Hitman: No One Is Untouchable | A Video Essay
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- Who gets to be a target in Hitman? What do the games have to say about them? In this video I break down the narrative and themes of the recently released Hitman games: the world of assassination trilogy.
0:00 Intro
1:55 Plot Summary
6:35 Agent 47
16:15 Power
21:24 Capital C
27:04 Disguises
29:32 Providence
37:09 Conclusion
Twitter - @18conorryan
Letterboxd - Con83
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Seems like TH-cam is recommending this video to people all of a sudden, so thats cool. If you enjoyed it and want to help out with algorithim nonsense, commenting, liking, sharing etc. is much appreciated. Thanks for watching!
I'm late to this video, but speaking as someone who has logged hundreds of hours in each game, you've done a magnificent analysis mate.
Well done.
First video of yours I've seen - great analysis and editing, but your sound mixing is a little off. You have a quiet speaking voice but had really loud chapter transitions/gameplay interludes. Thanks for the content!
Good video ong
I like how your calm subtle voice gives way to a GRENDADE TO THE FACE at 25:43. Laughing so hard. Thank you, I needed that.
The Stupendium made a rap that captures just about everything you described here, thought you’d enjoy it. My favorite line:
I.C.A. (I see a) hole in the ark
th-cam.com/video/25P7Jb0d0rU/w-d-xo.html
I would have to disagree about the idea of monsters replacing other monsters being underutilized. Watch the the legacy cutscene from Hitman 2016 and listen to Lucas Grey's words.
"You were always the best. Nobody ever came close. You defined the art and it defines you. Your actions have changed the world. Powerful men have fallen by your hand, but by the same token, others have risen. Do you realize what kind of world you've been shaping? Does the ICA? Does your Handler? I live in that world. I have seen the consequences. I have felt the cost. That's what defines me."
I really want to like this but I won't because the like count is 47 lol
@@feckoslovakia same because its 470 now
@@Kirbyte1 ok now I can like the comment, thanks for the reminder :D
Excellent point. Everyone creates their own demons and the consequences of our actions often outlive us. The difference between 47 at the beginning and at the end of the trilogy is that he's taking responsibility for his own actions for the first time. He's becoming fully cognizant of what kind of world he creates. He will likely create new monsters by his own hand again, but this time he and Diana are actively looking to make sure they can't cause the sort of damage Providence did. I think it's quite interesting to consider; there are certain things about people that will never change, but people can still change the way they go about, react, and make choices for the future based on those unchanging things. It may not be a sweeping, cinematic change like what you might expect in a sweeping, cinematic story, but continuing with the idea of the Hitman trilogy pulling from the state of the modern world for inspiration most major changes for the better are structured the same sort of way: The initial approach remains largely intact, but this time they take what happens as the result of their actions into account and are more careful about it. It may not be perfect, but it's a step in the right direction and it does net better results. I dare say that 47 and Diana doing this in the epilogue is a small piece of subtlety in a game that otherwise uses a sledgehammer to get its points across.
This is also an important part of why not every solution is not the adequate, while we got a Swedish bank CEO stealing Morrocco of its future, ending economic freedom will only give us another guy with the same plots and damages.
While we take emmotional choices (Like we all do), we will always have either the same problems, or things turn even worse
One thing in Hitman I find fun personally is that Diana Burnwood is the best handler 47 could have had for this series about power and control. She helps with opportunities, never telling him he should do something, just giving ideas from her own skill in assassination, no matter what silly things you do she never tells you to stop and instead watches to see what your plan is, putting faith in your choices.
In a way, she's part of why 47 is growing into his own person. She could say "47, disguise as this person and head to where the target is, I will tell you what to do next when you get there", but she doesn't direct you like that. Diana could order you around and achieve a silent assassin rank every mission easily, she's a very talented handler, but she values your autonomy. Freelancer is an extension on this as Diana finds intel on a bunch of syndicates, but now is letting 47 himself choose which one to pursue, trusting his judgement. As 47 grows as a person, he makes more choices for himself.
Note: I have personally come to the conclusion that Diana genuinely cares about 47's growth and wants him to have more autonomy, I could be entirely wrong about my assessment. Unless the developers say "Now that Cyrus T. Laserpunch, he knows exactly what the story is, he's 100% correct", don't think my comment is truth.
A well written comment. Also this is at 47 likes XD
47 was always alone on his missions. Before the WOA, Diana would only talk about the location and targets of the contract, occasionally giving a few hints.
Like Diana herself says at the end of the Mendoza level "All I saw was a blank slate, a weapon to wield. I told myself it was what you needed, but people aren't meant to be controlled."
As a huge hitman fan I can safely say I love this video, it’s sad most people don’t pay attention to the story
Especially because it was told episodically per map (at least at first), pretty unique for a 2016 game before the now normal “games as a service” with season updates. Since it was slowly told, many players ignored it until they just didn’t care for it in 2 and 3.
It’s an interesting story akin to a spy flick
47 likes ✌🏻
The current trilogy's story is cliché dog shit, though,
if instead of targets we had to defeat bosses with surreal powers and instead of Diana talking to us in real time we would have been stopped at each codec ringing for a face to face of 2 to 20min in cinematic, people would have proclaimed the genius of the screenwriter and the artistic vision of the project director
@@Bale4Bond i prefer blood moneys or silent assassins
19:40 The only target I feel bad about is Penelope Graves. She was a very intelligent analyst for Interpol, actually trying to take down Sean Rose. She saw corruption in the UN and tried to report it, and got shut down by her superiors. This caused her to switch sides, struggling to find the "righteous" path.
