History VideoGame / WorldOfAssassinationTrilogy

[[https://finans.dk/erhverv/ECE10824890/hitmanskaberne-skyder-papegoejen-tidobler-bundlinjen-et-aar-efter-faretruende-konkurs/?ctxref=ext With four months of resources and money saved up left before the studio had to shutdown]], even after mass layoffs, the company [[SavedByTheNetwork was then saved by]] Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, who signed a chance publishing deal with them to get the developers back on their feet. They allowed IOI to complete the rest of the game for free in exchange for distribution rights and a revenue cut, a deal which IOI director Hakan Abrak stated saved the entire company from bankruptcy. Because of this split, and also [[https://www.eurogamer.net/how-io-turned-hitman-around-from-absolution-to-world-of-assassination due to technical issues related to Square Enix and Sony holding the publisher ID for ''2016'' making large updates impossible]], ''VideoGame/Hitman2'' released in late-2018 and fared quite a lot better after ditching the episodic release model. Warner Bros ''itself'' suffered unrelated issues of their own, and so cut ties with them after Hitman 2's life was up. IO Interactive then released the third game; ''VideoGame/Hitman3'', as an independent studio in early 2021, now that they had the funds to do so, again, to critical and commercial success. The studio itself still has to pay money to both prior publishers for various reasons (largely to keep each games' servers up and running, and to Square Enix as the Hitman IP is on an exclusive permanent loan that essentially means IOI have the rights to use the Hitman IP without Square Enixs' involvement). The most interesting part is that throughout all of this kerfuffle, the developers made sure to make [[EmbeddedPrecursor each previous game available in each new instalment]], meaning every level from ''2016'' can be played in ''Hitman 3'', and were also upgraded with better lighting, newer features, and other updates to gameplay, essentially making ''Hitman 2'' and ''Hitman 3'' [[MissionPackSequel Mission Pack Sequels]] to the ''2016'' game. With the release of Freelancer in ''3'' in 2023, the game was bundled up with the [[VideoGame/Hitman2016 Previous]] [[VideoGame/Hitman2 two]] entries to ''literally'' make this an all-in-one game that contained basically everything.

* RandomEvent: Defied for the most part. The great majority of major [=NPC's=], targets, and level events are static and have predictable outcomes that run on a loop, which the player exploits as a part of the gameplay. There are some exceptions to the rule, as some of the Elusive Targets have randomised routines that are generated on-the-fly (notably Kieran Hudson, A.K.A The Paparazzo, whose routine is not consistent, other than the starting point). "The Lust Assignation", an escalation in ''3'', is the only mission in the trilogy which directly invokes this as a gameplay loop, as Lust's "Secret Admirer" is functionally randomised on each restart.

* StoryBreadcrumbs: Much of the dialog you can hear in the first two entries reference either past events relevant to the overarching narrative, or is some kind of Foreshadowing to future events. Bangkok in ''2016, for example, has numerous NPC's outside the Himmapan Hotel mention the mysterious plane crash that killed Eugene Cobb, and another pair talk about a conspiracy involving Claus Strandberg, in that riling up protesters via an interview (something 47 is able to do in the prior mission to Bangkok) is a part of an elaborate plot.

* SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat: Mission Stories and Opportunities basically exist as partially to maintain some RuleOfFunny, and to show off 47's impressive skillset. A full list can be seen on [[Characters/HitmanGamesAgent47 47's character page]].

** 47's footsteps were notoriously loud in ''2016'', often sounding louder than the background ambient noise. From ''2'' onward, 47's footsteps were made quieter to alleviate this complaint.

*** The difficulty spike between "Normal" and "Professional Mode" in 2016 is very pronounced. Running causes your footsteps to make noise, which heavily affects certain strategies and paths, guard disguises don't allow "suspicious" items or firearms (which is to say, just about anything the other guards aren't carrying), guard placements have been altered, and there is the occasional ObviousRulePatch to routes that were much simpler on normal. In ''2'', Master Mode doesn't differ that much from Professional and relied more on saving and disguise limitations than level overhauls. ''Hitman 3'' also relies more on saving and disguise limits, though these changes were made during Year 3, when most player routes had been established into a meta.

