and then snipe the Khan. But this will cause the UN Soldiers to shoot at you and raise alerts which can make things more difficult. However, the developers also gave you the option to shoot the Khan from behind. The easiest way by leaps and bounds is to kill a guard at the start to get a disguise, then get the shot off as the limo is about to exit the level. A painfully narrow window, but the shot will be much easier than usual (you'll smack yourself at how easy it is). On top of that, you are considerably closer. Oddly, reaching this location doesn't trigger the immediate limo arrival like the other spots do.
• Hacker Cave: "Charlie's" sub-basement.
• Hand Cannon: The Desert Eagle aside, the Silverballers pack a ridiculous punch, causing anyone shot with them to be Blown Across the Room.
• Hitbox Dissonance: This also points out another problem with the game engine: Improper collision detection. If 47 is hit by a truck then he will die which, of course, makes sense. But, as it turns out, the actual contact point extends about two feet from the front of the truck instead of the vehicle itself. And this contact point is lethal even if it is standing still!
• Hollywood Hacking: Before moving on to take care of Charlie you need to plant a dongle on the master server which is locked in an air conditioned room. The dongle will allow the client to retrieve the encoded program.
• Hong Kong Dub: There is a noticeable lag in the prologue between Sergei and the MIB. The other cutscenes don't have this problem.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: 47 can conceal up to ten pistols, three knives, a bottle of chloroform, a fibre wire, and two submachineguns in his jacket without spoiling the line of his suit.

Tropes I-Z

• An Ice Suit: 47 in the mountains. In a nod to Roger Moore, he's still wearing his suit and tie underneath. Some of the ninjas are also sporting artic camo.
• It's All Upstairs From Here: The Petronas Towers. Most of the employees have gone home, but a host of guards, three programmers, and one very gullible sysadmin remain.
• Katanas Are Just Better: If only 47 didn't swing it around like a floor lamp. Also looks damn good when displayed on the wall.
• Kent Brockman News: A TV Report on Sergei Zavorotko's stolen nuclear arms. This all ends up being very convenient for 47, since he now knows who the mystery client is. But Sergei doesn't exactly take this news well.
• King Mook: The Spetznaz agent in "Invitation to a Party" is unusually durable and takes a full 15-round mag from the silenced 9mm pistol to put down, as opposed to normal enemies who die in just 2-4 shots. Hayamoto Jr, his unnamed dinner guest, and Hayamoto himself have twice as much health as normal Mooks, but still go down quite quickly. Finally, Mr. 17 and Sergei Zavorotko have boss-level health and can soak a few dozen 9mm rounds before going down. In all cases, 1 headshot or sustained automatic weapons fire will still put any of them down.
• Kryptonite Factor: The instructional manual makes clear that St. Petersberg is not the best terrain for a hitman. This isn't Hong Kong: The buildings are spaced far apart, the streets are wide, and there's very few places to hide. You'll notice a big difference when you get to the middle east.
• Laser Hallway: The doors leading to Hayomoto and his vault are guarded by laser fences. Nothing a key card can't cure.
• Little Useless Gun: The silenced .22 pistol that can be found in Hayamoto's museum. It's the weakest firearm in the game, with about 1/3rd the stopping power of the regular silenced 9mm pistol (requiring several torso shots to kill even basic Mooks), and does nothing that the standard silenced 9mm doesn't already. The only thing unique about it is it doesn't trigger the metal detectors in "Basement Killing".
• Made of Explodium: The security consoles in the Valley. You're aiming for the roundish, yellowish part in the middle. Shoot it, and the thing will blow sky high, taking the guard with it. Doesn't count as a kill either!
• The Mafiya:
  • Sergei, like his brother, is a mob boss who has expanded his empire to include arms dealing. It's sort of suggested that Sergei took over Boris' business when he died. The final level happens in the church at Gontranno and pits 47 against nearly two dozen mafia hitmen and their boss, Sergei himself.
  • Gen. Makarov is meeting with an old mob contact, Igor, to buy protection and information. Both must be taken out once they emerge out in the open at Kirov Park.