And regarding the ending of the trilogy, it's probably because IOI didn't want to end in a place where they write themselves into a corner for a future game. It does kind of make for a weak ending though.
Yes, I totally agree. I always try to make it quick for her, but ,if I’m not wrong, it’s the only contract ordered by Soders with no way of declining. So here even Diana isn’t in control. But luckily we got revenge quickly…
Same. She was so similar to my best friend in terms of personality and appearance that it was genuinely painful taking her out.
I feel sorry for Silvio as well. Granted, he’s a monster by the time you kill him, but if you pick up on his backstory in the level, he only became that way after a lifetime of horrific abuse from just about everyone around him.
I actually completely disagree.
47 is forced to become an assassin at first, targets chosen for him.
By the end of the game, he's still an assassin, but now on his own terms. He's choosing to do what he's good at. There's nothing mandating this choice or forcing him to do this. He could just retire; he has a seven digit bank account, after all, and there will rise another person to take his place if he retires. He chooses to continue proving that no one is untouchable because he wants to. This is, effectively, a first.
At long last, 47 has seen the consequences and felt the cost of what world he's shaped, and now, he's turning the tables to shape the world for good--or, at least, to keep the world from being shaped for bad.
I also felt a bit bad for Washington twins - they genuinely tried to make world dodge spiraling to apocalypse even if they were also working on a backup plan for their rich sponsors and were part of the Providence.
I actually quite like the ending, it strikes an interesting notion of "Now that he has control, he can decide where he goes, but he has decided to stay, because despite everything, that is who he is. Now, he just does it on his own terms, not anyone else's."
And I think the recent addition of the freelancer mode (which isn't really part of the main story but I'm mentioning it anyway) which shows 47's personal life slowly develop from being only about murder into what seems to be a rather fulfilling life of hobbies.
Agreed on what you said. And just a couple days ago, I hit the Freelancer Mastery level where you can update the kitchen to show bread baking in progress. And next to the sink, it went from one plate, one fork, one knife… to a sink full of dirty dishes.
At first, i tsk’d at 47 for letting his dishes pile up. 😂 But then I had one of those quiet “ohh 😮” moments, as it hit me that each thing unlocked in the safehouse evolves the scene in a way that, to me, says that he’s settling in, feeling safe, not feeling like he has to constantly be on the move with one eye over his shoulder. He’s home.
IOI really are amazing at environmental storytelling.
I completely agree. He could've retired, but he's staying in the game, not because he must--because if he doesn't, someone else will--but because he wants to define the art of contract killing. He defines the art as it defines him, and if he can define the art, he's defining it as Justice, and therefore it defines him as Nemesis.
It makes narrative sense with the other games within the franchise, too. He's already tried to get out of the life of being a Hitman in Sicilly and as a consequence, he was dragged back into being a contract assassin. It wouldn't have made sense for 47 to try again because he knows he cannot. He is what he is. He doesn't have a family. He doesn't have children. He's been witness to so many atrocities, himself being a victim of them, that any chance of a normal life was stripped from him. Even the creation of him wasn't birthed from a place of natural pregnancy. He was robbed of a personhood and made to be stuck memoryless, with anyone he made contact with being murdered to keep him within his puppeteer's control.
Diana geniunely believed in him and was trying to help him find himself, despite everything they were doing for the ICA. It's why Diana's betrayal broke 47 psychologically, spiralling him into questioning his own existence, every contract he fulfilled for her and for the rest of them. He ends up drowning in the blood of his sins and inevitably reliving the moment he had killed her parents, about ready to accept that her betrayal was just for a tool like him, a monster like himself. Even Lucas Grey, the psyche version, agrees that Diana had every right to stab him in the back for what 47 had done to her as a child.
But, it's Diana. The one person who had his back when others' did not and their life has not been kind, with them both being united to survive it together for a reason. She's one of the few humans who understood: "Nobody is Untouchable". And since she picks the contracts, she made sure to vet them enough to know that who they were killing were unrepentently evil people.
So, knowing in the end he cannot have a life of peace, Agent 47 takes a break and returns, understanding truly who he is and what he's gifted at, knowing he is needed in the world to do what other people refuse to and he knows he can only do it with someone like Diana because Diana actually has a moral compass. She doesn't kill for the sake of it. She's not interested in power and she's proven she can resist it.
Thus, he's able to be his own boss rather than a tool of an agency that can easily be corrupted from within. Together, they broke the cycle that the very early games of Hitman had begun to spin while acknowledging the reality that, yeah, there is no escape for people like them.
@@ButMadNNW626 That's a really good observation. I never thought I would find a pile of dirty dishes heartwarming, but here we are, haha
He must always have had time for hobbies. It’s not like he was born with the skills to pass a rock drummer audition
I feel like you missed one element of the “no one is untouchable” idea, which has to do with 47s character arc.
Since he has no emotional attachments, he can’t be hurt. You can not point a gun at his wife and daughter to get him to do what you want.
He is thought to be untouchable.
But as the game reveals he isn’t untouchable.
He has memories that scar him and despite having trouble making meaningful relationships, he feels a deep attachment to his handler Diane its the only intimate, if purely platonic, relationship he has
Absolution disagrees with you
@@TheMelvinV World of Assassination trilogy disagrees with Absolution so who cares
Did you perhaps cover wars, ya know?
@@chuckled125 suffering from tunnelvision seems so stupid to me.
Man I love this.
An agent, created for the purpose of being absolutely untouchable. So much so to be used to reach the powerful "untouchables."
But in the end, *No one is truly untouchable.*
35:31 I really enjoy the Constant's line during this scene. That little laugh he does mid-sentence sounded so genuine that I like to think the voice actor truly laughed at the ridiculousness of that man's attitude.