** Later levels in the trilogy tend to rely more on electronic locks that require keycards, rather that traditional locks that players can lockpick open, essentially nerfing lockpicks because it made getting into areas far too easy. With the notable exception of Dartmoor in ''3'', if a door or safe is locked like this in the later locations, then there's usually a specific reason for it.

** The Remote Breaching Charge has a capacity of two in ''2016'', but this item (and later revisions of the item in later games) were nerfed in ''2'' and ''3'' to only have one charge instead. This was to nerf the "silent explosive" trick commonly seen in Contracts Mode, where breaching charges were used as a way to get an explosive kill without breaking Silent Assassin (as breaching charges are functionally silent), so long as the target could be isolated. Notye this nerf does not kill the "silent explosive" trick, merely making it harder to pull off, as you either have to sacrifice gear slots to bring more charges, or find other ways of fulfilling the explosive kill requirement.
** Later levels in the trilogy rely more on electronic locks that require keycards, rather that traditional locks that players can lockpick open, essentially nerfing Lockpicks because it made getting into areas far too easy. In later levels, if a door or safe is locked like this, then there's usually a specific reason for it.
** Tall grass and hiding in crowds are not part of ''2016'', but do reappear in all of the locations (Grass does not appear in Marrakesh as it's a very dry climate, but does feature crowd blending).
** The in-game inventory covered the entire screen and the items are displayed with large icons, similar to the earlier games. In ''2'', this was changed so that the items are displayed on the bottom of the screen with small icons, and detailed FlavorText weapon information is relegated to the Intel menu, leaving most of the screen unobstructed. This is due to the now-dead Ghost Mode in ''2'', and changing the menu was a necessary change for the sakes of seeing what the other player was doing. In the case of ''3'', this was a holdover of that decision, and [=IOI=] never changed it.

*** The difficulty spike between "Normal" and "Professional Mode" in 2016 is very pronounced. Running causes your footsteps to make noise, which heavily affects certain strategies and paths, guard disguises don't allow "suspicious" items or firearms (which is to say, just about anything the other guards aren't carrying), guard placements have been altered, and there is the occasional ObviousRulePatch to routes that were much simpler on normal. In ''2'', Master Mode doesn't differ that much from Professional and relied more on saving and disguise limitations than level overhauls. ''Hitman 3'' was also a case of this, until the developers released an update that, much like how ''2016'' got an update to add in Professional Mode, made Master Mode harder by quashing the optimal paths players had created by adding more security cameras and adding more enforcers.
** Civilians and guards speak only in American and British accents regardless of the location, with proper location-specific accents primarily saved for the targets themselves. The second game changed this so that civilians have suitable accents for their location.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/woa_trilogy.png]]

-> ''Hitman - Enter a World of Assassination''

[[https://finans.dk/erhverv/ECE10824890/hitmanskaberne-skyder-papegoejen-tidobler-bundlinjen-et-aar-efter-faretruende-konkurs/?ctxref=ext With four months of resources and money saved up left before the studio had to shutdown]], even after mass layoffs, the company [[SavedByTheNetwork was then saved by]] Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, who signed a chance publishing deal with them to get the developers back on their feet. They allowed IOI to complete the rest of the game for free in exchange for distribution rights and a revenue cut, a deal which IOI director Hakan Abrak stated saved the entire company from bankruptcy. Because of this split, and also [[https://www.eurogamer.net/how-io-turned-hitman-around-from-absolution-to-world-of-assassination due to technical issues related to Square Enix and Sony holding the publisher ID for ''2016'' making large updates impossible]], ''VideoGame/Hitman2'' released in late-2018 and fared quite a lot better after ditching the episodic release model. Warner Bros ''itself'' suffered unrelated issues of their own, and so cut ties with them after Hitman 2's life was up. IO Interactive then released the third game; ''VideoGame/Hitman3'', as an independent studio in early 2021, now that they had the funds to do so, again, to critical and commercial success. The studio itself still has to pay money to both prior publishers for various reasons (largely to keep each games' servers up and running, and to Square Enix as the Hitman IP is on an exclusive permanent loan that essentially means IOI have the rights to use the Hitman IP without Square Enixs' involvement). The most interesting part is that throughout all of this kerfuffle, the developers made sure to make [[EmbeddedPrecursor each previous game available in each new instalment]], meaning every level from ''2016'' can be played in ''Hitman 3'', and were also upgraded with better lighting, newer features, and other updates to gameplay, essentially making ''Hitman 2'' and ''Hitman 3'' [[MissionPackSequel Mission Pack Sequels]] to the ''2016'' game. With the release of Freelancer in ''3'' in 2023, the game was bundled up with the [[VideoGame/{{Hitman2016}} Previous]] [[VideoGame/Hitman2 two]] entries to ''literally'' make this an all-in-one game that contained basically everything.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''2016'' is very jarring to go back to, almost to the level of replaying ''Hitman: Blood Money'' after playing any game released after it, [[DamnYouMuscleMemory due to the changes and balance decisions]] that later games to the series. Any location-specific changes mentioned below do not apply to their reappearances in ''Hitman 2'' or ''3'':

