Hitman: True Silent Assassin

Hitman 3 (2021)
1

I’ve been mulling over a run of Hitman levels where you complete it SA, but the caveat is that you do so in a way that would pass muster if forensically investigated and not point to the existence of a shadowy assassin.

That implies:

  • Poisons brought into the level are considered traceless, so you can use those. Ones you find in the map cannot be trusted (e.g. a lethal frog or rat poison is considered “detectable” by an autopsy)
  • If you engineer an accident, it would need to appear like an accident after forensic investigation. E.g. shooting the chain on a chandelier would leave obvious marks on the metal that would demonstrate foul play.
  • Gas explosions/Propane tanks fall under a similar restriction - could it be explained away that there happened to be some gas leaking there?
  • Any disguise laying around on the map can be used, but you have to return it to its original location.
  • Surveillance can be tampered with only as your final act before exiting, you of course can’t shoot it - this is to imply that 47 can use a self-deleting virus to clean the footage - and to imply that you can’t do illegal actions in front of a camera because there are people in surveillance areas actively watching cameras.
  • Kills such as Yates being killed by his wife are fine since these are open-and-shut cases.
  • Variation is key - if Novikov dies by poison, it would be suspicious if Dalia dies in the same manner.

So, with that in mind, suggest (or post videos of) viable runs across the WoA maps that would look like a series of unfortunate demises.

I’ll start off with Paris: Novikov killed by a poisoned cocktail. Dalia dies by leaky patio heater.

5 Likes
2

So, in other words, the Heisenberg Parameters of Perfection? Wish I had means to make videos. All I can do is type up point-by-point descriptions.

3 Likes
3

I’m not sure putting your name on it as a brand is going to take off.

That said, if you did want to video it, install OBS studio and use it to record.

Failing that, I’m still interested in hearing your idea of canonically untraceable hits in writing.

4

Ok, I’ll use a couple of my favorites as examples.

For the Gilded Cage mission, using nothing but sneaking, throwing some coins, and using a lockpick, picking up a single screwdriver, and swiping the spare keycard from the head of security’s hangout area, I kick the toilet onto Zaydan’s head (always Zaydan first), then electrocute Strandberg with the second floor railing, using the embassy cleaning staff disguise in the next room (gloves), then putting the screwdriver back before leaving, the keycard chalked up to being lost, but not an issue since it was a spare.

Chasing a Ghost, I use the Kashmirian, SASO. Adjust his rifle, then get the extra paint and put it on the table for the artist to find and wait for Rangan to get taken out, then adjust again and get the papers and put them on the laundry foreman’s desk and wait for Shah to get taken out, then while the Kashmirian talks with the Malestrom, use the Kashmirian’s own poison bottle to spike the Malestrom’s drink on the hill when he meets with his ex, and it’ll be chalked up to the Kashmirian killing all three.

World of Tomorrow, using the cleaning staff disguise (gloves), open the safe in the attic and get the DNA sample, then throw Caruso’s golf club at the model ship to get the virus sample. Meet DeSantis and give her the DNA sample, so that her bodyguards hear and see that she has been made aware that Caruso had samples of her DNA and she destroyed the samples in the fire. Trigger the home video and stab Caruso with the amputation knife and hide the body. Take the knife and put it in the room next to DeSantis’s office where the sticky note with the safe combo was found. While she’s out of the room, throw the virus sample under her desk and head to the basement lab, eventually she’ll keel over from the virus. Depending on method, may need to use the scientist outfit from the corpse in the morgue to get into the lab. In the lab, get a hazmat suit and proceed to destroy the virus through overheating. Leave via the Volkswagen or the boat near the church. Will be chalked up to Caruso getting DeSantis’s DNA and making a version of the virus to kill her, DeSantis finding out about it and killing Caruso (knife used to kill him found in her office), but not before he released the virus in her office to take her out.