Same here
another cool line from the constant is the 'We won a long time ago. This is maintenance'
The first mission in Hitman (2016) is memorable to me, your mission to kill Viktor and when you enter the first room, he is there in the spotlight by the crowd.
You saw him, your prey, he seems untouchable, but no one is untouchable.
Shut up corny
One comment that needs to be made is the choice of ambience we got in the Chongqing mission. In earlier Hitman games within the franchise, there was extensive narrative choices surrounding Agent 47 being Catholic as he attempted to try living a life away from that of being an assassin, the iconic theme song of the Hitman games being Ave Maria. The Hitman III team cleverly ensured that they used an ambient soundtrack that invoked the sorrowful and human nature of Agent 47 through the use of choir/hymn music mixed with the rain that the player can hear as they go about exploring. It's legitmately titled "Chingqing Requiem" otherwise known as "Repose of the Souls of the Dead", a type of Roman Catholic Mass. It's also used to mean "a token of remembrance".
The nature of the music that accompanies the player as they come face to face with the atrocities of medical abuse upon the homeless, the all seeing eyes of technology upon its people as an abuse of their privacy and overarching power structure that this international collective rules over their everyday lives and that over other countries just brings back that sense that these villains are godless people. They're empty of a moral system. Which creates comparison to Agent 47, who does have a moral code. Agent 47, for all his own actions, is capable of admitting them for what they are and even confesses them to a priest, Father Vittorio. He's capable of admitting to himself of what he is and is able to take it to God. The other villains don't care to self-reflect on their own actions, let alone shed any guilt for committing them. They think of themselves as "just" and above the law. Sometimes, even as a God when it comes to manipulating the medical industry to develop inhumane technologies, which Agent 47 himself was a victim of.
This is reflected in how Agent 47 confronts Jordon Cross. Of all the ways you can kill a spoiled rich kid, the one that takes focus is 47's confrontation where Jordon is presented with the reality of his crime and the sole choice you're given as a player is to simply put a single bullet into the man's flesh. It's one of the main deaths that felt more like Agent 47 than it did the player's choice. The difference between 47 and Cross is where it highlights that Cross doesn't actually fathom the consequences of his actions and presumes he can simply pay off 47 like he does everyone else.
When begging and bribing doesn't work, he just becomes this pathetic mess at the feet of an almost mythological killer who simply sits and dispenses quiet justice. It's merciful. There is no fanfare, there is nobody to witness the corpse. For all his fame, his money, the power his father owns, Agent 47 disposes of him alone, empty, with the tape of his crime echoing about the room.
It's a reminder that everything comes to an end and that one's sins eventually return to remind us of our past crimes and when confronted with the reality that death stood in front of him, Jordon Cross died an unrepentent failure of a human being. He thought money and power could buy off death but one's immortality isn't purchaseable; a theme that's rampant in other missions, like Chingqing's target being obsessed with transhumanist ideals or Robert Knox's obsession with robotic war crimes.
These people don't just have power. They also think of themselves as untouchable by the rules of nature, of death. In the last mission when you awake in the train, you can listen in on a conversation between a scientist and one of the guards as they discuss being able to erase painful memories from peoples' lives, of being able to rid anything a patient desired from their known conscious. In other words, the ability to never remember (or live with) painful consequences of life.
This is why the Constant's ending, with his memories being erased, is poetic. He's not murdered in the stereotypical manner that Agent 47 would have every right to achieve but the Constant's entire personhood is taken from him. He exists as nothing more than a husk of a person and has to suffer for the crimes that he doesn't even remember committing. Agent 47 gave the Constant the worst death imaginable; the inability to repent. Ever. There is no good life for the Constant; not in the material and certainly not in the spiritual.
This analysis goes crazy. Kudos 👍
The inability to repent never crossed my mind but oh my god, it hits so much harder now
I think freelancer shows his true goal, he now works by himself, not tethers to anyone, but instead of going out and becoming a killer, he now work to make the world a better place, one syndicate at a time.
He still takes jobs Diana has chosen for him.
@@korvo3427yeah but they’re partners
@@whitezombie10 They always kinda were. She provided the jobs he could either take on or refuse, provided mission intel etc. so what really changed?
@@korvo3427 independence.
The thing I remember striking me even playing the original game back in the day was that the 'genetically enhanced super assassin' basically just made him a standard video game protagonist. He walks faster than everyone else, he never gets tired even while climbing things, he can take multiple gunshot wounds without dying and so on. The comment about him being the perfect game protagonist also applies in-universe as well.
The mission apex predator was a real gut punch to my senses and even emotions. Starting at a empty dinner that feels like a place of purgatory, being totally blind and unaware who your targets are, unsure of olivias safety and well being due to the event, as well as dianas seemingly gone with hints she may turn bad and even more than that.. being left completely alone. that is one of the few if any missions i WISH i could experience for the first time again.
Some friends wanted to watch me play through the trilogy’s story and I’ve been doing so on a fresh save file so I’d have no tempting shortcuts: none of the gear I’ve accumulated since 2016, no shortcut starting spawns, I start almost all missions with the default loadout. It’s been a fun experience.
We just hit Berlin a couple nights ago and I alerted them to be quiet before starting the level, so they could fully appreciate that first time there. No music, no Diana, no minimap… I even felt unsettled myself when I instinctively (heh) hit the Instinct button and it didn’t work - I’d completely forgotten that part.
It truly was a masterful way to communicate the situation and emotions involved, really put the player in 47’s shoes.
And then the call with Olivia. 47 being the calming influence. The supremely confident way he assures her, “I’ll handle this.” And THAT’S when the mission title appears: “Apex Predator”. Chills.