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''2016'' is very jarring to go back, almost to the level of replaying ''Blood Money'' after playing any game released after it, [[DamnYouMuscleMemory simply due to the changes and balance decisions]] that later games in the trilogy made to the series and formula. Any location-specific changes mentioned below do not apply to their reappearances in ''Hitman 2'' or ''3'':
** All but four escalations[[labelnote:*]]The Kotti Paradigm, The Dexter Discordance, The Corky Commotion, and The Cheveyo Calibration[[/labelnote]] have 5 stages instead of the 3 stages of the sequels.

** Sedative Poison was among the worst items in the game as it had no use in any type of run as it broke Silent Assassin conduct as it'd penalise you if a body was found; Lethal Poison was a straight upgrade (kills any one target lethally without breaking Silent Assassin) and Emetic Poison was a side-grade (it served as a way to split the target up from their bodyguard, as well as complete challenges like "Hold My Hair"), so Sedative Poison's effect of putting someone to sleep wasn't all that beneficial when it was no better than throwing a crowbar at a persons' head. Beginning from ''2'', Sedatives were made to not count towards losing Silent Assassin, and added vents and items that utilised sedating [=NPC's=] more, making it far more useful in later games, serving as an alternative to melee.

** The Gas Canisters' lethal radius was made ''much'' smaller in later games in comparison to ''(2016)''. Later levels in the trilogy have fewer of them on the map, and are also considerably harder to find.
** The Remote Breaching Charge has a capacity of two in ''2016'', but was nerfed in ''2'' and ''3'' to only have one, and the later revisions of the weapon also only came with one charge.

** Tall grass and hiding in crowds are not part of ''2016'', but do reappear in all of the locations (Marrakesh being the exception as it's a very dry climate).
** The in-game inventory covers the entire screen and the items are displayed with large icons, similar to the earlier games. In ''2'', this was changed so that the items are displayed on the bottom of the screen with small icons, and detailed FlavorText weapon information is relegated to the Intel menu, leaving most of the screen unobstructed. This is due to the now-dead Ghost Mode in ''2'', and changing the menu was a necessary change for the sakes of seeing what the other player was doing. In the case of ''3'', this was a holdover of that decision, and [=IOI=] never changed it.

The "World of Assassination" Trilogy is a trilogy of games in the ''Franchise/{{Hitman}}'' franchise, created by Creator/IOInteractive, and is currently ongoing, beginning in 2016, and releasing the final game in 2021. Beginning six years after the events of ''VideoGame/HitmanAbsolution'', the trilogy goes back to the franchise's roots to offer up varied levels and [[WideOpenSandbox sandboxes]] that really allows the player to get creative with how they kill their marks. While initially envisioned as an EpisodicGame series, with each level releasing once a month or so, this was later scrapped, and the second and third entries released their levels all at once.

** The Suit Only challenges involve completing an entire mission in a suit. There are two variations: Suit Only (complete the mission without changing out of your suit), and Silent Assassin, Suit Only (complete a mission without changing out of your suit, and do not get spotted).

