HITMAN Series Retrospective - The Rageaholic 

My favorite line for Hitman 2: "Guess left-wing terrorism pays better than you think." IO is VERY based.

Agent 47 is so badass that he was able to survive Square Enix's attempts to murder him.

Well done 47. Masquerading as a youtuber, using the algorithm as a mask was brilliant. They're de-platforming will be their own undoing.

Hitman kinda became the coolest, most unusual pop culture character. Doesn't yap and rely on insecurity based sarcasm, clean shaven, shows up on time, has skills/knows his job, dresses cool but not flashy and the only tattoo he has actually has a meaning. This is like the complete inverse of what's mainstream now. The dude is exceptional.

Hitman Contracts has always been my favorite of the series, but it’s so often dismissed as a Silent Assassin mission pack. Glad to see Mr. Razor giving it the love it deserves 👍🏻

47's dialogue is one of the best parts of the world of assassination trilogy. The dry delivery with the double entendre is such a great addition, and I'm glad they avoided the trappings of terrible quips that are so popular now.

Fun fact: I remember hetting Razorfist on my radio show years ago, and I told him of the infamous line from the first game: "Columbia, from what I've heard, even the butterflies are corrupt and smugging drugs". It was the first and only time I heard him break down with proper belly-laughter. That was a rarity.

Agent 47, the Clinton Foundation Employee of the Month

Your political videos are amazing, but I can't get enough of some good ol' fashion RAZ0R gaming vids. You're one of the only sane voices in this hobby.

That Kojima "did you rike it?" clip never gets old.

As Count Dooku once said, "I've been looking forward to this."

DAMN. This is a perfect retrospective. The nostalgia hits just kept on coming for the first half of this video. I hadn't thought about the Hitman series in a long time and had forgotten that I played all of these games. _From beginning to end._ Hitman was never a "play it for a while and lose interest" game; I always finished them. The open-world, free-form nature of the missions, the gritty realism of the game world, and the hypnotic soundtrack make this series a masterpiece. EDIT: Finished the video now. Looks like I was wrong to stop at Blood Money. Razor's convinced me: I need to pick up the rebooted series post haste.

I lack the patience to enjoy stealth games. So I've got no horse in the race that is this genre. But a 30+ minute by the one and only Razorfist about a stealth game series? Hell yeah!

Just wanted to remind everyone that critics said that the last of us 2 and a bunch of generic Ubisoft games had better level design than this game, let that sink in.

"Bald... James Bald." Nearly choked on my spit. Top notch wordplay, good sir.

I got an email from Square-Enix before the trilogy came out, and they were asking what I'd like to see in future Hitman games. I simply replied "Make it like Blood Money".

Wonderfully refreshing to have a retrospective series where things actually get consistently better as the years wear on, especially in light of behind-the-scenes corporate shenanigans that have derailed many a great series before.

Looking forward to that Jeffrey Epstein level in the new hitman.

Silent Assassin had a great story. He wants to put his past behind him, gets dragged back into it, then after saving his spiritual mentor he gives up on trying to live in peace.

Jesper Kyd is such a damn good composer. He did the soundtrack for Freedom Fighters and elevated that game more than it had any right. It felt like commies were around every corner in nyc in that game

"NO JEFFREY DONT DO IT" agent 47 most likely.

Favorite line: "Names are for friends, so I don't need one"

iO should give their Bond game either a Sean Connery-era '60s feel, or possibly a Roger Moore-era '70s vibe. Anyway, the last mission should be an all-out battle royale between Bond (with a team of SAS commandos) and the main villain's jumpsuit clad henchmen in some kind of underground lair with that John Barry tune that always played during those scenes.

This retrospective just got me to reinstall all my old Hitman games.

Interesting fact about Hitman Blood Money. The first batch of the CD for the game wasn't a finished product, it installed the game alright, but it could not launch it you got an error code, you had go to the company's website and download a patch and install it in the correct folder after to get the game to work. This was personally the first time I ever experienced a "fix it after launch" type of game, to this day it still baffles me that no one checked if the actual game worked before ordering thousands (if not hundreds of thousands of copies of it) and then ship those to retail.

Man I’m glad I listened to Styx and looked up razorfist guy makes amazing content and after spending hours going through his videos I’ve definitely been missing out respect to razorfist

I’ll give IOI credit, not many companies/franchises could have come back from Hitman: Absolution like they did, but by god they did it. Hitman 3 is an absolute gem of a game, even with the shoddy VR implementation, and it has one of my favourite levels in Hitman history - Dartmoor. A grandiose map, a murder mystery subplot, and all of those potential paths to success? Sign me the FUCK up! Great retrospective, Razor.

As much as I loved Silent Assassin, Contracts will always be my favorite. Not only was it the first in the franchise I played (it didn't have a '3' in the title so I just assumed it was a standalone game when I rented it from Blockbuster), but I was going through a good time in my life and remembering the game brings back fond memories. Thank you IOI for Contracts, and thank you Razor for the trip down memory lane.

Blood Money was so great that no Hitman game can ever surpass it, even with the really good modern games, its still a masterpiece.