The more I think about Hitman the series, and replay levels in both the modern trilogy, and Blood Money, the more I think Apex Predator is the peak of Hitman. Maybe not in level design, but certainly in that feel and atmosphere, and how creatively it changes the usual formula,
13:33 goodness, I just now realized that this conversation is a parallel between 47 and Diana's own relationship and that's why it matters that 47 is engaging in such a (for a non target) lengthy dialogue!
Explain please, I am stupid
@@Tactical_Tailgater Late reply, but basically this mission is set after Diana has gone silent for a while and 47 hasn't heard an update from her regarding her plans with Providence. Much like the woman chatting to him, 47 is worried that Diana is outgrowing him as she becomes more powerful, that she no longer needs him. He's worried that she's changing and growing as a person, while he's just staying the same, and that she'll drop him like dead weight eventually.
@@Niobesnuppa Makes sense, a lot of sense
oh shit you're so right! i like that interpretation
There are a few lines in The Stupendium’s songs on Hitman 2 and 3 on TH-cam that came to my mind and I think resonate just perfectly with the theme of the video:
“In a palace or a manor, manned with killers at your care
If you’re penciled in his planner, chance is he’s already there”
“So till your hour chimes, you hide inside your ivory monuments
Built your tower too high, don’t be surprised when there’s no oxygen
Where that power lies, yes, there’s a price behind predominance”
“Grip around the populace while sitting in your opulence
You built your own sarcophagus - now *that’s* what I call providence”
Great songs and also play really well on the theme of “no one is untouchable”!
The Apex is basically the culmination of the No One is Untouchable vibe. Every single lyric is a carefully constructed and unique way of saying, in the words of Gandalf, "You have no power here!"
As far as I (someone who never played the game) can tell, none of the targets’ power is physical or personal. It’s all social power. It’s all what they can make other people do. Oh, I’m a general who can move armies. Oh, im a fashion designer who can decide what people wear for the next decade. None of them are able to fight back once you actually get to them. They are herd animals, and unfortunately for them 47 is an Apex predator. The songs just drive that point home. It’s easy for him to take you out. “If you’re penciled in his planner”. No matter who you are, to him you are just another item checked off his todo list.
@@SYKRAL1 I've put in hundreds of hours into the games, to the point where I have SASO (Silent Assassin, Suit Only, arguably the most difficult accomplishment you can do) on every single level.
You're absolutely right.
There is not a single target you cannot just punch out. Soldiers and guards, when melee attacked, will give you a quick-time event series where you have to press certain buttons, otherwise they punch you. Press the right buttons, you punch them. However, non-guards don't have this. You can just punch out a waiter in one hit. The targets can also be punched out in one hit. Their entire basis of power is social; both in "I have immense sway over the populace thanks to X Y and Z" and "I am surrounded by guards under my command". Both of these give social power.
Neither of them save them once 47 is behind them with a fibre wire or a Silverballer.
THE STUPENDIUM MENTIONED GRAAAAAAAH 🔥🔥🔥
21:36 It feels like the cathartic revenge genre is something that kicked off in the last decade. Shows like Leverage, "Steal from the rich and powerful thieves and give to their victims and Person of interest "let's save the life of the person being threatened". Its really great and I hope we see more stuff like this.
You’re describing Robin Hood, which dates back to the 13th century. We still haven’t solved the problem.
@@ErzengelDesLichtes The problem is that when we take action, we fuck up
@@Tactical_Tailgater because humans are inherently fuck ups, it's a miracle we even *can* survive
You've said so much I've what I've tried to express about the trilogy. It's very easy to dismiss the plot as paint-by-numbers spy thriller, but IO did a great job of pulling it deeply into the game, its characters, and its mechanics.
There's a handful of spots I think NPCs reference, unknowingly, the state of the world and a reminder of what 47/Diana are working to tear down. Notably I can think of Sato's speech at the end of the fashion show, where he explains his new fashion line explores duress and the suggestion that "we are all preyed upon by sinister forces". Another is Aiden Kelly in Whittleton Creek, extolling the virtues of Charles Blake III by saying he has no ties to shadowy organizations "pulling the strings".
In terms of unequivocally evil targets, I feel the most sympathy for Penelope Graves and Wazir Kale, who I don't think are portrayed as such. Kale especially, through his manifestos and his conversation with Neha, shows a softness and a similar set of goals to 47-to tear down the walls of oppression that plague the world.
This video is an instant sub for me. Keep it up!
Whenever I hear the words “No one is untouchable” I see the meaning as being this: no one is untouchable, from the most ordinary of people to the most powerful to ever live, invincibility is a myth, death is always there.
Agent 47's character growth being the ability to resist a death pun in hilarious. Now if there were any wine present, we would for sure still be told it was to die for.
"He's a master of seemingly every skill"
*cuts to Masseus 47 and DJ 47*
LMAO I always thought it was hilarious in Bangkok and Berlin how 47 is a pro sound mixer
That skill wasn't taught, he learned it himself
One interesting intersection of gameplay and story I've noticed is the Colorado mission. IOI goes to great pains to make sure that it is abundantly clear that everyone you kill deserves it, with one exception: Penelope Graves. Killing her makes you feel uncomfortable because it should. You're killing an innocent woman and aiding the shadowy cabal that control the world
Most people think its an action/stealth shooter
When its actually a puzzle game disguised as a stealth shooter
This Video Essay was an amazing deep dive into Hitman’s story, and I usually don’t see that as much when people review games. Top-Notch Stuff!
This channel is extremely underrated, I don't understand how this video only has 47 views (nice) when it is so well made and has such a cool unique perspective on the narrative of these games.