* AndYourRewardIsClothes: The inventory system was remade for this trilogy, which now includes the ability to change 47's starting outfit. Having Hitman 2016 or Hitman 2 [=DLC's=] nets you the suits added in both of those games (see those games for their respective lists). While some costumes are exclusive to their level, either completing an Elusive Target on that location (''2016 and 2''), or getting full mastery in a level (''3'')unlocks a variation of that levels' unique location-specific suit to your starting inventory (Except Carpathian Mountains as you cannot bring in a suit). Some suits can also be gotten through challenges, escalations or level completion - those tied to specific content will be listed in that games' page too.

* LimitedWardrobe: Most of the main cast of characters do not change clothes when in cutscenes. Grey has two clothing choices (with and without his duster coat), Diana is seen wearing a blue jacket, but does wear a black dress later, as well as a turtleneck [[spoiler:when hiding away from 47]]. Olivia doesn't wear anything but a grey hoodie, ripped jeans and headphones, while 47 wears his suit almost universally (he takes his suit jacket off in a Hitman 2 cutscene after being given the antidote to the memory serum), although the game usually enforces a specific outfit per location, but you can choose otherwise.

** There are a lot of overt references to the ''ComicBook/Agent47BirthOfTheHitman'' comic series; especially in ''Hitman 3'' where the developers did not shy away from making considerably obscure references to it. In ''Hitman 2'' it was more vague and less obvious due to the change in cutscenes and time pressure of releasing the game, but it did have a great deal more than ''Hitman (2016)'' did (which, in fairness, alludes to events the comic later sets up). [=NPC's=] and Grey repeatedly references parts of the comic to 47 and the audience, and a Mission Story in Mendoza even has 47 give a cliffnotes description of the comic itself.

* SoftReboot: This trilogy is the start of a soft reboot of the [[Franchise/{{Hitman}} the entire Hitman franchise]], going out of its way to avoid mentioning the more gonzo sci-fi elements found in past entries, while retaining most of the narrative elements from the past games. As a whole, the game was primarily designed to give the series a consistent continuity, and does tie in every game, almost every [[Literature/{{Hitman}} novel]], and a [[ComicBook/Agent47BirthOfTheHitman comic book]] was created to give more backstory to the characters. ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'' and later games describes the other games in ways that don't strictly contradict ''[[VideoGame/HitmanCodename47 Codename 47]]'' and the later references to it, while the tie-in prequel comic goes out of its way to fix various plot holes in the first four games, as well as establish a consistent backstory for 47, Ort-Meyer, [[spoiler:Subject 6]], and Diana). As such, the trilogy mentions a few of the missions' targets from the previous games (Beldingford from ''[[VideoGame/HitmanContracts Contracts]]'', D'alvade from ''[[VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney Blood Money]]'', and Hayamoto from ''[[VideoGame/Hitman2SilentAssassin Silent Assassin]]'' to name a few), and the "Legacy" cinematic shows off the canonical kills for one target from each of the earlier games (even ''Absolution'', which is [[BroadStrokes dubiously canon]] at this point.), implying they all happened even if the storylines around them didn't.

* StopPokingMe: Much of the dialog for doing weird things in front of civilians and guards (such as bumping into them, knocking them out, or pointing a gun at them) is quite varied, to the point that it avoids falling into the WelcomeToCorneria trap. Impressive, as there are multiple spoken languages in the trilogy, with various British English, American English, Mexican-Spanish, Colombian Spanish, Indian, and Chinese voice actors with different accents, colloquialisms, and dialects specific to respective levels, Notably, in "The Undying/ Returns", which features Creator/SeanBean, the developers went out of their way to record this kind of extra dialog so they wouldn't replace it with generic dialog.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The events of all three games are repeatedly mentioned and discussed throughout the trilogy by [=NPC's=], and they mostly lead to realistic scenario's playing out. In ''2016'', it was mostly conspiracy nuts who believed some evil organisation ruling the world would kill such people, but at the start of ''2'', all of the worlds' [=CEO's=] start to get ProperlyParanoid about all the deaths of other [=CEO's=] Grey's Militia and 47 kill, and they hire more guards accordingly (something the bodyguards note in Miami as a benefit to them as they get more work). In ''3'', such killings are called the "1% killings". Even if 47 and Grey's Militia make a lot of the deaths look like accidents or leave no evidence of a murder taking place, the world is going to get suspicious by the sudden and successive deaths of multiple influential members of society eventually, no matter how they died.