Always keep the kills consistent; all accidents or all direct kills. Only vary between them if the direct murders can be pinned on someone else, either through outsourcing, or framing the person who had the accident for killing the other target.

1 Like
5

No. Don’t. …

@Heisenberg You can record video on console, and even later edit on PC. Transferring and uploading and whatnot is more time consuming, but surely you could share video if you truly had to, right? Or is your general rig just not capable of that due to one weak link or another, such as not having access to the cloud, no usb peripherals, or lack of a computer on which to edit/upload (which you could do via phone if you had to)?

6

I mean that I have no idea how to do it, and have no desire to find out right now because I don’t want to risk putting any content on social media while I work for my state government. Just being on here is risky enough. Maybe someday, but not anytime soon.

7

a video of game footage is just… game footage. The vast majority of people who upload game content do so without sharing their personal information.

Unless you are implying that your employer would be concerned with the fact that you play Hitman, which would be batshit insane. Your perspective seems to be out of touch with reality. I wouldn’t worry about it.

Hitman is a puzzle game. I play it because I enjoy solving puzzles, not because I enjoy killing people.

8

A random screwdriver is less likely to be missed than an access keycard. However, for the purposes of my requirements, due to the lack of game mechanics, it’s sufficient to return to wherever you obtained the keycard to simulate returning it.

9

It’s a complicated thing that I can’t really talk about in detail as to the nature of my concern. Let’s just say I hope to have an expanded social media presence in a few years if things go well and then I can do stuff like that, but for now, I don’t want to risk it. I live in a deep red state paranoid about security, making posts on a video game forum is as far as I’m willing to push it for now.

But enough of that, your thoughts on my scenarios?

EDIT: if I could return the keycard as well, I would, but it’s beyond my capability. I prefer to return anything I didn’t bring in with me to exactly where it was whenever possible. Like your suggestion about it, though.

10

So, firstly, I’ll consider gloves unnecessary - Either we can consider it canon that 47 is genetically modified not to leave fingerprints, or, if not, he would trivially carry around some thin vinyl gloves and we’ll treat that as an “automated” aspect.

The only approach I take issue with is your World of Tomorrow solution:

Killing Caruso that effectively and quickly with a knife would be of questionable possibility for DeSantis, a relatively dimunitive woman, to pull off.

I would propose that Caruso die by mouldy spaghetti in which he loses his balance and falls off a cliff. DeSantis dies due to a lack of safety in the lab. The virus dies by you increasing the temperature.

Ether will not turn up any leads as to how the control systems malfunctioned since 47 would have hacked them perfectly. We’ll assume that Ether will be obliged to cooperate with Italian authorities regarding the death of its two scientists and so the cleanest execution is for apparent accidents - DeSantis walks into the hazard chamber without PPE and therefore caused her own death.

11

Not necessarily. Caruso is a nervous wreck and looks like he weighs barely more than DeSantis herself. And DeSantis is driven; a quick stab and a drag to a nearby chest, she could get it done. The use of some strategically deposited firearms and a syringe or two along the way can temporarily take care of her bodyguards, giving a clear window for her to do so outside their supervision.

I use the lab death for DeSantis when I choose to do accidents only for the mission, in which case I use the old spaghetti sauce to make Caruso vomit on the edge of the cliff and kick him off to make it seem he lost balance while puking and tumbled. But, I prefer the method of framing the two to take each other out, as it just further confuses the issue, which helps play into why the herald was having such a hard time figuring it out before Grey got to him.

12

This would require physical prowess, training and experience to expertly stab with the knife. Usually when someone kills with a knife, it’s not just one stab. DeSantis doesn’t fit the profile of being able to pull this off at all.

You solved for motive, but you did not solve for opportunity (i.e. would retracing her steps place her at the scene of the crime) nor means.

