Hitman

e 6th installment to the Hitman video game series. It was released on March 11th, 2016 digitally, and was released in retail on January 31st, 2017. It was released for Windows PC, MacOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The game's levels were released through free content updates, and these types of additions are expected for bonus content in the future.HITMAN is a third-person stealth video game in which players take control of Agent 47, a genetically enhanced assassin, traveling 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 utilize 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. Note: While the general plot of HITMAN™ follows a distinct path, many elements such as the assassination methods and character interactions are subject to the player's decisions. The game offers several events and methods to targets, along with multiple decisions based on the sandbox gameplay. This story synopsis concentrates on the main plot thread of the game the player would generally encounter on their first time playing.
 * Sandbox-type, large, non-linear levels present in earlier Hitman games, most notable being Blood Money, have been reintroduced, as opposed to the linear missions of Absolution.
 * Opportunities are introduced, which require multiple tasks to complete, eventually ending on target(s) assassination.
 * Save games are now reintroduced. Players can save their game anytime during missions, with Professional difficulty only allowing one save per level. Auto-saving is also available.
 * Instinct mode, which was introduced in Absolution, is reintroduced in a simplified form, no longer being an expendable resource
 * The Rating system akin to Blood Money's is introduced. Player's mission performance review is rated on a 5-star rating system, influenced by factors such as time is taken, the number of non-targets killed, whether the player was spotted, whether or not they have been recorded on camera or if bodies were found.
 * The ability to choose different starting locations or outfits has been introduced.
 * The Agency Pickup reintroduced, allowing players to smuggle weapons at specific points in a level.
 * Mastery Points introduced, which earn players new items including new gadgets such as weapons, different types of poison and explosives, new agency pickup locations, or new starting locations.
 * Completing challenges in a mission will now 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.
 * Disguise detection system similar to early Hitman titles is now reintroduced.
 * Time-limited "Elusive Targets" introduced, which are specialized contracts, and will only surface once. These contracts made by Square Enix, have new stories, looks, and ways to complete the missions. Once the player dies, he/she can no longer play the Elusive Contract. However, Elusive Contract can be restarted at any point, except after the player killed the target, or begun combat or are hunted by hostiles. 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 yields cosmetic rewards for the player.
 * "Escalation contracts," which are contracts created by the developers, are introduced and include multiple stages that require 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 with new changes to the level. Each Escalation contract contains five difficulty levels. Saving or Loading the game is not allowed within an Escalation contract.
 * 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.

The game's prologue takes place twenty years before the events of the game, in 1999. It begins with #47stepping off a helicopter somewhere in Greenland, in front of a cliff leading into a secret International Contract Agency recruitment base.

As he continues, the door opens and Diana Burnwood greets him, telling #47 about her position in The Agency. She leads him to his quarters, where #47 will start his training the next day.

A day passes, and #47 starts guided training, a simulated test with fake weapons and International Contract Agency operatives. #47 kills his main target, Kalvin Ritter, and stops training. After #47's training was completed, his adviser (Director Erich Soders) claims #47's stats are off the charts. Afterward, Diana gave #47 more time to practice with free-formed training.

After that, #47 began his final test. It was a re-creation of one of Soders' own legendary missions, where he had to kill Jasper Knight at a Cuban military base during the Cold War.

Soders considered #47 a threat to all The Agency stood for, so he gave #47 a challenge that would ensure his failure. Soders added more guards and limited what #47 could use during the mission. With Diana's help, #47 killed Jasper Knight with flying colors and got accepted into The Agency where he gained the title of Agent.

The prologue ends with Agent 47 talking to Diana, her telling him that he should lay low until The Agency contacts him. Diana asks Agent 47 his name, with him responding "47." After Agent 47 leaves, he continues his life as a Silent Assassin, completing many assassinations throughout the years.

After the events of Hitman: Absolution, the game starts in the year 2019. Agent 47 is given a contract assignment for Viktor Novikov and his Girlfriend, Dalia Margolis. They are the ringleaders of an intelligence agency by the name of IAGO. IAGO has stolen top secret information about MI6 agents in the middle east, and Agent 47 was sent by MI6 to eliminate Novikov and Margolis before they sell the list to the highest bidders. Agent 47 succeeds flawlessly, killing both of his targets and escaping Paris.

However, one day earlier, there was a meeting between Viktor Novikov and an unnamed man. Novikov hands the man a file, claiming it's "the secrets of the 'Global Elite,'" and the man proceeds to message an unknown source to "leak the names." The names are presumed to be Novikov and Margolis'.

Aft completing his contract in Paris, Agent 47 travels to the coastal town of Sapienza, Italy. There the ICA has been contracted to destroy a DNA-specific Virus capable of infecting and eliminating anyone without a trace and eliminate its creator Dr. Silvio Caruso of the Ether Biotech corporation and his company-appointed assistant, Dr. Francesca De Santis. Agent 47 successfully assassinates both targets, infiltrates the Ether field laboratory in the caves beneath Caruso's villa, and destroys the virus.