Loved your analysis of Ocean's movies too, keep up the amazing videos and you'll go far!
While the temptation might be there, I would personally caution against labeling even the worst humanity has to offer as monsters. Because it can make it easy to forget they are just human beings, albeit very nasty ones, who choose to be horrid. The problem with labeling such people as monsters and dehumanizing them is that this easily makes one forget that they are just people, and thus we can never learn to keep an eye out for the warning signs to stop such people from developing into the end point when there is still a chance to intervene. As well, it washes the hands of the people in question a bit too much to call them monsters, because it implies that it isn't down to the fact they are choosing to be horrid, but somehow a matter of "destiny" or as if being a jerk is akin to an illness they got no control over. It's all a choice. They are people who choose to be absolute menaces, and that people component is best kept firmly in mind...you never know when you might cross paths with a person fast on their way to becoming this kind of person, and be in the position to intervene to alter the trajectory of their life path to not end up like this.
The fact that the Danish game company made a Swedish person a villain in their game is hillarius as a Norwegian😂
Whenever I play the hitman games, I always try to put myself in the mind of Agent 47. Instead of doing the easy routes, or the big boom, tanking my way to my target, I try and do the strategies that the game offers. It makes the cutscenes and the game much more fun and makes much more sense in my opinion.
Plus it always makes me feel like i watched an action film, or a horror flick. Seeing him stalk down the targets.
I'm just echoing everyone else, but this video is excellently made and very underrated. I never even thought to look at the view count until I read the comments. I'm flabbergasted that you don't have thousands of views. Great video, content, and production!
I think The Constant's conversation with Block illustrates a good point. All they truly have for power is cash. Without it, they're just like you and me, ordinary people just with fatter wallets. They can order people around, command monuments built for them, make bioweapons, play chess with entire nations. But at the end of the day, strip them from everything they have and put them in a pit. They're as pitiful as a stray dog with no home to go to. When all the money in the world is meaningless, what do you have to offer? 99% of the ark society has nothing to offer if the world ends. Everyone will have to work in the end, no amount of throwing money at the problem can fix it if money doesn't have value anymore. That's why the solution is ridiculously simple in the Hitman games. A bad guy does bad stuff? Well, kill him then! Because it's seriously that simple. They're not superhuman even those that believe they are. In the end of the day, a speedy silverball to the back of the head is equal to both the poor and the rich no matter how you slice it. No matter how high you stand, no matter what power you command. No matter how many goons you pay, empires you've built, money you own, influence you have, you are NOT untouchable. Nothing in this universe is untouchable. Not the stars, nor the planets, and especially not you.
As someone studying Game Design atm I can't wrap my head around all the effort that went into each level
Map, Characters and especially all the character routines and reactions are planed to such a high detail
You did a very good job in analyzing a game which a lot of people care about only for it's aesthetics, but it always had a solid design underpinning each and every one of its games throughout it's history. Hitman is primarily seen as a murder simulator but it has always been aware of its commentary on shifting allegiances within power dynamics and tries to stay neutral and above it, simply to market itself i feel (except for Hitman: Absolution).
The game has always had a very strong feeling tied to its central character, 47 and his relationship with Diana was always meant to be a reflection on how human he was in each version. Personally Hitman 2: Silent Assassin is my favourite because it actually tries to explore Agent 47's humanity but it does so in very brief touches and broad strokes. The franchise is not very captivating to be honest but it has always been aware that people keep coming back to it because of the thrill of control it offers to the player, unlike many other games.
I'm so happy that 47 it's getting so much love. I've been a fan since Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, and it brings a smile to see constant new content.
Come to think of it, Hitman is the only one standing from the classic stealth videogame era. MGS is gone, so is Splinter Cell, Tenchu, Commandos, and Thief.
I love how you said neutrality is a political stance.
Drives home that everything is political.
it’s true
"Stranburg is cartoonishly evil"
Bro doesnt know about the brazilian supreme court lmao
While the story and all that is certainly good and makes a great point, I'd like to acknowledge how damn good the dialogue is between characters. I genuinely believe that these games have some of the best random encounter dialogue in any game or movie. They managed to litter the game with heaps of subtle jokes without making it feel like a marvel movie.
oh my god an explanation of the plot of the Hitman series that actually explains what's going on in a way that's (sort of) easy to follow. THANK YOU. The first 5 minutes are better than like... 20 minute explainers
It's worth noting that despite 47 being a cold blooded killer, he always tries to minimize collateral. Whether or not that's because he has a moral compass or just wants to minimize how much attention he draws to himself is up for debate, but he tries not to kill non targets, even those trying to kill him.
It's also worth noting that he had a bit of a lapse of faith in one of the past games so Diana specifically vets his contracts so that she can prove they're irredeemable bastards. One because she wants 47 to not have any doubts about who he's killing, and two like you said, she wants to prove to the world's elite that nobody is untouchable.
ive always wanted a critical analysis of hitman’s narrative thank u so much
The idea that, in the end, 47's campaign didn't change much makes sense when you consider one simple truth about capitalism: There will always be another new group of rich people to replace the old. If the CEO of a corporation dies, the corporation just selects a new CEO. A billionaire dies, his fortune gets passed on to whoever they chose in their will, usually their own offspring. The wealth of the wealthy never goes back to the people who were exploited to gain it, it just goes to other wealthy people.
