Hitman: Codename 47 was released 20 years ago today. In all that time, IO Interactive have crafted an entertaining seven-game series (not including spin-offs), with the eighth aiming for the heart in January 2021 . The subject matter might be grim, but from the very first game, I
was released 20 years ago today. In all that time, IO Interactive have crafted an entertaining seven-game series (not including spin-offs), with the eighth aiming for the heart in January 2021. The subject matter might be grim, but from the very first game, IO Interactive were always happy to fold information and easter eggs into their immersive sim (don’t @ me) to a ridiculous degree. The games all have murderdeathkills, but they also have hauntings, mythical creatures, and real-world actors as targets.
I’ve had a blast digging up some forgotten facts and 47’s more bizarre moments (this does mean this list contains some spoilers, so beware). There are so many that this could have been 200 facts for 20 years, but I stuck with 20. It seemed right. Enjoy!
The Steam Winter Sale has arrived and brings some fantastic savings on HITMAN games - plus HITMAN 2 has been nominated for Game of the Year in the Steam Awards! Vote for HITMAN 2 now! Save up to 30% on HITMAN 2
The Steam Winter Sale has arrived and brings some fantastic savings on HITMAN games - plus HITMAN 2 has been nominated for Game of the Year in the Steam Awards! Vote for HITMAN 2 now! https://store.steampowered.com/SteamAwards/2018/
Save up to 30% on HITMAN 2 https://store.steampowered.com/app/863550/HITMAN_2/
IO Interactive has announced that it's releasing a special Hallowe'en-themed DLC pack for Hitman on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 - and it's completely free. Hitman's free Hallowe'en DLC offering should already be available to download on all platforms, and brings with it a sel
IO Interactive has announced that it's releasing a special Hallowe'en-themed DLC pack for Hitman on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 - and it's completely free.
Hitman's free Hallowe'en DLC offering should already be available to download on all platforms, and brings with it a selection of somewhat seasonal tricks and treats. The game's Colorado location is unlocked for everyone, for a limited time, and there are ten new Featured Contracts that IO calls "spooky, creepy or otherwise frightening."
Some, it says, are focussed on disguises (including the sinister scarecrow seen in the trailer below) while others "tell spooky stories through the briefing" and others "are plain mayhem".
Welcome to our first ever Publisher Sale! This year marks IO Interactive's 20th year of making games, and we're incredibly grateful for all the love and support we've been receiving from our community over all these years. This weekend, you can save up to 75% on all previous Hitm
Welcome to our first ever Publisher Sale!
This year marks IO Interactive's 20th year of making games, and we're incredibly grateful for all the love and support we've been receiving from our community over all these years.
This weekend, you can save up to 75% on all previous Hitman titles, so please have a look around to see if there's one you'd like to revisit or add to your collection.
The offer ends Monday 22 October 2018, at 10am Pacific Time.
Everyone knows Sean Bean dies in (almost) every film he's in. But now you'll get to kill him yourself - as the first Elusive Target in Hitman 2. Better known as Boromir, Sharpe or poor old Ned Stark, Sean Bean will appear in Hitman 2 as a former MI5 agent - in a very knowing nod
Everyone knows Sean Bean dies in (almost) every film he's in. But now you'll get to kill him yourself - as the first Elusive Target in Hitman 2.
Better known as Boromir, Sharpe or poor old Ned Stark, Sean Bean will appear in Hitman 2 as a former MI5 agent - in a very knowing nod to his classic role as 006 in GoldenEye. "I even managed to make them think I'd been blown up," Trevelyn - sorry, Bean - says in the trailer below:
Elusive Targets are live missions within Hitman only available for a limited amount of time. You can only take on each mission once, ever. If you fail, that's it. No pressure.
Hitman 2 will release with a brand new 1v1 competitive online multiplayer mode called Ghost Mode. This is the first time that stealthy slaphead Agent 47 has indulged in any kind of competitive multiplayer, although the recent Sniper Assassin mini-game did offer a taste to series
Hitman 2 will release with a brand new 1v1 competitive online multiplayer mode called Ghost Mode.
This is the first time that stealthy slaphead Agent 47 has indulged in any kind of competitive multiplayer, although the recent Sniper Assassin mini-game did offer a taste to series fans.
Ghost Mode pits two players against each other in a race to be the first to take out five targets undetected. Whilst players are given the same targets and are able to see each other in-game, they actually exist in separate instances. This means their actions will not affect the other player's world.
