Hitman

The 2016 Hitman returned the franchise to the formula that made it famous – sprawling sandbox levels full of side paths, disguises, and opportunities to eliminate a target unnoticed. The game launched episodically, gradually adding locations such as a Paris fashion show, the Italian town of Sapienza, or the Moroccan markets of Marrakesh, building each one as a living, densely populated space full of NPCs with their own behavior and routines that could be observed, eavesdropped on, and turned to the player's advantage. The Opportunities system subtly nudges the player toward interesting ways to complete the objective without taking away the freedom to choose one's own, purely improvised path, and the time-limited Elusive Targets added the tension of one-off, unrepeatable tasks where a mistake meant an irrecoverably lost opportunity.

Technically it was a significant step forward – crowds of characters, detailed interiors and exteriors, and elaborate lighting gave Agent 47 the most believable environments in the series' history. The sound and music sensitively underscored the tension and dark humor the series is famous for, and the overall atmosphere combined luxurious locations with the raw brutality of the assassin's trade. Critics and players alike embraced the return to the sandbox concept enthusiastically, and the game is now generally considered one of the high points of the whole series and of the stealth sandbox genre, even though the episodic release schedule initially raised concerns among part of the audience.

Thanks to its later merger into the World of Assassination collection, this entry remains playable and relevant today, with content expanded over further years and linked to its sequels, together forming one of the genre's most extensive sandbox trilogies. For new players it works as an ideal entry point into the series, and for the stealth-action genre it demonstrates how to give systemic freedom to a large number of possible solutions for a single mission.

Why play: Thanks to its merger into World of Assassination, this entry is an ideal gateway for new players into one of the genre's most extensive sandbox trilogies.