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Hitman

Overall Rating: 3.93 • 2033 reviews
The Sprint Player The Resilient Player

Hitman is built around dense sandbox levels where a clean two-minute kill can sit next to an hour of quiet setup, disguise swaps, and improvised exits. It stands out by making failure useful too, since each reset teaches routes, routines, and shortcuts that turn messy first attempts into fast, confident runs.

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Details

Some of the particulars and information about Hitman.
Developer: Feral Interactive
Release Date: March 11, 2016
How Long to Beat: 24 hrs

Great for:

The Sprint Player The Resilient Player

Ratings

Some of the ratings and scores for Hitman.
83 Metacritic
NR IGN
-- Our Score

Genres

Action
Adventure

Systems

Here's where you can find Hitman and play.

ESRB: Adults Only

Blood
Intense Violence
Sexual Themes
Strong Language
Overview
Why Play?
How Much Time?
Overview

Hitman plays through open-ended assassination missions where disguises, environmental kills, and route improvisation let you move fast, recover from mistakes, and reshape each target encounter

Why Play?

Hitman rewards short sessions and repeat runs with smart sandbox assassinations, where each mistake teaches faster routes, cleaner kills, and more satisfying control over every mission

How Much Time?

Hitman breaks time into replayable assassination sandboxes, with missions that work in short sessions while mastery, discoveries, and challenge runs steadily extend each level

Dense Levels, Quick Plans

Hitman drops you into compact sandbox maps built around routines, blind spots, and opportunities you can exploit in minutes. A target might be reachable through a disguise, a staged accident, or a direct rush to the objective if you already know the route.

That flexibility makes missions work at different speeds. You can spend time learning the space, then come back later and clear the same contract with a much cleaner, faster plan.

Disguises And Recovery

The disguise system is the heart of how movement and risk work. Changing outfits opens doors, shifts who questions you, and lets you blend into areas that would otherwise turn hostile, but getting too close to the wrong person can still blow your cover.

When things go wrong, the mission usually stays playable instead of collapsing immediately. Improvised escapes, grabbed weapons, and sudden route changes turn mistakes into messy but memorable recoveries, and each failed attempt teaches you something useful for the next run.

Replay Through Mastery

Progress in Hitman comes less from leveling up a character and more from understanding systems. You learn guard paths, item locations, shortcut routes, and how small setup actions can create simple kills that look effortless once everything is in place.

That structure gives the game strong replay value without demanding long uninterrupted sessions. A single mission can support a short attempt, a careful experiment, or a full planning-heavy run depending on how much time and patience you want to bring to it.

Fits Short Play Sessions

Hitman works unusually well when you only want one focused mission. A run can be a quick in-and-out job once you know the map, but it still feels complete because each level has a clear objective, a contained space, and several reliable ways to finish the contract.

That structure makes stopping points easy. You can test one idea, learn something useful, and leave without feeling like you wasted the session or forgot where you were in a larger campaign.

Mistakes Improve The Run

One of the best reasons to play Hitman is how failure becomes part of the fun instead of a drag. Getting spotted, wearing the wrong disguise, or taking a bad route usually reveals something valuable, like who patrols where, which door stays open, or how close you can get before suspicion rises.

That means repeat attempts feel smarter rather than repetitive. The game steadily turns rough first tries into smooth, controlled clears, and that sense of personal improvement is satisfying even if you only revisit a mission a few times.

Creative Control Over Kills

Hitman stands out because the target is only part of the puzzle. The real appeal is choosing the style of the kill and the exit, whether that means blending into a crowd, engineering an accident, or salvaging a plan that went sideways without turning the whole mission into chaos.

That flexibility gives each level a strong sense of ownership. You are not just following a scripted solution, you are shaping a clean little operation that can be elegant, messy, fast, or quietly improvised depending on your mood.

Main Story Playtime

A straightforward run through Hitman usually lands around 10 to 14 hours. The campaign moves through a set of self-contained assassination maps, each built like a small sandbox with one main contract and several possible approaches. Progress comes mission by mission rather than through long stretches of travel or filler, so it is easy to see where your time is going.

Most sessions fit neatly into 20 to 60 minutes, depending on whether you are learning a new level or returning with a clear plan. Each mission gives you natural stopping points after a successful kill, an extraction, or even a failed attempt that taught you something useful for next time.

Completion and Replay Time

Seeing most of what Hitman offers can stretch into roughly 40 to 90+ hours, with full completion pushing even further. The extra time comes from mastery levels, challenge lists, discovery-based objectives, alternate kill setups, hidden routes, and unlocks that change how future runs play out.

Replay is the real time sink here, because the same map can be a long, careful setup on one night and a fast six-minute contract on the next. As you learn routines, disguises, shortcuts, and escape paths, missions get shorter, cleaner, and more flexible, which makes repeat runs feel meaningfully different instead of just repeated.

Trailer

A Quick Look at Hitman

Curious what Hitman is all about? The trailer gives you a great first look at the world, the vibe, and the kind of story you're stepping into.

Hitman Trailer
Videos

Related videos for Hitman

These videos give some tips and pointers on getting started with Hitman

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Screenshots

Screenshots of Hitman

Want to see what Hitman actually looks like in-game? These screenshots will hopefully give you a feel for what the world of Hitman is like.