Not so long ago, IO Interactive unveiled a new location for Hitman 2 in the form of the of the lush Colombian jungle. Now, the developer has showcased the area, and the possibilities it affords for stealthy slaughter, in more detail. According to previous chatter from IO, Hitman
Not so long ago, IO Interactive unveiled a new location for Hitman 2 in the form of the of the lush Colombian jungle. Now, the developer has showcased the area, and the possibilities it affords for stealthy slaughter, in more detail.
According to previous chatter from IO, Hitman 2 will launch will six distinct locations, and the South American rainforest, which features the village of Santa Fortuna as its focal point, is only the second to be revealed so far. As you might imagine, it's in sharp contrast to the tires and tarmac of the Miami racing circuit debuted earlier this year - and its dense foliage and shadowy pathways offer an entirely different range of possibilities compared to Miami's urban sprawl.
Santa Fortuna, according to the trailer, is ruled by an "iron-fisted Delgado cartel", and you'll need to penetrate the area's tight security in order to confront the three cartel leaders convening within the village for presumably nefarious purposes. And you can do it while sporting one of the most fetching plastic ponchos ever to grace a video game.
Not so long ago, IO Interactive unveiled a new location for Hitman 2 in the form of the lush jungles of Colombia. Now, the developer has showcased the area, and the possibilities it affords for stealthy slaughter, in more detail. According to previous chatter from IO, Hitman 2 wi
Not so long ago, IO Interactive unveiled a new location for Hitman 2 in the form of the lush jungles of Colombia. Now, the developer has showcased the area, and the possibilities it affords for stealthy slaughter, in more detail.
According to previous chatter from IO, Hitman 2 will launch will six distinct locations, and the Colombian jungle level, which features the village of Santa Fortuna as its focal point, is only the second to be revealed so far. As you might imagine, it's in sharp contrast to the tires and tarmac of the Miami racing circuit debuted earlier this year - and its dense foliage and shadowy pathways offer an entirely different range of possibilities compared to Miami's urban sprawl.
Santa Fortuna, according to the trailer, is ruled by an "iron-fisted Delgado cartel", and you'll need to penetrate the area's tight security in order to confront the three cartel leaders convening within the village for presumably nefarious purposes. And you can do it while sporting one of the most fetching plastic ponchos ever to grace a video game.
Despite polarising its fanbase with a episodic release structure, Hitman 2016 was a huge favourite of mine. I loved the intricate detail of the environments and the freedom this gave you to experiment with your surroundings. That coupled with the unpredictable nature of the gamep
Despite polarising its fanbase with a episodic release structure, Hitman 2016 was a huge favourite of mine. I loved the intricate detail of the environments and the freedom this gave you to experiment with your surroundings. That coupled with the unpredictable nature of the gameplay meant that pulling off elaborate hits was always heart-pounding stuff, especially when your well laid plans crumbled before your very eyes!
Most of all though I loved the elaborate challenges you could take on in order to dispatch your primary targets in weird and wonderful ways.
To that end, I decided to attempt something rather special during my hands-on time with Hitman 2 at this years Gamescom. The Chilli Immolation Challenge is a unique kill that (as far as I'm aware) has never before been captured on video and you can watch me attempt it in the player below.
IO Interactive has formally unveiled Hitman 2, and it's heading to Xbox One, PS4, and PC on November 13th. Hitman 2 is a a direct sequel to the developer's 2016 Hitman game, and its story picks up directly where its predecessor left off, closing in on the mysterious Shadow Client
IO Interactive has formally unveiled Hitman 2, and it's heading to Xbox One, PS4, and PC on November 13th.
Hitman 2 is a a direct sequel to the developer's 2016 Hitman game, and its story picks up directly where its predecessor left off, closing in on the mysterious Shadow Client. IO notes that Hitman 2 will launch as a complete story, ditching the episodic structure seen in 2016, but will also offer "tonnes and tons of post-launch content" - including the likes of new Escalation Contracts and Elusive Targets.
As is now tradition, Agent 47's latest adventure will take him all across the world (from "sun-drenched streets to dark and dangerous rainforests", says IO), with the developer showcasing a brand-new location as part of its announcement video. Hitman 2 includes a contract set across glorious sun-bleached Miami, which unfurls on the final day of the Global Innovation Race, with thousand of fans gathered to enjoy the show.