• Mook Horror Show: The security footage from the Asylum shows some of the events of ending of the previous, depicting 47 strangling a SWAT officer and then gunning down another SWAT officer and an orderly. You can see the terror in the movements of the two men being gunned down just before 47 blasts them away.
• Mr Fix It: In "The Jacuzzi Job", messing with the fuse box will knock out the lights along with Charlie's alarm system. Before long, a technician will be called up to fix the problem. If the technician doesn't perform his job within a reasonable amount of time, then more security will be called up. This means ambushing him isn't an option.
• Must Have Caffeine: In "Graveyard Shift", head into the break room. Shoot out the coffee-cam, and then wait. The sysadmin will come to check it out, allowing you to bag him in the manner of your choosing.
• No Cutscene Inventory Inertia: 47 finishes off Sergei with a Silverballer regardless of whether the player retrieved them from the garden shed or not.
• No Name Given:
  • The MIB, the first General, the German Ambassador, the Spetnaz Agent, and the Don's lawyer.
  • Charlie's brother. In the source code he's designated "Brat Charliejo" but this obviously isn't a real name.
  • The two assassins in "Temple City Ambush."
• Nobody Poops: Strangely, the Villa lacks toilet facilities. Perhaps this explains why Vito and his nephew relieve themselves in the back garden near a tree.
• One-Hit Kill: The M195 anti-vehicle sniper rifle can kill anyone in one shot no matter the body part that's hit.
• Polar Opposite Twins:
  • Charlie behaves very differently from his nerdy brother: He's quite the playboy and has his own penthouse suite full of bikini babes. (Where are they keeping those revolvers?) The other Sidjan is holed up in the sub-basement of the same building. It is assumed that he is the real "brains" behind the missile key software, judging by the state of his office as compared to his brother's YOLO lifestyle.
  • In a surveillance tape, after Mr. 17 garottes the Russian guard, he does a flashy nunchuck move with his fiber wire. Plainly, his personality is quite different from his brother's.
• The Precarious Ledge:
  • There's a ledge on the top floor of the villa which connects the east wing with the Don's office.
  • After hacking Charlie's computer, 47 uses a window cleaning platform to reach the mogul's penthouse. You CAN fall off the Petronas Towers (2,717 ft.) Be careful.
• Punch-Packing Pistol: The SD Ballers present a problem with this game's ragdoll physics: Plug an enemy with them and they'll fly so far that people on the street may see the corpse and come running. Hence The Agency's recommendation to use the 9mm. (For a laugh, trying shooting the Straw Hat assassin next to his window. He does this beautiful swan dive out the window and into the plaza.)
• Qurac: "Nuristan", which in no way resembles the real-life province. Fortunately the guards here are pretty laid back, especially if you're an unarmed civilian.
• Randomly Generated Levels:
  • The civilians all appear to be randomized and can cause their share of problems. In the Petronas Towers, they need to be avoided whenever possible so your cover doesn't get blown. They tend to make frequent trips to the tech support office which can be frustrating when trying to acquire the keycard within.
  • "Invitation to a Party": The safe containing the General's briefcase can be any one of 4 safes on opposite corners of the Embassy gala.
  • "Hidden Valley": The guards in the valley have randomized patrol patterns that can be avoided with timing and patience. But there are also additional instances of randomness that can affect the mission.
  • "Temple City Ambush": Blue Cap will shadow you through the market, but he's very bad at it. Straw Hat is in a sniper nest above one of the plazas. Both locations are randomized. This can be a tricky mission because of the random placement of Smith, the assassins, and the Family Circus-like paths of the rival hitmen and civilians. Smith can be found in one of six empty shops; however, it will always be marked as "Carpets International".
  • The infernal Purple Turban Man. The PTM is pretty damn weird and appears as a civilian on the map, but is secretly packing an MP5. He poses little danger to 47, but if he tails you back to Agent Smith's hideout, PTM will put a bullet in him. It is quite annoying to try to deal with all these Assassins then suddenly have this idiot sidle up behind you and pooch the whole mission. The best outcome is to be lucky and avoid him. Failing that, lead him to an alcove where nobody will ever find him and unsheathe your knife.
