Hitman: Ranking EVERY Game From Worst To Best

Despite having a shooting gallery and mobile apps as entries in the series, it was Hitman Absolution that truly had an identity crisis.

Yes, there were some levels that played up to expectations of fans with the opportunity of exploration and the option to tackle a hit as they wished, but for the most part, Absolution wanted to be something different.

Here, linear corridors and a cinematic presentation took precedence.

With the latter came a real effort to humanise 47, which fell flat as the character seems better suited to taking down rival super secret agencies or trying to discover his past, rather than rescuing a young damsel in distress.

After the success of Blood Money, this was a bold, but rather a strange direction to take the franchise, and ultimately was something of a disappointment after six long years of waiting. On top of that, AI was extremely punishing, seeing through a vast number of disguises too quickly or instantly - no matter the distance.

There were some amusing kills and setups here, but it's telling that after IO had their crack at making Hitman line up with the rest of the industry's shooters at the time, they took a 180 with Hitman 2016 and haven't looked back since.