I was just discovered that the soundtracks are on Spotify. Then I had to discovered Razorfist did a retrospective on Hitman. It was one my favorite game series.

The Hitman trilogy is the best game of the last generation. Fight me.

Hitman 2: Silent Assassin is still my favorite of the series. Great story and soundtrack.

Still remember that level in the middle east where you're a 6'5" bald white dude in a turban and they let you pass into terrorist-town. I love Hitman.

the suitcase zigzagging chasing after the guy killed me😂🤣

You don't know how many years i waited for this video. It was well worth it. Blood Money was my introduction to stealth and i freaking love the whole series (despite Absolution). I'm so glad it's still alive and great again. I can't wait what IOI does with James Bond, another series i really enjoy. The guys at IOI really had it rough but deserve the best to be honest. They're willing to interact with fans and listen. To this day i got a mousepad, a toy and an official Hitman tie with the game logo's pin they sent me for participating on a small event they had on their forum. I hope they can keep their independence and chugging out greatness.

"Metal Gear Flaccid" had me rolling! We differ politically, Razorfist, but I've loved your videos and commentary since 2010. Keep it up, man.

Mark my words, that 007 game is gonna be a masterpiece.

Fun fact, David Bateson auditioned for the Hitman movies, obviously Hollywood is absolutely ridiculously r tarded so it never came to be, but imagine.

"Don't you f****ing do it" he says, all but guaranteeing the Google search spike. 🤣

My favorite detail about Hitman Contracts was that you're replaying Codename 47 levels from 47's memory of them, so the dark ghostly atmosphere can be attributed to that.

it almost feels surreal the few times you've mentioned MGS without shitting on it.

Holding a couple WRs in HM3 custom maps, my love for this game series is immense, and you managed to do it very good justice in describing both what made these games amazing, as well as capturing what wasnt so good that later was improved. Still so cool seeing how far 47 has come

"Hit Man outlasted them all"..It what Agent 47 does best.

Agent 47 Is by personal favorite stealth game character. Dude just oozes class and badassery. Something about the "I'll leave you to prepare" and "good luck, 47" lines just get more hype than any 3 hour MGS cutscene could ever do.

Haven’t played the new trilogy yet, got chills when razor said 3 was one of the best stealth games he’s ever played

Out of all the stealth games who would have thought hitman alone would survive. 🤔

Hitman, Theif, and Tenchu are among the greatest stealth game series ever made.

Much like Agent 47, when Raz0rfist makes a video, HE DON'T MISS!!

Blood Money was one of my favorite games ever and figuring out how to get out of the casket and kill everybody at the end was one of my favorite moments in any game.

I remember playing the first game and couldn’t get past the 2nd or 3rd level because of how clunky it was. Hitman 2 is where I fell in love with the franchise

I absolutely adore this franchise and blood money, to this day it's still my favorite of the series. It's also one of the best stealth games I've ever played.

That Clinton joke starting at 7:15 was perfect. My soda came out my nose. 🤣🤣🤣

Blood Money is still one of my favorite games of all time. And while I like the new ones, nothing is as memorable as the missions from Blood Money. Even after all these years, I guarantee you I can map out every single mission with 100% accuracy. It was level design perfection. And to me still has the most memorable kills from any game. Swapping the gun in the opera house, shooting out the hot tub at Christmas party, dropping a piano on a guy in a bird costume during mardi gras. And what really made it the best is that you had to figure it all out for yourself. There was no going onto youtube to find the best paths and traps or to figure out what the hell to do with the rat poison. You had to just play the game and figure it out. That made every kill so much more satisfying. And of course its still fun even when you screw up because you can bring an absurd amount of firepower with you to mow everyone down once stealth fails. I will always miss my completely over the top M4 with double drum mags, that is completely silent, but shoots massive WMD level bullets. When you can go from super serious stealth to completely ridiculous carnage in one second you got something special.

18:10 Holy shit David Bateson is the actual agent 47

Found a copy of Contracts at the local comic book/retro store for $8. Stoked to finally play it.

Hitman on PlayStation one was a blast! The Asian Guards “He packing he packing!!”

Fugg yeahrr! The first Hitman i played was Blood Money and then every game since then. Great series. Especially the last 3 installments perfercted the formula. 10/10

"I need to use the bathroom!" - Agent 47

Great video! I’m pretty much 100% in agreement with your opinions. Just a couple things I noticed and wanted to point out, elusive targets were introduced in the 2016 game, so they have been around since the start of the trilogy. Also, Co-op Sniper Assassin was not in Hitman 3, Hitman 2’s Sniper levels were playable in 3, but not in 2 player mode. Lastly, I don’t think Hitman 2 had a progression carryover from the previous entry, Hitman 3 did (and it was convoluted as hell) but I don’t think 2 did; however, there’s a chance I’m wrong on that last one, that’s just what I remember. I love your retrospectives and cannot wait to see more!

The thing that always impresses me is the soundtrack combined with the aesthetic. Just masterful.

I was thinking of the infamous "homing briefcase" during the credits....and lo and behold, that's the post-credits scene. Well played, sir.

