The Story Timeline Order of Hitman Games
Hitman is a franchise of action-adventure video games, in which players take the role of the titular character, Hitman, also known as Agent 47, in his various missions around the world.
The first Hitman video game, Hitman: Codename 47, released in 2000, already featured many of the hallmarks by which the franchise is known today, such as action gameplay, stealth, various weapons and strategic planning.
What Are Hitman Games Like?
In Hitman games, players typically take the role of Agent 47, known as Hitman, while they must succeed in missions which have specific goals. In these missions in Hitman games, the player character can use different items from the environment as well as purchased from the agency, allowing players to employ various different strategies to achieve the same goals.
Hitman games are often considered to be classics of the stealth video games sub-genre, even though these games sometimes also allow the players to choose different approaches. In Hitman games, players not only are able to use stealth to their advantage, but they can also plan for different outcomes and try different strategies.
Are Hitman Games Sandbox?
Considering that Hitman games often feature various different approaches to gameplay in order to reach the goals presented in each mission, these games are sometimes called "sandbox" games. However, in my opinion, while these games certainly present variety in the gameplay and the play style, these games do not belong to the same video game sub-genre as other well-known sandbox games such as Garry's Mod, which provide a different degree of gameplay freedom. It is true that Hitman games feature an impressive amount of gameplay freedom, but they generally do not feature map editors, NPC creation and editting, and the ability to change the rules of the video game, such as some other sandbox games do. For this reason, while I aknowledge the gameplay freedom featured in Hitman games, I dispute the sandbox adjective often applied to them.
Is There an Order to Play the Hitman Games?
Hitman video games are story-driven action-adventure games. For this reason, the storyline of these games plays an important part in the narrative experience of the player in each title. While it is possible to play the Hitman video games in any order, it is suggested to play these games in chronological story order for the most comprehensive story experience possible.
The Chronological Story Order of Hitman Games
This is the chronological story order of the Hitman video games. In general, many of the chronological story orders of video games that I have written are often unrelated to the chronological order of release date of these games. However, this is different in the case of the Hitman video games. In this case, it appears to me that the chronological story order of Hitman games is indeed the same as the chronological release order of the Hitman games, with the exception of Hitman Go and Hitman: Sniper, in which cases I do not see a clear connection to the other Hitman games, story-wise or chronologically.
While some people say that Hitman (2016) is a reboot of the Hitman series of video games, it rather appears to me as a new phase of the franchise. While this game can certainly be played as a reboot, I believe that this game is better appreciated, story-wise, if played as a a sequence to Hitman: Absolution, and not as a reset to the Hitman storyline, which it is not. I have explained this more in depth in the "Is Hitman (2016) a Reboot?" section, which can be found below.
Hitman: Codename 47
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
Hitman: Contracts
Hitman: Blood Money
Hitman: Absolution
Hitman (2016)
Hitman 2 (2018)
Hitman 3
Hitman Go
Hitman: Sniper
I have decided to place Hitman Go and Hitman: Snipers separate from the chronological story order of Hitman games that I wrote because it is unclear to me the time period in which these games take place. In fact, I am not completely sure that these games are set in the same continuity as the other Hitman games, though I have seen no evidence on the contrary. In other words, these games could be either canon or non-canon, but regardless of their canonicity, due to the lack of clear information on their time period, it would be inaccurate to include them somewhere in my chronological story order list. For this reason, I suggest that these two specific games, Hitman Go and Hitman: Sniper, be played in any order in relation to the other Hitman games.
The Story Timeline Order of Hitman Games
This is the story timeline order of the Hitman games. The years in these timeline are the years in the Hitman universe, and thus are fictional years. In other words, these could be called "Hitman games years", "years in the Hitman games universe" or "years in the Hitman video games timeline".
Unfortunately, I was not able to find the exact time period of all Hitman video games. In the cases in which I found the exact year, the year was included, and in other cases I only included an estimation. However, even though I did not find the exact year of all games, the chronological placement of each game in this timeline is accurate, with the exception of Hitman Go and Hitman: Sniper, for which cases I do not know the time period. This means that, for example in the case of Hitman: Blood Money, even if I don't know the exact year of Hitman: Blood Money, I know that its story is set after Hitman: Contracts and before Hitman: Absolution, and for this reason it was included in this order in the timeline of Hitman games that I wrote.
1999 Hitman: Codename 47
2003 Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
2004 Hitman: Contracts
20?? Hitman: Blood Money
20?? Hitman: Absolution
2019 Hitman (2016)
20?? Hitman 2 (2018)
20?? Hitman 3
???? Hitman Go
???? Hitman: Sniper
Is Hitman (2016) a Reboot?
While the video game Hitman (2016) may be considered a reboot under certain perspectives, it could also reasonably be considered a sequel to Hitman: Absolutuion, since it is set in the same continuity and follows a chronological sequence after Hitman: Absolution. For this reason, while some people call Hitman (2016) a reboot in the sense that it started a new phase for the Hitman series of games, I consider it to be a new entry in the series, one that does not restart the whole story or continuity because it is a sequence, and not a reset. However, saying that Hitman (2016) is a sequence to previous Hitman games, specially Hitman: Absolution, is different from saying that players necessarily need to have played previous Hitman games to be able to understand the storyline of Hitman (2016). Rather, I believe that it is possible to follow the storyline of Hitman (2016) without prior knowledge of previous Hitman video games. However, it is suggested to have played previous Hitman games for the most comprehensive story experience possible.
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