Hitman
Hitman
Hitman
Hitman
Hitman
Extras

Downloadable Content for Hitman

DLC just means more of a good thing. Here are some for Hitman

Hitman HD Enhanced Collection
Hitman HD Enhanced Collection
HITMAN - GOTY Legacy Pack
HITMAN - GOTY Legacy Pack
Hitman: Definitive Edition
Hitman: Definitive Edition
HITMAN - Spring Pack
HITMAN - Spring Pack
Hitman - Patient Zero
Hitman - Patient Zero

Hitman HD Enhanced Collection

What’s Included

Hitman HD Enhanced Collection is not new story DLC for 2016’s Hitman. It is a separate remaster package that bundles Hitman: Blood Money and Hitman: Absolution with upgraded visuals on newer consoles, released in 2019. It does not add missions, locations, or modes to the 2016 game itself.

Is It Worth It

If you want extra content specifically for Hitman (2016), this is not the right purchase. It does not expand that game’s campaign or systems. It is only worth considering if you also want to revisit older Hitman games in a cleaner console version. As add-on content for Hitman, it is optional and not meaningful.

HITMAN - GOTY Legacy Pack

What’s Included

Hitman – GOTY Legacy Pack is a content transfer pack tied to the Game of the Year material from the first Hitman. In practice, it brings the GOTY extras into the newer platform setup, including the Patient Zero campaign and the GOTY Escalation Contracts, along with themed outfits and weapons linked to that release.

This is not a brand new standalone expansion built from scratch. It is mainly a way to access or carry over the first game’s upgraded GOTY content in a newer version of Hitman.

Is It Worth It

It is worthwhile if you want the complete version of the first Hitman content in one place, especially for Patient Zero, which is the main attraction here. That campaign gives you a few extra missions with a slightly different tone from the main story and fits naturally with the core sandbox design.

If you already own that content elsewhere, this is less important. If you do not, and you want more official missions rather than cosmetic extras, this is one of the more useful add-ons tied to Hitman.

HITMAN - Halloween Pack

Hitman – Halloween Pack is not a meaningful DLC purchase on its own. It was a small seasonal content drop tied to the Sapienza mission, built around a Halloween-themed contract and atmosphere update rather than a substantial expansion. If you are deciding whether to spend extra money, this is optional and easy to skip.

Hitman: Definitive Edition

What’s Included

Hitman: Definitive Edition is a complete package rather than a small add-on. It bundles the full first season of missions and includes the extra content released around it, such as bonus episodes, the Patient Zero campaign, themed packs, and cosmetic extras tied to some versions of the release.

The main value is that it puts nearly all of the 2016 game’s locations and side missions in one place. That means more contracts, more targets, and more reasons to revisit each sandbox map.

Is It Worth It

Yes, if you do not already own most of Hitman‘s original content. This edition meaningfully improves the package because the game works best when you have a full set of locations to replay and experiment with, and Patient Zero is a worthwhile side campaign.

If you already own the base season and its major expansions, this is mostly a repackaging and may not give you much new. For new or returning players, though, it is the most practical version of the original game.

HITMAN - Spring Pack

The Hitman Spring Pack was a real promotional release, but it was not substantial DLC in the usual sense. It mainly provided limited access to selected base game content rather than a new mission set, story expansion, or major mode. If you already own the main game or later editions, this is not something you need to seek out separately.

Hitman - Patient Zero

What’s Included

Hitman – Patient Zero is a substantial post-launch campaign for the 2016 episodic game. It includes four story missions built around a virus outbreak plot, using remixed versions of existing locations like Bangkok, Sapienza, Colorado, and Hokkaido with new objectives, disguises, routes, and target setups.

It is not a brand-new map pack, but it does change the feel of familiar spaces enough to play differently from the main campaign. The tone is also a bit more urgent and story-driven than the base game.

Is It Worth It

Yes, if you liked Hitman‘s sandbox assassinations and want a compact extra campaign. Patient Zero fits naturally into the base game and gives you a solid reason to revisit some of its best locations with fresh mission design.

It is optional rather than essential, especially if you were hoping for completely new environments. Still, for players who want more structured Hitman missions without a huge time commitment, it is one of the more worthwhile add-ons.

Frequently Asked Questions

Have Questions About Hitman?

Does Hitman have multiplayer or co-op?

No. Hitman is a single-player game built around solo assassination missions. Some versions include leaderboards, community contracts, or timed live events, but you play the missions alone.

Do you need to play the earlier games to follow Hitman?

No. The main plot is easy enough to follow even if this is your first Hitman game. You will catch more background references if you know the series, but the mission structure works well on its own.

How punishing is stealth if things go wrong in Hitman?

It can get tense, but it is not a one-mistake fail state unless you want it to be. You can fight your way out, hide, change disguises, or escape and still complete many missions, though a messy run usually costs score and stealth ratings.

Is Hitman more about story missions or one big open world?

It is mission-based rather than one continuous open world. Each location is a separate sandbox with its own targets, security setup, and opportunities, so the game feels focused instead of sprawling.

Are there guided options if you do not want to figure everything out alone in Hitman?

Yes. Mission Stories can point you toward staged opportunities, useful disguises, and easier ways to reach a target. You can follow those hints closely for a smoother run or turn them down if you want more discovery.

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