HITMAN is a multiplatform stealth-action game with shooter elements, developed by IO Interactive on the Glacier 2 engine. The publisher is Square Enix. The game was released on March 11, 2016, but throughout 2016 its content was supplemented and updated.
"Beyond our world, there exists another... It stands behind nations, justice, and ethics. It never sleeps. It exists everywhere. Once you enter it... you will not return. Welcome to the world of assassination. You are Agent 47, the best hitman in the world."
According to the developers, HITMAN is not a reboot, nor is it a prequel to Absolution. It is a pure experience, a return to the roots, and the foundation for future games in the series. This time, we find Agent 47 at the peak of his career. As an employee of the International Contract Agency, he travels the world eliminating targets among very influential and high-profile individuals. Diana Burnwood is back in the mix as well.
The geography of the bald assassin's business trips is quite extensive: from the fashionable Paris and the sunny Italian coast to the bustling, scorching streets of Marrakech and beyond... Periodically, new contracts, new locations, new content, and new challenges are released, turning HITMAN into a kind of episodic game. In between major updates, there are one-time "live" events and unique targets appear. These events are strictly time-limited (for example, 48 hours), after which players permanently lose the opportunity to participate.
In the game, we can expect large, meticulously crafted, open locations that offer multiple paths and opportunities to accomplish assigned tasks, as well as a wide array of tools and gadgets for eliminating one or more victims. Each location is a living, crowded, and complex "sandbox" where every NPC has a name, and every object has significance. How to kill, where to kill, what to kill with, and even whom to kill—all of this is left to the discretion of the players themselves. Want to wield a fire axe and put on a show in the style of "blood, guts, dismemberment"? Or conversely, do your job quietly, disguise the murder as an accident, and slip away unnoticed. In short, create, improvise, and enjoy the freedom of choice.