Hitman is a stealth video game developed by IO Interactive. The game was published by Square Enix for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in an episodic format, starting in March 2016. Ports for Linux and macOS, developed and published by Feral Interactive, were released in February 2017 and June 2017 respectively. It is the sixth entry in the Hitman series. The game's prologue acts as a prequel to Hitman: Codename 47, while the main game takes place six years after the events of Hitman: Absolution. Hitman: The Complete First Season was released in January 2017 with all prior content included, except for past Elusive Targets and the PlayStation 4-exclusive Sarajevo Six. Following IO Interactive's management buyout from Square Enix in 2017, IO Interactive took over digital publishing, while Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment was contracted for retail distribution. A sequel, titled Hitman 2, was released in 2018. Hitman is a third-person stealth video game in which players take control of Agent 47, a genetically enhanced assassin, travelling to international locations and eliminating contracted targets. As in other games in the Hitman series, players are given a large amount of room for creativity in approaching their assassinations. For instance, players may utilise long-ranged rifles to snipe a target from a long distance, or they may decide to assassinate the target at close range by using blade weapons or garrote wire. Players can use explosives, or disguise the assassination by creating a seemingly accidental death. A common method to approach a mission is to incapacitate other characters and wear their outfits as a disguise, which allows the player to gain access to restricted areas more easily. Actions of non-playable characters influence the game. For instance, players can gain more information about the position of their target through listening to a nearby news reporter. The level design of the game features a structure similar to that of Hitman: Blood Money and earlier games in the series, as opposed to the linear structure of Hitman: Absolution. Every episode in the game features a sandbox-type environment which can be explored by the player, featuring numerous ways to eliminate targets from accidents to scripted "opportunities" which require multiple tasks to complete. Levels are larger in Hitman, in which the maps in the game are "six to seven times larger than the biggest levels in Absolution". Levels accommodate about 300 non-playable characters (NPCs), with each having different routines and reacting differently to players' actions. Players can save their game anytime during missions. Instinct mode, which was introduced in Absolution, returns in a simplified form, no longer being an expendable resource. A player's mission performance review is rated on a 5-star rating system, influenced by factors such as time taken, number of non-targets killed, whether the player was spotted, whether or not they have been recorded on camera or if bodies were found. Completing challenges in a mission will award players with Mastery Points. Gaining enough mastery points will cause the player to earn a level of Mastery Level, with a total of 20 levels when playing on the "Normal" difficulty setting. As the player progresses through the 20 mastery levels, each level will earn players new items including new gadgets such as weapons, different types of poison and explosives, new agency pick-up locations, or new starting locations. The "Professional" difficulty setting has 10 mastery levels. IO Interactive introduced a "live component" to Hitman, with new content being delivered regularly in downloadable form. This includes time-limited missions called "Elusive Targets". If a player fails to assassinate an elusive target before the mission expires, or alert the target and allow them to escape, the target will not return. Successful completion of multiple targets yield cosmetic rewards for the player. "Escalation contracts", which are contracts created by the developers, include multiple stages that requires the player to complete certain tasks such as assassinating a target with a specific weapon or disguise or breaking into a safe. Completing a stage will progress through the escalation, and the difficulty will increase with new targets to assassinate, new challenges to comply with or new changes to the level. All additional downloadable content after release will be free of charge. Hitman: Absolution's online Contracts mode also returned in Hitman, allowing players to assign up to five NPCs as assassination targets, set requirements for how to kill them, and share their contract with other players to compete for high scores on. In an interview with PCGamesN, lead online designer Torben Ellert has stated that past Elusive Targets will not be making a return, saying that the quality of the content would not stand up to multiple replays.

Hitman - The Full Experience

Platform
steam

Region
Worldwide