Lastly, the game featured no mid-game saves. Unfortunately, they could react in unpredictable ways breaking the immersion. The non-playable-characters featured sophisticated AI, reacting to the bodies left behind by and any noises the Hitman makes. It also allowed Agent 47 to drag a body out of sight. At the time, many shooters had canned animations for deaths, but Hitman characters interacted with the environment when they died. For example, Hitman: Codename 47 was one of the first games with ragdoll physics and realistic cloth animations. The game showed promise, but also a few oddities. Taking control of Agent 47 from the third-person perspective, each location offers gamers multiple ways to complete their objective. In each level, players must assassinate a target.

The Hitman series started its life as a Windows PC exclusive and a pioneer in many ways. Let's see how the series became a household name. There are eight games in the main series, but the franchise also includes two mobile spin-offs, a pair of novels, and even two movies. The Hitman series helped define the modern stealth action game, and while the early games appear similar to the latest ones, the formula has kept evolving with each entry bringing in new locations, new ways to dispatch targets, and impressive developments in artificial intelligence. Playing as the genetically engineered and professional hitman Agent 47, players can use disguises to get unlock access within the levels, hide bodies to prevent suspicion, and use a variety of tools to complete the job. Each level is a puzzle to solve as the player-controlled Agent 47 seeks to assassinate a target (or targets) with minimal casualties and without drawing attention to the task at hand.

If you're into stealth action, it’s not hard to see why the series has become so popular with gamers, building up a large following spanning 20 years. Coming off the highly anticipated release of Hitman 3, this latest installment has been very well received and it's actually the tenth title in the Hitman franchise.

Hitman 2 silent assassin gameplay