* TapOnTheHead: This trilogy adds more nuance to melee items; 47 can now bludgeon an NPC with any blunt object (or throw nearly all[[labelnote:*]]the exceptions generally being potentially squishy food items[[/labelnote]] of said objects at an [=NPC's=] head) for an instant knockout - faster than the Choke Hold, but at least marginally louder depending on the exact object used. Unconscious characters will remain so permanently unless awakened by another NPC, but will display no ill effects if revived.
* TechnicolorToxin: Lethal poison is colored Red, Emetic Poison is denoted the color green, and Sedative poison is denoted a yellow-orange color (the vials are blue, however).

** Elusive Target missions are only available for a certain period of time and you only get one chance to complete them. Once you complete an objective, you can't restart the mission, and once you complete the mission or get killed, you can't replay them. In ''Hitman 3'', the developers introduced Elusive Target Arcade, an escalation-esque format which lets players replay the targets pretty much whenever, and a "Year 2" designation was given to previously released targets so if players failed the first time, they can try again.
** "The Wildcard" Elusive Target ran precisely once, and "The Undying/ Returns" ran three times, and, due to legal issues surrounding the targets being based on celebrities (Gary Busey and Sean Bean Respectively), will likely never re-run.

** The Hobby Wrench: Much like the screwdriver, it can be used as a distraction tool, [[WrenchWhack a pacification tool via melee or throwing]], can be a means to set up various environmental traps, and it too is not suspicious in any disguise. What makes it ''more'' useful than the screwdriver however, is the very fact that you can bring it in with you to the level, as it's in your inventory from the start, rather than having to scour the level to find one.

** The "El Matador" is a prettier looking "The Striker" HandCannon reskin that was originally from ''Hitman (2016)''. It's also your reward for completing the escalation "The Delgado Larceny" with a Silent Assassin rank.

[[https://finans.dk/erhverv/ECE10824890/hitmanskaberne-skyder-papegoejen-tidobler-bundlinjen-et-aar-efter-faretruende-konkurs/?ctxref=ext With four months of resources and money saved up left before the studio had to shutdown]], even after mass layoffs, the company [[SavedByTheNetwork was then saved by]] Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, who signed a chance publishing deal with them to get the developers back on their feet. They allowed IOI to complete the rest of the game for free in exchange for distribution rights and a revenue cut, a deal which IOI director Hakan Abrak stated saved the entire company from bankruptcy. Because of this split, and also [[https://www.eurogamer.net/how-io-turned-hitman-around-from-absolution-to-world-of-assassination due to technical issues related to Square Enix and Sony holding the publisher ID for ''2016'' making large updates impossible]], ''VideoGame/Hitman2'' released in late-2018 and fared quite a lot better after ditching the episodic release model. Warner Bros ''itself'' suffered unrelated issues of their own, and so cut ties with them after Hitman 2's life was up. IO Interactive then released the third game; ''VideoGame/Hitman3'', as an independent studio in early 2021, now that they had the funds to do so, again, to critical and commercial success. The studio itself still has to pay money to both prior publishers for various reasons (largely to keep each games' servers up and running, and to Square Enix as the Hitman IP is on an exclusive permanent loan that essentially means IOI have the rights to use the Hitman IP without Square Enixs' involvement). The most interesting part is that throughout all of this kerfuffle, the developers made sure to make [[EmbeddedPrecursor each previous game available in each new instalment]], meaning every level from ''2016'' can be played in ''Hitman 3'', and were also upgraded with better lighting, newer features, and other updates to gameplay, essentially making ''Hitman 2'' and ''Hitman 3'' [[MissionPackSequel Mission Pack Sequels]] to the ''2016'' game. With the release of Freelancer in ''3'', in 2023 the game was bundled up with the [[VideoGame/{{Hitman2016}} Previous]] [[VideoGame/Hitman2 two]] entries to ''literally'' make this an all-in-one game that contained basically everything.

''Hitman 3''[='s=] Freelancer mode, set after that campaigns events and released at the start of 2023, [[Hitman3/Hitman3Freelancer has its own subpage]] due to it twisting the Hitman gameplay formula from a semi-hardcore StealthBasedGame to a RogueLike with stealth elements within it; so much that it's functionally a separate game in its own right. Note that the tropes below are written ''without'' this mode in mind.