  • "Terminal Hospitality": Head to the basement and you will see a bunch of cultists protecting the four Surgery Rooms. The Cult Leader is in one of them. Unless you're dressed as a doctor, you cannot just waltz into each room to find him. You will spook the nurses and other personnel and this will lead to alerts. You're supposed to use the ventilation system to peek into the surgery rooms and find the one with the two cult members, which contains your target. As with the jade figurine in H:C47, the cult leader always starts in one place (the northwest room), and moves about only if you restart the level.
  • "St. Petersburg Revisited": Our friend Mr. 17 loads in two places: one on the west side of the Pushkin building, and one over the front entrance. He will always be facing west if you take the bait and go up into the apartments. The thing to remember is that he keeps moving around.
• Redemption Rejection: Despite the title of the last level and saving the life of the priest, in the end 47 leaves his crucifix behind at Gontranno and goes back to his life of crime as an assassin, feeling he doesn't belong in the peaceful world the priest tried to show him.
• Remixed Level: At first glance, "St. Petersburg Revisited" is a turkey shoot. The Russian Generals are all gone, so the Red Army isn't patrolling the metro or the streets anymore. That all changes when it turns out that the target has flown the coop, leaving behind 15 or so mobsters with Deagles, along with a very trigger-happy Hitman. And the sniper rifle is loaded with blanks this time around.
• Salaryman: Inhabitants of Petronas Towers are working the night shift. The office workers are faster to catch on when you're dressed as Hit-bert.
• Scenery Porn: The backgrounds in C47 are nothing to write home about, due to the draw distance fog and the stupid cut-away sky in Hong Kong. (That game owed a lot to the musical score.) This one pays more attention to the background, particularly the eye-popping scenery around the Don's villa and the wide-open streets of Russia. David Bateson always gushes about the St. Petersberg missions for some reason.
• Schizophrenic Difficulty: The game's difficulty curve is really sporadic. One mission can be ridiculously easy to get a Silent Assassin rating on, while the next could be nail-bitingly tough. In particular, the levels in Japan are arguably the toughest in the game despite how relatively early they are, whereas the Malaysian levels that come afterward are much easier.
• Schmuck Bait:
  • "St. Petersburg Stakeout": When aiming at the General, be sure not to fire on him while the guy in brown (Sergei) is leaning behind him. The bullet will go right through the target and kill them both, costing you the mission.
  • In "St. Petersburg Revisited", Sergei is standing in the same spot as before in a now-empty room. He's just a cardboard standee, though, and 47 is armed with a dummy rifle. Did you think it would be that easy?
  • "Kirov Park Meeting": The church is pretty much a wash if you want a good rating. Once you've pulled the trigger, the soldiers will be all over you. And with nowhere to run but a spiral staircase leading down... it's ugly. Be smart and scurry up the radio tower on the far end of the map.
  • "Tubeway Torpedo": There's a tasty two-way mirror in the bunker where you can observe Agent Smith getting the shit kicked out of him by Fearless Leader. If you shoot the General through the glass, it makes a satisfying CRASH, but it will alert absolutely everyone on that floor. There's a cleaner way (and it's just as easy) involving a cell phone and pager that Diana gave you.
  • "Murder at the Bazaar": Don't let this mission fool you with its sniper rifles and skylights. It's really much simpler and more visceral than that. You CAN tag the Colonel in the bazaar with the sniper rifle, but it's not exactly going to be clean, and you'll be dodging bullets left and right as you flee the city.
  • In "The Death of Hannelore", 47 can adopt a disguise of a "Lord Sinclair" to get close to his target (a female doctor). If she asks 47 for the name of "his" wife, though, he won't know what to say before eventually randomly coming up with "Uh...Elsie?", which is way off the mark.
  • "Terminal Hospitality": No, you can't kill or follow him. If you try, 47 will chase him into a booby-trapped tunnel, causing an explosive Game Over.
• Script Breaking:
  • The quick and dirty way to end the first St. Petersburg mission is to ignore the rifle completely. If you fire off a few pistol rounds from the sniper's nest, one is bound to hit the General (he's the one sitting closest to the window). 47 can also sneak into the Pushkin Building proper and pop him from the far side of the conference room.
