“Favorite” is very hard to decide with Hitman games, because on what metric makes a game the favorite?
The World of Assassination trilogy is my favorite in terms of gameplay mechanics (e.g. the subdue option which wasn’t available in any capacity before Blood Money) and how big and intricate the levels are compared to the older games.
Codename 47 is my favorite in terms of story. I think the narrative of 47 escaping the asylum, murdering his “fathers”, and gradually figuring out the truth is still the best story the Hitman franchise has offered. But the game is definitely clunky to play and doesn’t have many of the elements we now associate with Hitman (e.g. the Silent Assassin rating)
Silent Assassin is my favorite in terms of embracing the “hitman fantasy” of traveling to exotic places and assassinating high-level targets for money. It’s my favorite in terms of soundtrack, too. And it has a special place in my heart for being the game that introduced me to the Hitman franchise.
Contracts is my favorite in terms of atmosphere. I love the dark look into 47’s psyche, and levels like “The Meat King’s Party” where you infiltrate a fetish orgy in a slaughterhouse. I wish the new games went back to this style of macabre.
Blood Money is my favorite in terms of displaying 47’s cold, ruthless personality. Killing the postman simply as a precaution to avoid being discovered, snapping his pet bird’s neck just to hear better, coldly asking Diana about his fee when she tells him she’s worried about not surviving, calling Diana a bitch after she “betrays” him, killing the priest and reporter simply because they’re witnesses, etc.
Absolution is my favorite in terms of the cinematic experience. Point Shooting was a really neat feature, and I’m still sad IOI didn’t keep it in the games for the WoA trilogy. It’s not really an overpowered feature, since it’s almost useless for SA playthroughs. I also enjoyed the crude sexual humor in Absolution, like the way 47 hid bodies in closets - but I understand in this day and age, that kinda thing is gonna get a “me too” complaint filed against 47.
Overall, I’d probably have to go with saying the World of Assassination trilogy is my favorite because of the superior gameplay mechanics (before Blood Money, you couldn’t even do anything unarmed in the games), and it does all the other metrics (story, “hitman fantasy”, atmosphere, characterization, & cinematic experience) fairly well or ok.
But if Silent Assassin were to be re-made with the WoA gameplay mechanics, that would definitely be my absolute favorite as the ultimate Hitman game. (e.g. I’d love to shove Giuseppe Guillani over his balcony in “Anathema”)
It introduced some interesting new themes to the franchise which I hold dear to heart. The suburbs, the mardigrass carnival, the wedding, the casino. Fantastic. Whereas WoA reused a lot of old concepts. About 75% of it’s maps are settings we’ve seen before, which is totally fine though. In my opinion the newer ideas like a fashion show, a F1 race, a bank and a vacation resort worked the best because they were new concepts. I still love most of the levels so no biggie. In a few years WoA will get the same nostalgia threatment BM got and it might knock BM from it’s throne. We’ll see.