Square Enix has a pretty massive sale on its online store at the moment. In keeping with the spirit of Black Friday, the publisher has discounted a tonne of its back catalogue, but more importantly, you can get discounts on preorders too. More important than either of those, thou
Square Enix has a pretty massive sale on its online store at the moment. In keeping with the spirit of Black Friday, the publisher has discounted a tonne of its back catalogue, but more importantly, you can get discounts on preorders too. More important than either of those, though, is that you can download Hitman 2: Silent Assassinfor zero dollars.
Just head over to the website, make an account, 'purchase' Hitman 2: Silent Assassin and then use the code FreeSilentAssassin when you check out. While you're there you can get 10% discounts on preorders for Just Cause 3 and the new Hitman, among other titles.
The first couple minutes of Hitman: Agent 47 are pretty much a video game cutscene, with grainy video and voiceover talking about secret and bad human research. The segment s purpose is to explain, Hey, this is a video game movie, and it s about genetically modified hitmen, and y
The first couple minutes of Hitman: Agent 47 are pretty much a video game cutscene, with grainy video and voiceover talking about secret and bad human research. The segment s purpose is to explain, Hey, this is a video game movie, and it s about genetically modified hitmen, and you re just going to have to deal with that. It s cool if you re late to the movie, though, because they explain all this in the clearest terms possible again about halfway through.
But who cares about the story? I watched Hitman: Agent 47 to judge whether or not Agent 47 is a good hitman. A good hitman, at least in the Hitman games, is one who succeeds at killing his targets with as few witnesses as possible, ideally without killing anyone but the targets. Sure, you can go nuts if you want, but stealth is encouraged, so that s the standard I m holding the movie version of Agent 47 to. With that in mind, I've graded his performance in the film's major action scenes. He did badly, as you'll see.
Obviously, reading about every action scene in a movie is going to lead to some spoilers, if you care.
Nighttime fight
As the movie starts, Agent 47 is out to get some bad guys, and you better believe he s gonna get them. First off, why can no one in the film industry design a UI that anyone would actually use? Agent 47 literally presses a button that says upload virus at one point. Then he tracks the bad guy cars with the Watch Dogs companion app while they all fumble with their infected, also stupid interfaces.
Pretty quickly, it s clear that our friend 47 is doing a bad job. He kills so many dudes he doesn't have to. He even shoots two guys sitting at bad-UI computer terminals and then props them up as if they re still working just so the other bad guys will get mad at them for not responding, discover that they re dead, and then see him emerge from the shadows. That s just rude as hell, and not very sneaky at all. F.
"Hm, looks good, looks good, can we get thirty more red squares though?"
Subway fight
This showdown is set up when the camera pans through the ground, letting the audience know that subways are underground, as Agent 47 chases Zachary Quinto. So, Agent 47 and Zachary Quinto (who I ve decided is a character in the film for simplicity s sake) are fighting in a subway station, on the tracks, and the camera is shaking big time. We know martial arts, they yell into each other s faces at the same time, but they don t really. They just know how to work with direction that obscures the details of a bad fight.
There is a cool bit where Agent 47 almost, but doesn t, get killed by an oncoming train—remember that, from The Matrix?—but as a hitman he does very badly. Everyone in the subway station sees him. He shoots bullets into all kinds of crowds. There s no way he isn t being chased by law enforcement. F.
Mass panic doesn't typically indicate a stealthy approach.
Military fight
Next there s a part where Agent 47 walks into a heavily guarded military complex covered with guns. The metal detector and X-ray scanner detect all of these, another thing that happened in The Matrix, but instead of killing all the guards with sick moves, he lets himself get captured so that he can use his sick moves on everyone later. Getting captured is not a good hitman thing to do, even if you plan to escape later, but especially if you plan to escape later by loudly shooting people. F.
Look at my guns, I have many.
Jet engine fight
This is a prolonged fight involving a jet engine, and it isn t bad. Some dudes even get sucked into the jet engine, which almost approaches the creativity you'd see in an actual Hitman mission. And Agent 47 is a little stealthy here, sneaking up behind people and killing them with stuff he finds lying around, which shows improvisation and stealthiness. Still, he almost dies and is only saved by the villain s fatal flaw: pride. You can t always count on a villain to have a fatal flaw, 47. Sometimes they re just regular guys. D+.
This is a little bit sneaky!