That's the end message, I think. As cathartic as it would be to be able to just wipe out the 1% who use their wealth and power to exploit people and perpetuate human suffering, the truth is, those people are as replaceable as the lowly mail clerk at the bottom rung of the CEO's corporation, or the guy who walks the billionaire's dog. This is because both are produced by the same capitalist system, one that has been rigged to keep the wealth of the rich with the rich and to keep making the rich richer, while keeping the poor in poverty and all the while making them poorer. Elon Musk is just as replaceable as Joe Schmoe the garbage man: When he dies, someone else will take over his duties as CEO, and his wealth will pass on to someone else. He's just another link in a long chain of rich people.
The end message here is that, even if you really could just do what 47 did in real life, it won't change anything because the system that created people like this keeps chugging along, an engine powered by human suffering and broken dreams. The world won't change by putting bullets into rich people, as satisfying and cathartic as it might feel to do so in the game, because the system that creates people like the members of Providence still exists and keeps creating new ones as fast you remove them.
Real change isn't going to happen by sniping rich people or blowing them up with explosive rubber ducks. It's only when a new, better system is made that prevents groups like Providence from existing, replacing a world where all someone needs to harm others, manipulate governments, or control the world is a large enough pile of money... that the world can really be changed for the better.
Now aint that that the truth...
*communism intensifies*
The Chongquing conversation is such a fun insight into 47’s character
A small but somewhat impactful addition: while Hitman has stealth elements, it is largely a _puzzle-solving_ game. The puzzles aren't easy to see as puzzles, but they absolutely aren't your typical stealth mission fodder, either. Like you said, Hitman is blunt, and while he can dress up easily very little of what he can do has to be stealthy.
Looking at your analysis from this perspective, it shifts the whole idea of "what do we need to do to defeat this broken system". It is absolutely a power fantasy, but it is also ostensibly a school-playground, where students go to learn to analyze, deconstruct, and navigate these same massive, complex, and unique scenarios out in the wide world. You begin to get the idea that the devs are saying "we feel this pain, so we made a tool others can use. Practice, learn, and use."
With freelancer, 47 is truly his own man now.
This is the best review of hitman’s character and story by far.
Nice essay, Agent Ryan. The money will be transacted to your bank account.
This is a wonderfully made video, with impressive pacing and a unique take on a game that means a lot to me. Thank you, I really enjoyed what you’ve made!
This essay is S-tier for many reasons, but my favorite part was the fact that you talked about the bridge dialogue in Chonqing.
It’s one of my favorite pieces of dialogue in the entire trilogy, and I often find myself listening to the whole thing any time I’m put in that starting location. Being able to hear the subtle compassion in his voice is something that is so riveting and unique to hear from 47.
hitman has always had a lot love for me as it’s been one of the most fun and funny games i’ve ever played, but i started paying more attention to the story in this past game and fell in love even mote
this deserves more likes. shame on all you that watched it without hitting that thumbs up
First off--great essay, I watched all of it and I loved it.
Second, I have a few takes that I think will be very unpopular about Hitman's story, in particular, and I wanna type them into the void of the internet. The first take is that, when I first started playing the game, I was disappointed with how derivative the plot was--and I hated Diana. I thought she was the typical pretty garnish that is meant to ornament 47, who is the main character and also a power fantasy for the player. However...
In my opinion, Diana is the true protagonist of the Hitman trilogy. In my opinion, the story is almost entirely about her and also mostly propelled forward by her--even in the end, as you point out, Diana is a central character in truly understanding who 47 is. 47 is more of a blunt instrument (again, as you point out)--he does have character development, but it is nuanced and subtle (though very satisfying). Diana's story, however, is really what the game is about--in the end, she is the one who says, "No one is untouchable," and "untouchable" is a central theme of the game as well as the name of the final mission--it's also a phrase that comes from her father.
I think Hitman is largely about justice, how justice is inevitable, and really about closure for Diana. When viewed from this lens, I actually find the ending to be extremely satisfying, and a nice ending for Diana's story. Even the final pivotal moment for 47 is about coming to terms for what he did to Diana--and I believe that moment is, indeed, more pivotal than him killing the constant. Even him killing the constant, at the end of the game, is something I think you could argue as 47 being motivated to do for Diana (albeit not fully). I love Diana, she's one of my favorite characters ever--and she is wonderfully nuanced and developed through the trilogy (and they immediately aged her, after the tutorial, which right away subverted what I thought they were doing with her). She's so complicated, as a character, that I was not sure if she would actually betray 47 or not. Not because she is evil, but because she is perpetually seeking justice for what happened to her family. Her relationship with 47 is also one of my favorite relationships in any media--there is also a lot of nuance and elegance to how those two are written for each other.
47 also has an important arc that is completed, and that's also satisfying, but I don't think it's the central arc of the overall story. I was also wrong, in my initial impression of Diana, obviously. I love watching the first cut scene again, knowing what I know about her. They knew what they were doing, in the writing, when it comes to her--she is immediately pulling the strings and, once you complete the trilogy, you fully know why. Last point--Diana is definitely also not just a faceless part of the ICA, and is never fully complicit with them. This is illustrated when they talk about how Diana was always careful to pick targets who she felt should be assassinated--yet another reason I think Diana is the true protag, because she is even the one who is initially picking the targets. It seems almost arbitrary, at first, but you learn that Diana is always motivated to go after people like that--she continues to be on board with who 47 goes after because she believes it's just. She wants to take down Providence because of what they did to her family.
Edit: Also, the final mission has Diana outsmarting Edwards, which Lucas remarks to 47. This is mirroring the tutorial mission, where Diana outsmarts Soders. The trilogy is very poetic like that, with her character.