** People screaming in pain and shouting for help draws little attention (Colorado and Hawke's Bay in the Legacy Packs are the sole exceptions, where a Target Lockdown is triggered).

** The game autosaves regularly, so making a mistake doesn’t force you to replay an entire level. It's disabled on Master difficulty, however.

** On the Casual and Professional difficulties, completing challenges and acquiring their rewards doesn't actually require you to complete the level. For example, You can complete the wine tour in Mendoza, [[SaveScumming load a save made before you completed said challenge]], and carry on with another challenge like killing Marco Abiatti with electocution. Master Mode averts this, however, as it expects you to play the level with only one save slot as a fallback.

** A detonator's wireless relay, the ones accompanying every remote device (like the explosives and the electrocution items) have infinite range on a level. You can be on the other side of the Mendoza vineyard, and as soon as you press the trigger, your target will be killed/ pacified/ electrocuted. The sole exception is in Hokkaido available via the Legacy Pack, in which the Curator has his own remote to control his neurochip that can only be activated when within immediate range of him (as it's for his own personal use).

** Compared to games before it, the maps are bright and simply ''[[SceneryPorn gorgeous]]'' to look at. The third game adds Raytracing to the levels for accurate reflections (and screenspace reflections too), which makes thing even prettier.

** The Remote Breaching Charge has a capacity of two in ''(2016)'', but was nerfed in ''2'' and ''3'' to only have one, and the later revisions of the weapon also only came with one charge.

** Tall grass and hiding in crowds are not part of this game, but do reappear in all of the legacy locations (Marrakesh being the exception as it's a very dry climate).

** Blake Dexter, one of the antagonists, is apparently a well-known person worldwide by the time of ''2016'', even in a place like Hokkaido, where the staff really shouldn't know the owner of a [[{{Eagleland}} fiercely American]] weapons manufacturing company (the level has a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute in the form of Amos Dexter, prompting the comparison staff make to him). Even his status as being ''alive'' is also up in the air, as the games never say either way, and in Mendoza, a [[BreakingTheFourthWall meta joke]] is even made [[spoiler:by Diana]] about him being killed off in a "Parallel Universe", which is less than helpful, to say the least.
** Dominic Osmond from the Vixens club is the only officially canon target from ''Absolution'' to have actually been shown to be killed by 47, who shoots him through the one-way mirror in his nightclub, albeit with an unsilenced Silverballer... which he doesn't have for that mission as they'd already been stolen from him).
** The ICA [[spoiler:being dismantled and reformed]] just doesn't happen, as while ''Absolution'' states that the accounts of ICA Agents were published covertly by Diana at the start of that game so as to keep the ICA off her tail (and not out of business altogether). ''Hitman 3'' makes it clear in its news footage and conversations that you can overhear in Mendoza that this is the first time such a thing has happened, and nobody comments on anything similar happening in the past, despite certain providence individuals being in places of power where such knowledge would be discussed.
** Victoria is not mentioned here, despite Diana and 47 clearly forging their own bonds for their own separate reasons.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Compared to the rest of the trilogy, ''2016'' is very jarring to go back to, almost to the level of replaying ''Blood Money'' after playing any game released after it, simply due to the changes and balance decisions that later games made to the series and formula, which'll definitely make anyone go DamnYouMuscleMemory. Any location-specific changes mentioned below do not apply to their reappearances in ''Hitman 2'' or ''3'':

*** The difficulty spike between "Normal" and "Professional Mode" in 2016 is very pronounced. Running causes noise which heavily affects certain strategies, guard disguises don't allow "unusual" items or firearms (which is to say, just about anything the other guards aren't carrying), guard placements have been altered, and there is the occasional ObviousRulePatch to routes that were much simpler on normal. In ''2'', Master Mode doesn't differ that much from Professional and relied more on saving and disguise limitations than level overhauls. It was only until a year into ''Hitman 3'' where the developers released an update that, much like how ''2016'' got an update to add in Professional Mode, makes Master Mode harder by quashing the optimal paths players had created by adding more security cameras and adding more enforcers.
** Civilians and guards speak only in American and British accents regardless of the location, with proper accents primarily saved for the targets themselves. The second game changed this so that civilians have suitable accents for their location.

* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Averted. The female [=NPCs=] in any given level are treated nearly identically to their male counterparts - they are equally capable of being enforcers for a given disguise/location combo, and can be knocked out or killed with no greater or lesser consequences than a male NPC. The only differences are that 47 cannot take their clothes as a disguise, and female guards are not present (as WordOfGod admitted that it's a balance measure). The tech crew in Dubai and Berlin in ''3'' has a notable population of female employee's, which may be a response by the developers to this complaint.

The "World of Assassination" Trilogy is a trilogy of games in the ''Franchise/{{Hitman}}'' franchise, created by Creator/IOInteractive, and is currently ongoing, beginning in 2016, and releasing the final game in 2021. Set sometime after the events of ''VideoGame/HitmanAbsolution'', the trilogy goes back to the franchise's roots to offer up varied levels and [[WideOpenSandbox sandboxes]] that really allows the player to get creative with how they kill their marks. While initially envisioned as an EpisodicGame series, with each level releasing once a month or so, this was later scrapped, and the second and third entries released their levels all at once.

** The Fiber Wire has this baggage among players. It's still fairly useful, which is why its your default "tool" in your loadout for when you start a new level for the first time, the issue it has is that other tools are simply ''more useful''; lockpicks unlock conventionally locked doors (and most maps have them so it's useful to take), or the Disposable Scrambler/ Keycard Hacker (which unlocks doors with keycards, albeit on three separate doors). The only thing the Fiber Wire does is that it lets you take down a target silently when they have their back to you, and allows you to drag them out of sight without having to manually press the "drag body" prompt, which is just BoringButPractical by comparison. So unless you're speedrunning a level, require precise timing so people don't see you, or are specifically gunning for the "Piano Man" challenge (and, by extension, "Versatile Assassin"), pretty much any other tool or small item is more useful to bring along. And that's not going into the fact the reskins of the fiber wire are much more commonplace than the other tools, and can be found in the levels proper.

* {{Retcon}}: The Trilogy is the start of a SoftReboot of the ''Hitman'' series, with the only notable large-scale retcon between this trilogy and the past games is to the canonicity of ''Absolution'', which was retconned five ways to Sunday:
** The main plot of ''Absolution'' has basically been discarded here, and the writers have essentially written out the original plot, and left it deliberately ambiguous as to what events from the game are canon or not for this trilogy.
** Blake Dexter is revealed here to be a well-known person worldwide, even in a place like Hokkaido, where the staff really shouldn't know who he is as he's a weapons manufacturer and [[{{Eagleland}} fiercely American]] (the level has a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute in the form of Amos Dexter, prompting the comparison staff make to him). Whether or not he's still ''alive'' too is also up in the air too, as the games never say either way, and in Mendoza, a [[BreakingTheFourthWall meta joke]] is even made [[spoiler:by Diana]] about him being killed off in a "Parallel Universe", which is less than helpful, to say the least.

** The ICA [[spoiler:being dismantled and reformed]] just doesn't happen, as while ''Absolution'' states that the accounts of ICA Agents were published covertly by Diana at the start of that game so as to keep the ICA off her tail (and not out of business altogether). ''Hitman 3'' makes it clear in its news footage and conversations that you can overhear in Mendoza that this is the first time such a thing has happened, and nobody comments on anything similar happening in the past, despite certain providence individuals being in places of power where such knowledge would be discussed.

A prequel comic book series; entitled ''ComicBook/Agent47BirthOfTheHitman'' was also released in the interim of ''Hitman (2016)'' and ''Hitman 2'', which gives 47 and Diana their own respective [[OriginStory origin stories]]; delving into the life of the young Diana Burnwood as she recovers from the death of her parents, as well as later working at the ICA and culminates into her recruiting the Hitman himself. While 47 goes about doing jobs, and struggling to be free of "The Institute for Human Betterment". Said comic events were alluded to in ''2016'', but were referenced liberally in ''VideoGame/Hitman2'' and ''VideoGame/Hitman3''.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: While the enemy AI can be rather dimwitted, in one certain situation they are notoriously overpowered. Sniping can be very difficult to do in the trilogy, as the AI is programmed to instantly know your location the moment they see someone get sniped within their line of sight. Distance is completely irrelevant as is the map itself; Even if you snipe someone from across the map, the AI will know where you are, and they are not fooled by how many rooms or floors there are in your location, they know exactly what room you are in and even your exact location of where you were standing. This can also lead to the dreaded "infinite search" situation, as if you took your shots from somewhere the AI has no access to, they will simply swarm the area in alert mode and stay there either forever, or for extremely long periods of time.

