This is something I’ve thought about for a while since the launch of the 2016 game. When it launched I loved the new reboot style feel that they went with and it really felt like this was a new reimagined 47 sort of the way when they change the James Bond actor each time in the Bond movies. He looks younger, stronger, faster, more deadly and more professional.
This along with the change they made to his origins where 47 is now a genetically modified man rather than a literal clone got me thinking though - Is this 47 THE 47 that we’ve known all along? Or is this 47 an entirely different character altogether now functioning as 47?
This would be a good play on the nature vs nurture debate i.e. in the old games 47 and his fellow clones were created as supersoldiers whereas this time around Ort Meyers children are conditioned and engineered from birth to be expert assassins. The clones in the old games were all literal identical twins of each other physically whereas now that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Another thing to point out is the backstory in these latest games keeps alluding to the fact that 47 had his memory wiped multiple times before escaping the Asylum so it’s possible that this could’ve happened more times than we realised and that he was also engineered to BELIEVE that he was the original old school 47 and maybe Lucas Grey will be aware of this.
There are a few little clues throughout the game such as 47 looking visibly younger as mentioned above, the fact that he now now just genetically modified rather than an actual clone and I even thought it was strange that this is the first game where 47 doesn’t use his signature Dual Silverballers as his default weapons, instead requiring them to be unlocked.
Of course I may be way off the mark here and this all may just be a bit of retelling and rebooting of 47’s origins and character design on IOs part but I thought I’d post it here before the game comes out because after all the same sort of thing has been pulled in other games and movies too.