I always enjoy when people analyse game stories when the plot isn’t exactly why people played it in the first place
THANK YOU FOR THIS!! It pains me how much this trilogy's underlying themes and overarching story are glossed over by impatient players. I have a degree in film studies, so I tend to over-analyze narratives and pay close attention to even the most microscopic details of media that intrigues me. It's been frustrating trying to find analyses that actually pay attention to the story in WoA, so this was really refreshing to hear.
I especially enjoyed how you went into detail about the actual commentaries of the trilogy, which isn't something I've heard people talk about. Even though I disagree with your conclusion on the ending, this was still a fascinating watch. Excellent work!
First off -- the madlad's made a 20 minute info to state that killing the rich feels good. I mean same.
And otherwise, that was a bloody well made piece. Thank you for the time and effort. Love your wide angle and nice delivery
This was a very well done episode, I love long form content that's as dense as this
always a good day when I find a new video essayist that knows what he's doing. This was great! I've honestly never thought twice about the plot of Hitman, I realize now that I didn't even understand it, disjointed as it is 😅
It's sad how underrated this franchise is, most people just think its mindless murder simulator, lol
Finally someone who focuses on the underrated story if this trilogy rather than the over analyzed (but still genius) gameplay
If 47 and Lucius Grey's backstory was actually properly depicted in-game instead of sequestered on a comic book, then both of their motivations and by extension the plot would be much more clrar
Absolutely love this video!! Finally, someone gives this plot the respect it deserves!
What about freelancer mode now, where 47 leaves the life of an assassin behind to take up fishing in his quiet woodland home. 😂
"Maybe billionaires should wear evil robes and meet on deserted islands" Is somebody gonna tell him?
this was incredibly written and very eloquently spoken, amazing work man
This is the third time watching this video and it never fails to amaze me every time I watch it and this truly deserves all the praise it has gotten and more love this and I thank you ❤
Very good video. I'm glad to see others giving this story some love, because it's a lot more well written than many people give it credit for. I really started appreciating it more after replaying the game for a second time and playing through each level much more quickly than I did the first time, so it felt more coherent.
I've come back to rewatch this a couple of times and it's a banger each time. Nice work.
I'm glad I clicked on this video. Many video essays turn out to be a lot less interesting than they appear at a glance but this was fascinating.
This video radicallized me
Guys, I'm starting to think that Hitman might not be a subtle game
16:33 Is amazing, great editing and dramatic swell in the music at a timely moment. I always loved that track from Hitman as well.
how the hell does this guy have only 139 subs !!! GET THIS MAN MORE SUBS !
i can never have enough hitman essays
Bruh, the title gave me an idea and I'm not sure if they already did it (Im sure they have at some point) But how cool would it be to have a mission or multiple where you're going about your business assassinating people, only to find out somehow that someone is coming for you! Maybe finding out by having your methods being tampered with, or some freak "Accident" Almost taking you out while navigating, and you have to find out who the assassin is, all the while remaining invisible to your targets and taking them out too. But I think it would be better if it was random, like each map having a chance to spawn the assassin, with no notification, so you can't watch some playthrough and be like "Oh it's X mission where the assassin pops up" If any of you have played Warframe, think of it like the Stalker events, where mid mission you get attacked by a bounty hunter and have to have a, quite frankly, epic ass fight. Or if you've heard of the game "I expect you to die" Where a similar premise is used...Just sayin' Hitman, it would be preeeetty cool.
I think it would be cool because then you'd get to feel like your targets do, and a game of cat and mouse while trying to uncover the person would make for a really cool interaction. Another example of (sorta) this style of gameplay was Assassins Creed 3's online, where in a similar way you use your methods of assassinating people in single player, to hide from another assassin and try to survive while uncovering who it is.
Diana and Agent 47 - Name me a better professional duo
I would like to present something about this point here at 15:29, though I intentionally go beyond the scope of the video, by dealing with parts of Contracts, and Absolution.
Specifically, Contracts' "Asylum Aftermath", and "Hunter and Hunted", and Absolution's "Run for your Life", because these are missions where things have gone south, and 47 is the one on the backfoot. Asylum Aftermath takes place right after the end of Codename 47, and sees 47 leave the Asylum he was created in for the last time after putting an end to his creator, slipping past the Romanian police sent in force to investigate. Hunter and Hunted has 47 be ambushed by the french GIGN after carrying out a hit on 2 targets (depicted in Blood Money's "Curtain Call"), with a third one evading him at the site, but leading the GIGN in attempting to kill 47. Lastly, Run for your Life has 47 underestimate his target's bodyguard, left to die and be framed for murder, and therefore on the run from Chicago police.
With the scene set, I want to point out a commonality here. Each of these, as mentioned, has 47 dealing with an ambush, a police raid, or generally alert and aware enemies, but with no actual targets for the mission. The exception is the target in Hunter and Hunted, Albert Fournier ,but as mentioned, he was already marked out for execution by the ICA. In all these missions, if you take Silent Assassin rating as the canon completion for 47, even when pushed the farthest, he kills no one that isn't marked for death by the ICA.
Which loops us back to my favorite mission in all of Hitman, the mission depicted at the time stamp, "Apex Predator". While in this video, it is presented as an ambush, I would argue that it isn't. It is a squad that has already lost their chance at 47, had he stuck to his old ways and just slipped away like he has done before, but not in this mission. Because this mission isn't about 47 on the backfoot, but him reminding the ICA that he isn't just a weapon, but an apex predator. Unlike the other ambushes, he isn't slipping away, but taking control of the situation. Lastly, unlike the other ambushes, targets are added because of this scenario, not just the already approved leftovers like Fournier. While in the scope of his mission against Providence, he was definitely on the backfoot at this point, the moment he decided to get involved with the ICA agents, it wasn't an ambush. It was work.
