Ranking Every Hitman Game From Worst To Best | Game Rant
The Hitman series has been around for 18 years and has seen seven mainline entries and two unique mobile phone spin-off titles. Stealth games have often been referred to as the thinking man’s action game but developers IO Interactive have taken its own brand of stealth to another level with their Hitman series.
The scope of the series level design is so far beyond what has been seen in other stealth games including Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid. Levels require thought and patience and players can spend hours exploring the intricacies of each mission to find the best ways to eliminate Agent 47’s targets and achieving the Silent Assassin rank at the end of each mission.
Fans of spy and assassin films will be pleased to know that the games have taken inspiration from several movie sources like James Bond, Mission Impossible, The Day of the Jackal, and Leon: The Professional. While some games in the series have been instant classics for fans there are some entries that failed to hit their mark.
9 Hitman: Sniper
Hitman: Sniper was released in 2015 for IOS and Android systems. It’s a spin-off title that works similarly to the Hitman Sniper Assassin mode in HITMAN 2 and the stand-alone Sniper Challenge mode for Hitman: Absolution.
Hitman: Sniper plays like a gallery shooter with several objectives for the player to complete their mission. The player can create openings by setting up traps, using distractions, and other mechanics that Hitman fans will enjoy. However, the touch screen controls are often at odds with the zoom function and players will find themselves frustrated by accidentality shooting their gun when trying to use the scope.
8 Hitman: Codename 47
Hitman: Codename 47 was released in 2000 and is the first game in the series. It laid the groundwork for what would become a great series using several mechanics like taking and using disguises, the concealed sniper rifle, and the need for stealth.
Just like its newest entries the game rewards the most cost-effective methods to complete a mission and giving penalties for killing civilians or getting spotted by witnesses. Unfortunately, many of these mechanics feel antiquated by today’s gamer standards making the game feel unpolished as a result.
7 Hitman: Absolution
Hitman: Absolution was originally released in 2012 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and was later bundled in the Hitman HD Enhanced Collection on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2019. It introduced a lot of new gameplay mechanics and features the series like Instinct Mode and Online Contracts.
However, the level design felt more linear than ever before and the locations aside from "Hunter and Hunted" lacked any of variety or scope that is synonymous with the series. Furthermore, during the later stages of the game, Agent 47 will often find himself forced into frustrating and unavoidable firefights losing sight of why fans loved the series so much to begin with.
6 Hitman Go
Hitman Go was originally released on Android and IOS mobile systems in 2014 but was later released on the PlayStation 4 and Vita in 2016. Instead of a third-person perspective featured in the mainline series, Hitman Go was a turn-based, top-down game where Agent 47 moved around using grids.
Despite resembling a board game, this mobile entry captured the puzzle-like gameplay mechanics of the mainline series in a more simplistic way that's perfect for mobile devices. There was, however, some elements of the series that were missing like completing missions without killing non-targets, as well as some inescapable linearity.
5 Hitman: Contracts
Released in 2004 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC Hitman: Contracts and gave players a chance to catch with the events of the first game without having to endure playing it. Contracts featured retold and remastered versions of missions from the original game retold through the memories of a mortally injured Agent 47.
In addition, Contracts is much darker and more violent in tone than its predecessors which is immediately evident in its opening level at the Meat Kings night club. The game takes players all over the world with locations set in Romania, Siberia, UK, Rotterdam, Budapest, Hong Kong, and Paris with epilogue heavily inspired by the movie Leon: The Professional.
4 Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
Released in 2002 on the PC, PlayStation 2, GameCube, and the Xbox Hitman 2 offered players a true sandbox experience that became the standard for the series going forward. Where the first game in series felt like a rough draft or experimentation of ideas, its direct sequel Hitman 2: Silent Assassin polished everything for it to become the series fans love today.
Using disguises and hiding plain sight played a big part in being as stealthy as possible. Additionally, Hitman 2 provides players a variety of ways to eliminate targets and achieve the Silent Assassin grade from poisoning drinks, setting up traps, or sniping from a distance. Players can even run in and use an aggressive approach but the reward comes in being the assassin Agent 47 is supposed to be.
3 Hitman: Blood Money
Hitman: Blood Money is the fourth entry in the series and is often looked upon as a favorite among fans of the series and for good reason. As far as the narrative is concerned Hitman: Blood Money features the most compelling story in the series and is told through a journalist’s interview with the former head of the FBI.
The sandbox level design was more flexible than ever before, more so than its sequel Absolution. The game features some of the most varied and memorable missions in the series. In addition, enemy AI saw major improvements, and the newly introduced notoriety system added to the tense atmosphere.
2 HITMAN (2016)
HITMAN was released in 2016 and worked both as a reboot for the entire series and as a sequel to Hitman: Absolution. The game went back to its roots with non-linear sandboxes with levels so large and filled with content and replay value that it could rival most single-player experiences.
The game was originally released as episodic content which worked surprisingly well given the scale of each level. The structured release schedule allowed players to fully explore each level and see and do everything on offer.
1 HITMAN 2 (2018)
HITMAN 2 is the second game in the rebooted franchise and follows on directly from the events of the last game. This time, developers IO Interactive ditched the episodic nature in favor of a full game and the levels are just as large as the first game but more refined and more detailed than ever.
Each and every mission will take players hours to discover and understand everything that’s going and where the openings are. Then there’s added replay value with new objectives unlocking at the end of the missions giving way to even more opportunities to experiment with the endless cause-and-effect scenarios that play out.
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