What Hitman Games Should I Play, to Understand the Story?

[00slash00]

So right now Gamers Gate is having a Hitman sale. Codename 47, Silent Assassin, and Blood Money are all 75% off and Absolution is 70% off. I've wanted to play Absolution for a while and this seems like the best time, but I'm worried I may not understand the story, if I haven't played the previous games. If I just bought Absolution, would I understand the story, or are there plot points I'd need to play the previous games to really understand? I played Codename 47 a long time ago and all i really remember is that it seemed like the game just kind of...ended. Also, I am aware that most people seem to consider Blood Money to be the best in the series, but I am focusing mainly on story.

So to all you Hitman fans out there, if I'm mainly interested in story, which games (if any) would you recommend I play, in order to fully understand what's going on in Absolution

 

[Corven]

There is no real over arching plot-line across the games, play whichever one you want.

 

[Supernova1138]

Absolution is pretty self contained story wise. It doesn't really refer back to any of the previous games. You don't have to play the previous titles to play Absolution. I would recommend playing Blood Money simply for being the best game in the series overall, but it isn't necessary to play it to understand the story in Absolution.

 

[PsychicTaco115]

This is me speaking, but Absolution's story is pretty self-contained; previous games are NOT needed to get behind this one

So, there you go

Now to wait and get quoted telling me I'm wrong!

 

[DoPo]

Well...there isn't that much story to talk about. I guess the important ones are Condename 47, as it has the origin of Agent 47. And there is Blood Money - Absolution follows up pretty much immediately after so if you are after the story, then Blood Money is crucial. I recall Silent Assassin did follow immediately after the end of Codename 47 but I don't think it was anything big, still, nice to see the aftermath of the previous game. Other than that, it's "You're Agent 47, one of the best hired assassins. You're most people think you're just a rumour. Buy you work for a mysterious agency that offers you contracts for money. Your link is Diana - a female who contacts you through phone and email to give you the next hit."

But all the games are fun, so I'd suggest you play them if you like the genre. I notice Contracts (it's the third instalment) is not there, though, for some reason I don't think I've seen on on DD. But then again, it wasn't anything special either - no important plot points, as I recall, and it was pretty much "more of the same".

EDIT: I see several "it's self-contained" comments - I've yet to play it, but I do recommend Blood Money, as there is an important plot point there that leads up to Absolution.

 

[Smertnik]

There isn't really much story to speak of in the first place. Just read the wiki page and you're good to go. But you should play Silent Assassin and Blood Money anyway, since they're both (arguably) better games.

 

[Darquenaut]

Hitman 2: Silent Assassin is a more of a interesting character development piece if you can wade through to the end in that Agent 47 begins the game living in denial of just what he is and why he was created. The game's final mission bookends it all as Agent 47 finally comes to grips with why he even exists.

Hitman: Contracts is a bit more of a darker thread than the other games. It doesn't have much of a direct story attachment to Agent 47's character sans for the first mission which explains Agent 47's origins. The rest of the game more highlights the places he's been and the things he has seen which, if anything, explains his disassociation with most of humanity- and least, that's what I perceived.

Hitman: Blood Money's storyline is actually centralized around a government conspiracy to rout out and eliminate Agent 47, chronicling the steps Agent 47 took and the conspiracy's clutches closing in on him. If you play but one Hitman game, I suggest this one first.

Hitman: Absolution delves more onto the disassociation I mentioned above with Contracts. Your first mission inthe game is to eliminate Diana Burnwood, which has been essentially the only human contact Agent 47 had left in this world that he could even somewhat trust. Although I haven't finished the game thus far, the cinema sequences are especially poignant to players (like myself) that grew to appreciate the awkward camaraderie Diana and 47 had.

Sooooo... there ya go.
Captcha: Nice Job. Why thank you, Captcha.

 

[Christopher Fisher]

Hitman games have never been about the story and that's in large part why they were far better than Absolution. They didn't care that having 47 globetrotting didn't make any sense from a narrative perspective.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

Codename 47 just explains his origins.

