We’ll soon be getting a refreshed Hitman trilogy, and I’ve been wondering for quite some time whether this is really the right move. Could this perhaps be a missed opportunity to do something much better and, in a way, “kill two birds with one stone”?
Of course, these are just my personal thoughts, and it’s probably too late for any of this to become a reality, but I can’t help thinking about it:
- We have a group of people who would like full remasters of the early Hitman games.
- We have a group of people who would like more content for Hitman WOA in the form of DLC.
- We have a group of people who would like something completely new set in the Hitman universe.
Meanwhile, IO Interactive announced the Hitman Trilogy, featuring refreshed versions (not remakes) of Codename 47, Silent Assassin, and Contracts. And I can’t help but think: why?
- The trilogy will apparently feature significantly upgraded textures and lighting effects, but it will still be using the same archaic graphics technology underneath.
- It’s not entirely confirmed yet, but the games will probably retain the same archaic control systems as well - the clunky aiming in Codename 47, the sluggish stealth movement in Silent Assassin, and the lengthy animations from Contracts.
So, will releasing remasters of these games now actually appeal to a broader audience beyond die-hard fans like us? The graphics and controls won’t be modern enough to really fit today’s standards, but at the same time, this isn’t going to be a remake like Mafia: Definitive Edition, where the entire graphical engine was rebuilt, along with major parts of the gameplay.
I played through the entire Mafia trilogy, starting with the Mafia remake and then moving on to the “remaster” of Mafia II, and the difference in gameplay was huge. The limitations were incredibly noticeable.
And I’m worried the same thing is going to happen with the Hitman Trilogy. Once players are reminded of how mechanically limited those older games actually were, I think a lot of them are going to start tearing the remaster apart. And so far, there’s nothing to suggest that the control system or the underlying gameplay limitations have been meaningfully reworked. So what’s really the point of putting all that effort into something like this?
I’ll obviously buy it on day one and play the hell out of it, but I still think this is a damn shame and a huge waste of potential.
Wouldn’t it have been better if IO Interactive released a large DLC expansion for Hitman WOA consisting of completely new missions/a campaign, where, using the current game engine, we would get all the missions from Codename 47, Silent Assassin, Contracts, and Blood Money - rebuilt in the new engine, but still preserving all the original mission restrictions and limitations?
That way, they could satisfy the first group, who want modern graphics for the old games, as well as the second group, who want new content for WOA - complete with achievements, new unlocks, etc. And even if that turned out to be too large of a project to tackle all at once, they could release it as separate DLC packs.
There is, however, another problem that a lot of people tend to overlook when praising the older games like Silent Assassin or Blood Money as if they were the absolute pinnacle of the Hitman series.
If you actually transferred these games into the WOA engine, with all of their small maps and much more limited freedom compared to WOA, people might suddenly realize just how restrictive those games actually are when it comes to gameplay.
All of a sudden, it would become apparent that there isn’t nearly as much freedom, nor nearly as many options for taking out your targets, and the whole thing could actually backfire on the developers.
People praise SA and BM while forgetting that, mechanically, these games have aged and are inferior to WOA in almost every respect. What speaks through a lot of that praise is pure nostalgia.
And speaking of nostalgia, I’m also wondering how they’re going to handle the menus.
Personally, I think the menu design in each of these games is one of the biggest factors contributing to their atmosphere. If the trilogy is going to be contained within a single application, then we’ll either get completely separate menus for each game, or something entirely different - which, in my opinion, could ruin a lot of the charm.
Personally, I’d much rather have the old missions rebuilt in the WOA framework, or have the graphics completely rebuilt from the ground up, similar to Mafia: Definitive Edition.
I’m just not entirely convinced that lightly touching up the graphics with new textures will even make much sense in 2026. Even from the screenshots, it still looks like an archaic graphics and control system underneath.
What do you guys think?
- Remaster preserving the atmosphere of the original games, but with improved graphics (as announced)
- Remake with a completely rebuilt engine, similar to Mafia: Definitive Edition
- Remade as DLC using the World of Assassination engine