  • UH OH, THE TRUCK HAVE STARTED TO MOVE! If you get close enough and then run away, the two ninjas who inspect the trucks will give chase and then break off their pursuit. The top ninja, the one closest to the Truck, will go back and finish his inspection. However, the bottom ninja hasn't gotten back to the rear of the truck yet to finish his work. The ensuing confusion will cause him to freeze, thus stopping the inspection of the trucks. And, since the trucks no longer move, then there will be no more risks of pancaked ninjas for the duration the rest of the mission. You know it's a well-built level when exploiting bugs is the only way to reliably beat it. On rare occasions, the checkpoint inspectors may freeze on their own. (It happens frequently in the PS2 version.)
  • In "Murder at the Bazaar", at the beginning of the level it's possible to run right up to the Colonel and shoot him in the face with a silenced pistol before he can walk into view of any guards. This considerably shortens the level since you don't have to deal with him the normal way and can even use his uniform to sneak into the other target's house.
  • Instead of shooting the Khan, try whacking at his car window with a fire axe. Tricky, but it can be done.
  • "St. Petersburg Revisited": If you sedate Mr. 17 rather than kill him, he will be frozen in place (because you disarmed him). This can lead to some slapstick comedy; see "Skippable Boss" below.
  • There is a well-known glitch in this game which allows you to attack Sergei with a garrote through a wall. (See "Skippable Boss") If done right, then the cutscene before the boss fight will show a shotgun floating in mid-air, and during the battle you'll fight the boss' flying corpse. [!] Also, if you strangle him again once the boss battle starts, Sergei will be lying on the ground in a HUUUUUGE puddle of blood. The Dev team took it for granted that players will shoot him with an M60 or another really heavy gun.
• Sinister Silhouettes: There is a guard patrolling south of Hayomoto Junior's house, along the other side of the shōji (a traditional Japanese divider made of translucent paper and wood). You can see the guard's shadow through the divider, but he will not notice you.
• Sinister Subway: "St. Petersburg Stakeout". The mission's main problems are getting the sniper rifle out of the metro, then lugging it across the square without being detected.
• Skippable Boss:
  • In "St. Petersburg Revisited", don't kill Mr. 17—just sedate him instead. The guards only move into position when he dies. So the idea is to drag poor 17 all the way to the metro and kill him there. This will take awhile, but it will improve your score. At some point you will let go of him as you drag him along. This means that he is about to wake up. Bring out the rag and sedate him again when he gets up. Embarrassing.
  • It's possible to kill Mr. 17 by throwing him in the path of — what else? — a runaway vehicle. (In order for this trick to work he needs to be struck by the city bus; it won't work with a car.) Unfortunately, it is not as simple as that: He must be struck while he is awake. If you leave 17 unconscious in the path of a vehicle it will simply clip through him, and if he awakens in time, he will run out of the way of an oncoming car. You have to time it in such a way so he awakens just before the bus hits him.
  • "Redemption at Gontranno": It's best to leave one of his bodyguards alive before trying this out. Sneak up to the confessional room door and either wire, knife, or sedate Sergei through it. However, you won't actually kill him; he'll just fall to the floor. This also makes him drop the SP12. Kill the last bodyguard, then shoot the heart to initiate the showdown. Sergei will be alive, but he'll be sliding along the floor on his backside [!]. You can pretty much do whatever you want to him.
• Smarter Than You Look: The song which plays as you enter Charlie's apartment is the Allegretto from Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca. It's coming from a pianist in the living room, who just so happens to be one of Charlie's bimbos.
• Smokescreen Crime: One of 47's targets is a Malaysian hacker named Charlie Sidjan who has stolen a secret American encryption algorithm capable of allowing warheads to penetrate the United States' missile shield. Before killing him, 47 steals money from Sidjan's safe to make it look like Sidjan's assassination was a robbery gone wrong.
• South Asian Terrorists: The enemies in Nuristan and Punjab are Afghan renegades and an Indian doomsday cult respectively.