Hitman 2 Silent Assassin is self-contained.

Contracts is scattered, but it ends with beginning to the plot Blood Money.

Absolution is self-contained.

 

[daveman247]

contracts removed

Contracts got done for copyright/ permissions running out for a music track in the game (in one of the levels in a bar) so they removed the game from online stores instead of paying to renew it/ removing it from the game. It CAN still be sold as a disc though for some reason. I think said band was asking for a lot of money or something.

I haven't played contracts, so I don't exactly know what the story is there.

Not too much happened in contracts. 47 gets shot (like they reference in blood money) and all the levels are his memories as he is dying/ high on morphine. So no connection between them.


OT: Absolution is pretty much its own story. You may miss certain details like why Diana is an important character or why 47 has a barcode on his head or what the agency exactly is. Pretty large gaps but nothing a trip to a wiki won't fix

 

[Reaper195]

The games are all pretty self-contained. The most you'll be slightly confused about is the beginning of Absolution involving an ex-co-worker. But I'd suggest playing through them all from the first. They are all brilliant games which just keep on improving with each one.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

There are token stories throughout the games, and scenes where elements of 47's character comes through, but the games aren't played for their story. They're played to be a hitman on a mission. You have a target and a scenario and you have to finish the mission with your preferred tools, techniques and your choice of presented opportunities.

Don't bother with Absolution. It really is a shitty, boring game with a shitty, boring story and shittier mechanics. Steer clear; it doesn't put a scratch on Contracts or Blood Money. The third, sadly not available online *anywhere* (apparently because of a licensing issue around a single fu****g track in the game), recreated some of the best from the first two. In particular, the Hotel level recreated from the first game, is an absolute masterpiece. Contracts presented it with better GFX and the save-system lacking from the first, but it's one of the stand-out levels of sheer gaming perfection, the franchise at it's zenith. Play it on hardest diff and you'll seriously have a blast with it.

Also worth mentioning, The Opera and New Orleans levels in Blood Money, and the Steamboat too are very nicely done. Lots of different and interesting ways to get the job done.

Play from the beginning. The first is actually quite a personal story IIRC, the fourth is a "story within a story". I don't remember two or three, except for the gameplay. Get them!

 

[CannibalCorpses]

All the hitman games are good and the overall story is irrelevant to each title. Codename 47 has some great levels but also some poor ones. Silent assassin is much the same. Bloodmoney is good throughout with some very well designed levels. Absolution is a step away from what hitman was before but still a good game to play. It has far too many ways to do each level to the point where every level is an innevitable finish.

Let me summarise the story for you...cloned assassin, doesn't consider himself human, kills loads of targets and then scrapes a victory in the end. Hitman isn't about story but about gameplay so don't get too hung up on the mantlepiece and get poking that fire!

 

[DoPo]

contracts removed

Contracts got done for copyright/ permissions running out for a music track in the game (in one of the levels in a bar) so they removed the game from online stores instead of paying to renew it/ removing it from the game. It CAN still be sold as a disc though for some reason. I think said band was asking for a lot of money or something.

Ah, that would explain it. I thought it would have been something legal-y but I didn't look it up. Thanks for the info.

 

[redmoretrout]

The plot in the Hitman games is terrible, and not really worth your time or effort. Just play whichever game you like the most. (If you haven't played any just start with Blood Money, it's best one)

 

[Zeke63]

just play blood money, its the best one by far

 

[Dogstile]

Blood Money and Absolution are the only two that you really need, don't worry about the rest.

 

[MajorTomServo]

Hitman is one of the only series where I genuinely don't care about the story and skip all the cutscenes.

Get Blood Money though, it's the best of the series.

 

[Auron]

I highly recommend the series from Silent Assassin onwards, I played SA when it was already old(around 2007) and while it has some archaic mechanics I still think the game holds up pretty well, Contracts and Blood Money are pretty good and generally similar. I liked Absolution a lot but many people hated that it's not a bunch of agency missions like the other games but a linear story.