Each location in the trilogy is designed to be a WideOpenSandbox, akin to VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney, but on a larger scale, containing weapons and intel to take down your targets in a variety of ways. Most background [=NPC=]'s have some unique [=AI=] scripting to make them [[NPCScheduling act like a real person]], while certain special [=NPC's=] can [[MuggedForDisguise help you get closer to your target]]. Each level also [[RealPlaceBackground takes cues of the real life location it's based on]], meaning it never strays too far from reality. From ''Hitman 2'' onward, locations were given regional accents to match (''2016'' used largely British English and American-English voice actors). The three games also contain new features and improvements:

The reason for the multiple publishers that are listed above is due to the odd circumstances around each games' release. IO Interactive and Square Enix cut business ties with each other over the first game for underperforming and being something of an AcclaimedFlop; a critical and commercial success...but not in the eyes of Square Enix. For many, that was the death-knell of the series, the writing was on the wall it seemed, and the Hitman franchise would be dead in the water. And yet, despite this, IO Interactive managed to turn themselves into an independent studio, and more surprisingly, '''kept the rights to the Hitman franchise!''' Not only was this unheard of (Publishers tend to retain the IP rights of their studio's, not the developers who made said IP), but also an ''extremely'' rare second chance for the developers to keep their game series going. IO Interactive released a "Game of the Year" edition of ''2016'' later that year in an attempt to recoup costs, sadly to not much success.

[[https://finans.dk/erhverv/ECE10824890/hitmanskaberne-skyder-papegoejen-tidobler-bundlinjen-et-aar-efter-faretruende-konkurs/?ctxref=ext With four months of resources and money saved up left before the studio had to shutdown]], even after mass layoffs, the company [[SavedByTheNetwork was then saved by]] Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, who signed a chance publishing deal with them to get the developers back on their feet. They allowed IOI to complete the rest of the game for free in exchange for distribution rights and a revenue cut, a deal which IOI director Hakan Abrak stated saved the entire company from bankruptcy. Subsequently, ''VideoGame/Hitman2'' released in late-2018 and fared quite a lot better after ditching the episodic release model. Warner Bros ''itself'' suffered unrelated issues of their own, and so cut ties with them after Hitman 2's life was up. IO Interactive then released the third game; ''VideoGame/Hitman3'', as an independent studio in early 2021, now that they had the funds to do so, again, to critical and commercial success. The studio itself still has to pay money to both prior publishers for various reasons (largely to keep each games' servers up and running, and to Square Enix as the Hitman IP is on an exclusive permanent loan that essentially means IOI have the rights to use the Hitman IP without Square Enixs' involvement). The most interesting part is that throughout all of this kerfuffle, the developers made sure to make [[EmbeddedPrecursor each previous game available in each new instalment]], meaning every level from ''2016'' can be played in ''Hitman 3'', and were also upgraded with better lighting, newer features, and other updates to gameplay, essentially making ''Hitman 2'' and ''Hitman 3'' [[MissionPackSequel Mission Pack Sequels]] to the ''2016'' game. With the release of Freelancer in ''3'', in 2023 the game was bundled up with the [[VideoGame/{{Hitman2016}} Previous]] [[VideoGame/Hitman2 two]] entries to ''literally'' make this an all-in-one game that contained basically everything.

* AmbiguousTimePeriod: It wasn't until ''VideoGame/Hitman3'' that any timeframe was given for the games' events. It was long assumed that the trilogy takes place over the course of about a year and a half. However, in "The Farewell", Pam Kingsley confirms that the events between Bangkok and Mendoza is only a few months, meaning the three games span most of late-2019 or 2020. Something to note here is that there's an explicit two month gap given in ''Hitman 2'' due to the crew needing to stake out The Ark Society.