• Standard Snippet: The song played by the sexy pianist is Allegretto by Mozart.
• The Straight and Arrow Path: 47 brings it along for his trip into the Japanese mountains. Sound obviously carries far there, and a gun wouldn't be as practical for long-range shooting.
• Stopped Numbering Sequels: This will be the last numbered Hitman game for a while, partly because the myth arc isn't that important anyway.
• Suddenly Voiced: After giving her briefings entirely through computer text in the first game, Diana Burnwood is now voiced and speaks to 47 for his mission briefings.
• Super Window Jump: When you jump out the window in "Graveyard Shift", someone will always know. Unfortunately, there will always be an alert a little while after you shoot out the glass. This means that in order to get Silent Assassin, you have to make it to the end of the mission BEFORE the alert comes, while still being stealthy enough that those last guards don't spot you (what on earth are those guys doing on a SkyBridge in the pouring rain?). On the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, nothing will happen when you shoot out the window, so there is no panic.
• Teleporting Keycard Squad: "St. Petersberg Stakeout" and "St. Petersberg Revisited." Even if you manage to kill the General/Mr. 17, guards will spawn out of the nearby buildings and surround you.
• Timed Mission:
  • If you reach for the chloroform, EVERY stage has a ticking clock. It's not recommended using the rag on guards to obtain a costume. There's no way you'll get the mission done in 5 minutes without shooting everyone. It's easiest to sneak past them. Or better yet, look for a spare set lying around.
  • "St. Petersburg Stakeout". You have 5 minutes to get the Pushkin Building before the meeting starts. After that it's smooth sailing.
  • "Invitation to a Party": The Ambassador goes to check on the safe twice: Once by himself, and again while being 'escorted' by the Spetznaz agent. You have a brief window to intercept the Ambassador the first time he unlocks it, when there's no agent around to muck things up.
  • "Tracking Hayomoto": Cut the fugu to obtain the poisoned fish. While there is plenty of time to do this, note that a woman will begin to walk back and forth delivering the bowls of sushi when you cut the fugu. If you wait too long, eventually she will deliver all of them; if this occurs you will be unable to poison the target.
  • "The Motorcade Interception". A truly mazelike mission, where your windows of opportunity are painfully narrow and easily missed.
• Title Drop: The "Silent Assassin" rank first appeared in Silent Assassin, its precursor being the expense budget in C47. It is awarded to the player for completing a mission with stealth and minimal violence.
• Wall of Weapons: 47's garden shack in Gontranno is progressively filled with the weapons he's collected in the missions (if the player so chooses), which are displayed on its walls.
• With Catlike Tread:
  • The surface you're walking on affects how loud you are in this game. Grass is quiet. Gravel is noisy.
  • The floor of the Castle's first floor will squeak unless you walk along the beams.
  • Charlie's brother, like Charlie himself, is utterly harmless. But his pigsty of an office is carpeted with discarded pizza boxes and wrappers, creating a maze-like path of tinfoil and chips to avoid.
  • Blundering into the guard's quarters in Hussein's headquarters will wake up his henchmen.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Free the torture victim if you want to know where Hussein currently is. This poor guy. He will run away if the torturer who never leaves is killed. He then runs up the stairs and makes a bee line for your entrance point. If either of the guards at the helipad are alive, the torture victim will not survive his escape. He's easy enough to free if you don't care about ratings. Otherwise, he can stay there and get punched in the nuts for eternity for all 47 cares.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: In the mission "St. Petersburg Stakeout", 47 is tasked with assassinating only one general at a meeting with 4 generals, and one other individual. Though the mission will be failed if you shoot anyone at the meeting except the general you're tasked with killing, all of these generals will later become targets, and the other individual will be the game's final boss,
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!:
  • The decoy Charlie.
  • Vittorio is allegedly being held in the cellar of the Villa Borghese. By the time 47 arrives, however, he's already been moved. The whole point of killing the Don was to retrieve his key and rescue the priest. Diana then radios in again: her satellite spotted Vittorio being hauled off to Russia, presumably before this mission started. Thanks, Di.

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