Hitman (franchise) developer IO Interactive
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
The first sequel in the series, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, was developed by IO Interactive and published by Eidos Interactive for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in October 2002, and GameCube in June 2003. The gameplay of Silent Assassin builds upon that of Codename 47, focusing more on its stealth mechanics and introducing new features such as the option for a first-person view, the ability to incapacitate enemies instead of killingthem, and missions with multiple possible approaches. "Now that the main platform was PS2, we felt more at home", Anderson remembers, though some players of the original were dissatisfied with the introduction of a mid-level save system. The controls were improved and the team tried to fix AI problems, but non-player characters found new ways to misbehave. "Many have tried to fix the AI since and all have failed", Anderson smiles. "It just has to have those odd moments, otherwise it wouldn't be Hitman".The story of Silent Assassin picks up two years after Codename 47 and revolves around Agent 47's search for his friend, Father Emilio Vittorio, who has been abducted by unknown assailants. 47, who had abandoned the assassin life in favor of a peaceful life as a gardner at Vittorio's church, reluctantly comes out of retirement and resumes work for the International Contract Agency (ICA) in exchange for their help tracking Vittorio down.Hitman: Contracts
Hitman: Contracts was developed by IO Interactive and published by Eidos Interactive for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox in April 2004. It is both a sequel to Silent Assassin, and a remake of Codename 47, as it features several levels from the first game that have been remastered with enhanced graphics, improved AI, and gameplay elements introduced in the second game. This stemmed from the fact that only 10% of Silent Assassin players had played Codename 47 due to the latter's Windows exclusivity; Anderson is quoted saying, "We decided to make Hitman 2.5 with some of the best content from [Codename 47]".Contracts combines levels from Codename 47 with new missions depicting some of Agent 47's past contracts not featured in any of the first two games. These contracts are told through flashbacks, which 47 experiences after being hurt during a botched job in Paris, which was meant to connect Contracts to the next game in the series.Hitman: Blood Money
Hitman: Blood Money was developed by IO Interactive and published by Eidos Interactive for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360 in May 2006. The game was developed alongside its predecessor and is a direct continuation of its events, explaining why Agent 47 was hurt at the beginning of Contracts. The main storyline of Blood Money revolves around the conflict between the ICA and a rival contract killing agency known as the Franchise, which seeks to obtain the same cloning technology that created 47, who becomes caught in the crossfire. IO and Eidos both put a lot of resources and time into Blood Money, achieving major improvements to the graphics, AI, and level design. The game has been positively received and is considered a cult classic.World of Assassination trilogy (2016–2021)
Hitman
A soft-reboot of the series was announced in 2015 and was published by Square Enix. Titled Hitman, the game was released in March 2016 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One to highly positive reviews. Episodic in nature, Hitman features six levels that were released throughout 2016, one month apart from each other, along with additional content, such as "Elusive Targets", "Escalations", and user-created "Contracts" (similar to Absolution's "Contracts" mode). The developers chose the episodic approach to give themselves more time to work on each level, which as a result are larger and more detailed than in any previous Hitman game. 
Following the under-performance of Absolution, the next title was conceived as a re-imagining of the franchise as IO Interactive attempted to combine the gameplay elements introduced in Absolution with the open-ended nature of older Hitman games. As such, each level was made to resemble a large and complex puzzle, where players are given free rein to explore and find different assassination opportunities, many of which are unconventional. The game also introduces a new storyline, as Agent 47 goes on a worldwide adventure to solve a series of seemingly unconnected assassinations. It also explores 47's mysterious past, which would be built upon in the following two games.Hitman 2
Hitman 2 was announced in June 2018 by IO Interactive and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, the latter of which published the game following IO's acquisition of the Hitman intellectual property from Square Enix. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in November 2018. Like 2016's Hitman, it is structured around six large sandbox levels, but unlike its predecessor, the game is not episodic and introduces several new features and multiplayer modes.Players had the option to carry over levels from the first game at an additional cost; if a player already owned the first game, they were able to do so free of charge, while retaining all their original progress. The storyline continues from 2016's Hitman, as Agent 47 becomes caught in a conflict between the mysterious 'Shadow Client' and Providence, a secretive organization that controls global affairs and offered to reveal 47's forgotten past in exchange for his help hunting down the Shadow Client.
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