I've been hearing you sing the praises of Hitman for about as long as I've been watching you Razor, but this retrospective has got me itching to play the whole series now. Your retrospectives are usually my favorite works of yours, because for all your good humor, I like to see you delve into the more nitty gritty of what makes a game tick, because I think you have a good mind for it. And I enjoy the way you sum up the course of a series without going full video essay and getting too bogged down in details, even if sometimes it can feel a bit too brusque sometimes. It's especially heartening to hear that Hitman 3 is one of the most stellar entries in the series, really gives me hope for iOI and their 007 game. Also, it's funny that you mention that The Hitman Trilogy has a unified menu, because if you've been paying attention to other games, everything from Call of Duty to Battlefield has a combined menu now, so at least Hitman can join the long series of games that have had their innovations pilfered and spoiled by modern gaming lol.

I played the hitman series religiously growing up, how time has gone bye.

The moment you hit Blood Money. God fucking speed. Masterpiece that it was.

Never played a hitman game but now it looks like I have to.

Y'all remember in Blood Money when you could stand up from your death bed and start cappin mofos? God, I love that game.

Blood Money is still my favorite. I would have easily given it to the reboot trilogy if it wasn't for the "always online" requirement along with the GIGANTIC storage space it takes up. Since when does a videogame take up to 100GB?!

Ah, hitman. The game assassin's creed should've taken notes from when they wanted to shake up the formula.

The World of Assassination trilogy's "Mission Clear" theme is as iconic as Ave Maria

I have been waiting for this retrospective since I first subscribed to this channel.

I think your underrating the graphics of the first game for the time, remember this game had functioning mirrors which was huge for the late 90's and interactable environments like the fish tank draining to under the lowest hole you shot into it, something MGS2 was accredited for being years ahead of its time and stuff like the fauna reacting to you walking over it and being pushed out of your way, something that's still not an industry standard.

Blood money... “best, game, ever”

Nice! These retrospectives are always great.

Love the inclusion of the Ambush song at the start.

Loved Ambush playing on the intro.

Guess I know what games I need to revisit now. Great Retrospective!

Watching this while working out. It helps pass the time and it's always fun watching your videos. 😁

also fun fact , the Theater blood money mission is a direct prequel for the entire contract game as the final mission briefing show you that you killed both theater target and got shot by the final one who is a police inspector

Oh hell yeah, this is what I was waiting for. You truly are an oracle, Razör.

I did love how Hitman 2 added more logic that wasn't in Hitman one, like hiding in bushes was not in the first game. However, it was in the second game, and therefore the first one. That's freaking ingenious!!

The joke of the milkman was hilarious.

I was introduced to this channel almost 10 years ago by seeing the Thief and Splinter Cell retrospectives as I'm a huge stealth fan and it's awesome to now see one for Hitman as well. I would consider this franchise along with Thief and Splinter Cell to be in the holy trinity of stealth franchises. Excellent video!

Dude, I freakin’ love the Hitman series! Blood Money was the first video game my parents refused to let me play on PS2…but I secretly bought and played anyway!

The best thing about this franchise is the love from the developers that emanates from it. The depth and well thought out missions are just unmatchable in the rest of the industry. May the barcode body bag filling baldy carry on in cleansing the world of mediocrity.

Man I haven't thought about Tenchu is decades.. That was my favorite game for a long long time

I do want the trilogy's elusive targets to come out as perms when they stop making them.

As a Hitman fan, I love this. Massive respect Razor and well done on this retrospective. Blood Money was the Chaos Theory of Hitman while Absolution became The Barcode Conviction.

Dude, feels like we have been waiting for this video for 6 years at least! Glad you waited for the 3 games since 2016. 👊

Fun Fact: Daniel Perretti( a famous male soprano) sung the Ave Maria in Hitman Blood Money.

I honestly just came here for Hitman Agent 47. And Hitman 2 Silent Assassin. Nostalgia. I played a bit of Blood Money. And some of Absolution. Props to the Splinter Cell Conviction props. Great game!

Silent assassin is what hooked me on stealth games, and is the measuring stick I use to judge every other game with stealth mechanics.

Well done sir! I love the Hitman series and you analysis was on point!

Blood Money still is the peak after all these years.

Perfect gift on my birthday! Thanks, Razor!

Holy shit. I quite safely assumed there would never be another one of these.

Magnificent. We've been waiting for some game retrospective action.

Finally! I’ve been waiting for a retrospective on this series. Thank you, razor!

To celebrate today's news about Square-Enix selling off the rest of their Western development studios I thought I'd watch this video I had open in a tab for months. Now that Eidos-Montreal is under new ownership, I hope Deus Ex can make a comeback so Hitman doesn't get too lonely in the stealth genre.

The main issue I have with the trilogy reboot is the 'always online' feature for a singleplayer game. In that regard , Blood Money will always be the superior Hitman game.

I've played everyone Hitman since the original on release. Blood Money was magic. I knew at the time it was something special, but not until this video could I really define it. In my top 5 game experiences of all time.