Like many, I was surprised when Hitman was announced as episodic. Surprised, but not worried. Story has never been the main focus of Hitman. That changed for Absolution and I—like many series fans—didn’t much care for it. In releasing each mission individually, IO seemed to be signaling this new Hitman was again a standalone series of sandbox murder playgrounds. Everything good about Blood Money, but bigger and with more options.
Looking back, that’s pretty much what we got. Hitman, like Blood Money before it, does have a story, but it’s a tale told in the margins—in post-mission cutscenes, overheard dialogue and, later on, specific mission objectives that nonetheless follow the regular template. That’s good, because the template works. There is a target, or two, or four, each with their own…