Audi RS 7 chase
This is the best scene because it stars an Audi RS 7 drifting around the bends of a parking garage and killing the hell out of a bunch of motorcycle jerks chasing it. I guess Agent 47 is driving it, but let's just pretend the Audi is its own character with its own motivation.
I really felt the Audi s pain when it was being shot full of cables from rooftop bad guys, who held it in place with their evil grapples, and then tried to zipline down the cables to kill Agent 47. No one mourns the Audi, but I suppose they don't have time what with bad guys coming from every direction. It turns out, those zipline guys made a bad mistake. They could have just shot at Agent 47 from the relative safety of the rooftops, but instead they get all plugged by his dual handguns while slowly descending. This happens in the middle of the street. Everyone sees it and Agent 47 is not stealthy at all. Also, he picks up Hannah Ware and carries her through streets full of people and no one cares and that's dumb. F.
Holding one gun is hard enough, two is just impossible!
Skyscraper fight
This is a cool scene, because it involves helicopters and the roof of a skyscraper—you might say that the final gunshot was an exclamation mark—and Hannah Ware finally becomes the badass she secretly was the whole time. It s also the most visually arresting scene, with 47 s white shirt losing its edges against the impossibly white walls of an evil office building, which was the signature technique of one of my favorite American illustrators, Coles Phillips. Meanwhile, most of the rest of the movie oozes with all style of stock art: Bald man uses laptop. Depressed woman s empty pill bottle rolls across the floor. Establishing shot of car.
Anyway, it s fun to look at, but is Agent 47 finally a good hitman here, at the end? No way. He comes up with a convoluted plan to hit his man, sure, but everyone is looking at him like, I know who you are, you are a hitman, and I have seen your face. That s just not good hitman work. F.
None of this is very sneaky at all.
So, is it a good movie?
Not really. I ve tried not to spoil the details of the plot because the only thing it has going for it is a couple misdirections. Other than that, it s pretty boring. Turns out an emotionless dude with a moderately close head shave is not very exciting to watch any time he s not shooting people.
Zachary Quinto is also boring, and doesn t convince me that he is a tough man, though he tries. Hannah Ware plays the best of the characters, because she s allowed to express feelings with her face, but the story doesn t let her be much more than a human MacGuffin. She appears at the beginning in a movie-ready state: a woman whose only defining qualities are plot points, like Lisbeth Salander if all we knew about her was that she has a dragon tattoo, and that the tattoo is a treasure map.
And that d all be fine if Agent 47 had James Bond or John Wick or The Raid levels of style and choreography, but it only timidly approaches those films to ask if it can borrow some of their stuff, and then breaks their stuff. Daniel Craig s contemplative rooftop swim in Skyfall, for instance, said a little about his headspace, and was a damn cool establishing scene. In this movie, Ware takes a nighttime dip in a hotel pool for no reason. I guess she s swimming because she s… upset… about the hitman?
This important scene establishes that the hotel has a swimming pool.
Meanwhile, even with John Wick's David Leitch on staff, the action is good but never exceptional. Hitman is so concerned with making sure its characters look badass that it s often cut like a trailer, obscuring the greater form of the fights, and the complete windup and follow-through of each movement. The Matrix, on the other hand, shows us the full breadth of every dumb flip, kick, punch, block, and grimace in that subway scene. It s silly, and not really convincing, but it's still a wonder to watch all that continuous action and reaction. In Equilibrium, Christian Bale looks super dumb doing gunkata forms, but he doesn t give a crap, and not giving a crap is what makes him so cool. There's no attempt to obscure his choreography, allowing the action to be unreal and goofy and way more fun to watch.
There is some cool action choreography in Hitman, for sure, and I spotted not one but two helicopters in it, but that s all it has to offer. Helicopters, a good car chase, and a bit of good gunplay. Otherwise, the sentimental bits are entirely inert, the plot consists of cutscenes I'd skip in a game, and rather than being cool and effortlessly badass, Agent 47 seems like a self-conscious Bond impersonator. Check it out, guys, I just got out of this big fight, and what do I do? I just casually adjust my sleeve. Is that cool? It was cool when Bond did it but is it cool when I do it? Ah, it's cool, yep. I'm cool.
Save 75% on Hitman: Absolution™ during this week's Midweek Madness*! Hitman: Absolution follows the Original Assassin undertaking his most personal contract to date. Betrayed by the Agency and hunted by the police, Agent 47 finds himself pursuing redemption in a corrupt and twist
Save 75% on Hitman: Absolution™ during this week's Midweek Madness*!
