Hitman 3 has just released to the delight of fans, and it has been well received by players and critics alike. This title marks the end of the World of Assassination trilogy and also allows players to import maps, levels, weapons, and progression from both Hitman and Hitman 2.
The Hitman franchise began in 2000 and has released many titles since, including mobile spin-offs. Whether you’re a long time fan of the series or a fairly new Hitman player, there’s bound to be a thing or two that you didn’t know about the Hitman franchise.
10 David Bateson
Most Hitman fans are aware that David Bateson has voiced Agent 47 in all Hitman titles to date, but not many are aware that Agent 47’s appearance was actually based on Bateson too. Though Bateson has voiced all the games, there was a time when this almost wasn’t the case.
When Hitman: Absolution was announced, a different actor was chosen to voice Agent 47, and Bateson stated on his personal website that he had been “unceremoniously dropped from the franchise”. However, after much backlash from fans, Bateson was reinstated as the voice of Agent 47.
9 A Game of Firsts
The very first game in the series, Hitman: Codename 47, which released in 2000 for PC was groundbreaking on more than one level. It was one of the very first games to utilize ragdoll physics, beaten by just a couple of years by Jurassic Park: Trespasser, which released in 1998.
Additionally, Codename 47 was one of the first games to utilize world-based physics for foliage and other environmental elements that players could use while carrying out their assassinations.
8 Dropped by the Agency
Because the first game in the series, Hitman: Codename 47, was only available on PC and was not included by any of the collections that were later released, it is arguably the least played. As a result, many fans of the series aren’t aware of a mechanic that only featured in this title — you could get dropped by the Agency (also known as the ICA).
In Codename 47, players could lose money when undertaking contracts, and if Agent 47’s bank balance went below $0, the Agency would cancel his account, effectively a game over for players. However, they could just replay the mission successfully to continue.
7 You Can Make Agent 47 Dance
Many players don’t realize that there are times where they can make the normally stoic character of Agent 47 break it down on the dance floor. In Hitman: Blood Money, during the “Murder of Crows” mission, if the player doesn’t move for a while when in one of the clubs, Agent 47 will start dancing.
Additionally, in the “Till Death Do Us Part” mission in Blood Money, when Agent 47 moves to the end of the dance floor, if players don’t make him move for some time then he will start dancing then too.
6 Payback Homage
There is a specific scene in Hitman: Contracts that is a tribute to the 1999 film Payback that starred Mel Gibson. Agent 47 is shot in the stomach and the questionable surgeon operating on him uses whiskey to sterilize the instruments and wound, but not before taking a drink of it for himself.
In Payback, a near-identical scene happens, though Mel Gibson’s character of Porter is shot in the back instead. There, the surgeon does the same thing with the whiskey, and both surgeons have a similar appearance too.
5 The Number 47
IO Interactive often pays homage to Agent 47, not just with the Hitman series, but in some of its other franchises too. For example, Hitman: Absolution released in the 47th week of the year, on November 20.
Additionally, the first Kane & Lynch game (also by IO Interactive) had 47 achievements/trophies in total. Additionally, in Chapter Three of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, after killing all the cops you can leave the bank and see a garage with a large “47” painted on it.
4 Allan
In Hitman: Blood Money, during the “A Dance with the Devil” mission, players can go into the kitchen and examine a lobster crate. Instead of having a proper description, it reads “Allan please add details”, but clearly whoever Allan was, he forgot to do this before the game released.
IO Interactive was more than willing to laugh at itself and pay homage to this mistake in Hitman: Absolution, where if players score 666 during the shooting contest then the same message will appear as a fun easter egg.
3 Controversy
The Hitman franchise never seems to be far from controversy, and many of its titles have caused controversy on release, starting from the second title in the series. When Hitman 2: Silent Assassin released, there was a level where Agent 47 killed Sikhs at a holy site. IO interactive later removed this level from certain versions.
There have been many other controversies, such as criticisms about the highly-sexualized nuns in the trailer for Hitman: Absolution, advertisements for Blood Money that showed bodies with pun captions about how they were killed, and even a Facebook minigame where players could threaten their friends with assassination, which was also for the release of Absolution.
2 The Hitman Games Share a Universe with Kane and Lynch
Both the Hitman series and the Kane & Lynch series share their creators, IO Interactive, but they also share a universe too. There are many references to each other throughout the games, some of which prove that both series are set in the same world.
For example, in Hitman: Blood Money, you can find a newspaper clipping that reports on a crime committed by Kane and Lynch. Additionally, both Kane and Lynch make cameo appearances in Hitman: Absolution in a couple of missions.
1 Real Life Hitman
A small English film studio called Realm Pictures released a video called “Real Life First Person Shooter (Chatroulette Version)” where they surprised Chatroulette users with an interactive FPS game in real life. IO Interactive saw this and liked it so much they asked Realm Pictures to make a similar Hitman video for the release of Hitman in 2016.
David Bateson joined the team to do the voice over for the actor playing Agent 47, and it was all filmed in the English county of Devon, which also happens to be home to Dartmoor — one of the new map areas in Hitman 3.