13

Strikes me as the type to have some experience with a scalpel, and training isn’t necessary, just drive. Does it help? Sure, but not a requirement. One forceful stab, or throat cut, or whichever method you use to actually kill Caruso, and someone as ambitious and wary as DeSantis could take out Caruso. That their histories with each other are confrontational helps sell the idea to any investigators.

I accounted for her being out of sight of her escorts above.

14

As I said above - you solved for motive, your means are shaky at best for a woman of her build and stature. Opportunity seems to be entirely out of the question - how can she be reliably placed at the scene?

It also appears oddly out of character for her to just commit murder when she has been in contact with Ether to deal with him. Her career would be over with such an obvious act of murder.

But why argue this at all? There are so many other ways of taking out Caruso without even needing to fabricate this elaborate scheme.

15

The challenge of doing so. Yeah, when 47 just wants to get the job done quickly and cleanly, he gets to the point. But when he’s got time to play around, he tries to challenge himself to de what he can pull off. Framing his two targets for killing each other really helps take the heat off of an obvious assassination or two unrelated accidents and a lost experiment all happening at once.

It’s stated in DeSantis’s bio that she understands that he may need to be dealt with, the clear implication being to kill him. I can’t remember, but I believe one of her phone conversations suggests the same.

16

Yes, but in this case it’s sloppy and ill-conceived. It’s a completely out-of-character behaviour for DeSantis to suddenly turn into a cold-blooded killer when her psychological profile would point to her immediately fleeing for safety.

You have an entire lab in a basement, armed guards, the whole nine yards. You’re at the top of your game within Ether. It isn’t remotely plausible that, even if Ether wanted to kill Caruso, that DeSantis would be used to do it with… checks notes a knife.

She’s fine with him being killed, yes, but it’s for Ether to handle, she isn’t going to.

17

And exactly where is her psychological profile? All we have to go off of is her bio, which describes her in such a way to suggest she would have no qualms about killing Caruso, both for professional reasons as well as personal, especially since my scenario sets it up to give the impression that she tries to kill him before he can kill her since she knows he has her samples to try to turn the virus against her. That her death is that exact means proves her paranoia to be correct when investigated.

18

Yes, in absence of anything indicating she’s a high-level Ether scientist who also has a penchant for killing people in combat with a knife, we can default to her being a normal human being who isn’t made for such atrocities.

By the way, I’m quite enjoying this as a meta-game: One of us comes up with the kills, the other takes the role of investigator and picks it apart :slight_smile:

19

You make it sound like I’m suggesting this is part of her skill set. I’m not. I’m suggesting that on top of believing that Caruso’s usefulness has run out, and that she’s tired of putting up with him personally, her bio indicating that she’d be ok with removing Caruso from the picture, and now being given a strong indication that he’s actively targeting her, she decided to take the matter into her own hands before it was too late and explain the situation to Ether later. Add in that the virus really does take her out (because Caruso really was planning to kill her), and however improbable it might seem, the evidence would suggest that this is precisely what happened; that the hostility between the two became fatal.

Agree, this is highly entertaining. Having a degree in criminal justice, and an ambition to be an investigator at one point, helps me with these scenarios.

20

If I’m investigating the aftermath of your solution, here’s my problems:

  • It’s a leap of logic that she could so expertly drive a knife into Caruso without a struggle or being caught.
  • Why kill Caruso herself and not seek safety? Especially with Ether behind her.
  • If she is going to kill Caruso, why a knife of all things? Statistically, women more commonly use poison.
  • Say she does do all of this, what is her end-game? Caruso’s death will inevitably be investigated by authorities. Obviously Ether aren’t behind all this because you orchestrated it so there’s no “Ether would cover it up for her” because they aren’t in the loop.
  • I will walk back the justification for motive: If you could fabricate evidence that Caruso cornered her in flagrante delicto and she stabbed him in self-defence, there would be something there. But you can’t. So there isn’t.

Caruso on the other hand has means, motive and opportunity - you can easily pin DeSantis’s death on him, but not so the other way around.