Hitman: Absolution follows the Original Assassin undertaking his most personal contract to date. Betrayed by the Agency and hunted by the police, Agent 47 finds himself pursuing redemption in a corrupt and twisted world.
*Offer ends Thursday at 4PM Pacific Time
Announcement
Square Enix Publisher Weekend - Day One
The Square Enix Publisher Weekend begins today with 50% off the entire Square Enix Catalog ! Additionally, each day will bring a new Daily Deal with even deeper discounts! Today only, take 75% off the entire Hitman franchise ! You can also pick up the Square Enix Hit Collection t
The Square Enix Publisher Weekend begins today with 50% off the entire Square Enix Catalog! Additionally, each day will bring a new Daily Deal with even deeper discounts!
Today only, take 75% off the entire Hitman franchise! You can also pick up the Square Enix Hit Collection to add all of your favorite titles to your Steam library for one low price!
Be sure to check back each day, now through Sunday, for more great deals!
Announcement
Midweek Madness - Kane & Lynch/Hitman Bundle 75% off!
Pick up the Hitman and Kane & Lynch titles in one awesome pack for 75% off during the Midweek Madness Sale! Individual titles are also available at 66% off. Offer Ends Thursday at 4pm Pacific Time.
Pick up the Hitman and Kane & Lynch titles in one awesome pack for 75% off during the Midweek Madness Sale! Individual titles are also available at 66% off.
Some prototype box arthas been spotted by Kotaku in a marketing survey, showing three possible covers for Hitman: Absolution. Amusingly, the game's listed in the mock-ups as Hitman: Subtitle. It's likely they were created before the Absolution subtitle was decided. You'll find th
Some prototype box arthas been spotted by Kotaku in a marketing survey, showing three possible covers for Hitman: Absolution. Amusingly, the game's listed in the mock-ups as Hitman: Subtitle. It's likely they were created before the Absolution subtitle was decided. You'll find the three pics below. Which would you choose?
IO have followed up on yesterday's Hitman Absolution teaser trailer with news of the sequel's brand new engine, and a few hints about Absolution's dark, conspiracy-laden story. Absolution has been built "from the ground up" in the new Glacier 2 engine, created by IO Interactive,
IO have followed up on yesterday's Hitman Absolution teaser trailer with news of the sequel's brand new engine, and a few hints about Absolution's dark, conspiracy-laden story.
Absolution has been built "from the ground up" in the new Glacier 2 engine, created by IO Interactive, and will have Agent 47 running from the law "on a personal journey through a corrupt and twisted world" that will be "both a familiar and yet significantly different experience to any of the other Hitman games."
Agent 47 has been betrayed by his most trusted allies (again), and must take on a new and dangerous contract to uncover the truth behind the conspiracy that surrounds him. IO say that Absolution will be "something our silent assassins will relish as well as those who are new to the Hitman world.”
Keep an eye on the new Hitman Absolution website for more information in future. Hitman Absolution is slated for release next year.
Today's deal is The Hitman franchise consisting of Hitman: Codename 47 , Hitman 2: Silent Assassin , and Hitman: Blood Money -- all at a hefty 75% off. Offer ends Saturday at 10AM Pacific Time. As always, you can go 'all in' with Square Enix Complete Pack that includes everything
Today's deal is The Hitman franchise consisting of Hitman: Codename 47, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, and Hitman: Blood Money -- all at a hefty 75% off. Offer ends Saturday at 10AM Pacific Time.
As always, you can go 'all in' with Square Enix Complete Pack that includes everything Square Enix has to offer on Steam today at an even higher discount rate! Complete Pack deal will be available through Feb. 20th, 2011.
Announcement
SQUARE ENIX, Eidos Interactive Publisher Week - Day 1
SQUARE ENIX and Edios Interactive are having a publisher week all week long with a set of different deep discounted games each day! Monday has the following deals available: 50% off the following games: Hitman: Codename 47 Hitman: Blood Money Hitman 2: Silent Assassin Deus Ex: Ga
SQUARE ENIX and Edios Interactive are having a publisher week all week long with a set of different deep discounted games each day!
Monday has the following deals available:
50% off the following games:
Hitman: Codename 47 Hitman: Blood Money Hitman 2: Silent Assassin Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition Deus Ex: Invisible War