Your audio is so good. Top quality. Actually soothing to listen to. I’ve noticed that a lot in various hitman TH-camrs. It’s a very good community.
Much like Agent 47 himself, every element of this game is meticulously planned, it's so perfect. Not to rehash what you already said in the video but from 47's unique conversation with the woman on the bridge being in the same mission where he finally cuts ties with the ICA, to the penultimate mission where 47 voices his own mind instead of Diana or an alternative Handler, when just a few missions ago there was no opportunity for mission stories or intel because he didn't have a handler to back him up. Not to mention all of the characters that interweave within the story just giving the sense of connection no matter how small or seemingly insignificant.
To be honest I always felt the WoA trilogy was my favourite 1% murder simulator, but it's great to know there's a lot of depth to the idea.
cool analysis bro. I only now realized why the villain in morocco mission is a swede. Io interactive is danish
Kind of has a double meaning to it. No one is untouchable, because it takes becoming a “no one” to be untouchable. Through living a life as a no one, are you untouchable.
And when 47 wasn't no one anymore, he wasn't untouchable anymore either.
Watching this essay now, the "they are untouchable" has now very much been flipped on its head in a very amusing manner. Yes there is no 47. But. Diana's "no one is untouchable" is ringing ever truer. Mostly due to hubris.
I kind of disagree with the conclusion. at the start of the trilogy, really the start of the whole franchise - 47 is a machine. He lacks (most) emotions, his only concern is to take out his targets and do what Diana says. We see, though, that his arc is moreso universal than just in the trilogy.
in hitman 2 (the original hitman 2), he spends a year at a monastery reflecting and trying to escape his violent life, only to return to it. This is really the start of his emotional changes and individualization that escapes during missions.
In blood money, we see that 47 is still a machine, but has some comfort in normalcy - when Diana enters his "safehouse", even though she intends to poison him to set up the perfect kill, he lets her. He's not, at first, suspicious of her.
Absolution plays on the moral and emotional of 47 as well. He's told to kill Diana. He doesn't. He shots her once, listens to her, and then in a moment where he could've ignored her request, he goes and saves Victoria anyway. "Give her the choice you never had", one of Diana's lines to 47 after she's shot by him, is very telling and plays into 47's growth in the trilogy.
In the trilogy, we see that 47 not only regains (the remainder of) his emotions and memories, but we see that he actually does have fears. They're voiced to us via the lens of that weird neurotoxin moment, in which Diana spells it out, 47 is scared of being what he was created to be, being nothing / worthless, and losing Diana / Diana actually betraying him. This kind of growth has been alluded to thru out the entire series, even if im bad with my words and haven't mentioned every canon moment.
The ending is different, and powerful, IMO - 47 has the emotional and mental choice to continue his life as he was before, and he is choosing to continue it. It's a parallel to Absolution, in a light way. 47's smile at the end is actually heartwarming to me. Diana is, and will continue to be, his "beacon" - she was always the grounded character.
Aside from being his eyes in the sky, her title of "handler" is very obvious in what the relationship is supposed to be read as - the agent is the dog. In Mendoza, Yates comments on how 47 is "always such a good boy," alluding to the control Diana and 47's "tasks" used to have over him. But this scene can also be read with 47's arc (and the ending / neurotoxic scene) in mind - 47 isn't saving Diana because she asked him to, he's saving her because he wants to. For the goal of destroying Providence, but also because he is afraid of a world where that normalcy, the ground, is gone.
Freelancer included, 47 made a conscious decision to continue his life the way he has always been living it - just with a newfound purpose and confidence. Diana is no longer his "trainer", she is his partner (you can read it both romantically or professionally, the devs leave it quite open for personal preference). The next installment of the franchise (if there will be one) will most likely tackle less intense espionage thriller tropes, and moreso the "be the change" aspect of the ending. They are no longer invincible, no longer with the ICA or Providence, they are two people working together to make the changes that they see as morally correct. Freelancer touched on this as well - the introduction of other assassins looking to hunt down 47, of individual crime syndicates being shattered by choice assassinations, it's a good route to go because from then on nothing is concrete. There are no clients. The change has been done, but society is resisting that change.
Even though the story is not necessarily great (and it doesn't have to be) I've always felt like there was a lot more meaning to it than I thought. Great video!
I really enjoyed watching your video and it made me think about Hitman in a different way again, thank you for that :D.
I just want to recommend going over the video editing again. I dont know what you are editing with and how difficult that is to implement but what would make this video even more enjoyable. Some little details would be the font you use - maybe take something that is a bit closer to the game font and make it fade out a bit. The fade doesnt have to be extremely long but it is more pleasant if you have a little bit of transition (in video as well as in sound).
1:32 well you certainly didn't do that did you 💀
leavin this one for when i finish hitman 3
Glad this showed up in my recommended, great video! (Also your voice reminds me of Charborg)
This has gotten so little attention. But it was recommended to me now so lets hope that its gonna be an upward trend!
this is a wonderful examination which put a finger I didn't know I was holding a pulse I was not truly looking for. thank you.
Bro this is one of the best hitman vid i have ever seen. A sub from amsterdam for you kind sir
Never thought about the targets being terrible as being very good for replayability. You are right of course.
A mission could be fun as hell but if it is a tragic target a lot of people would not replay it as much
I love 47 when he's just talking and showing actual emotion.
The ending of 47 and were he ends up i think u can look at in 2 ways and it all depends on how u would look at the freelancer mode. If u dont count the freelancer mode atall then for sure i can se how 47 is back to the beginning. However i think that freelancer should be seen as the end of hes path and there is 1 very clear difference from hes Hitman 1-3 missions compared to freelancer that being who is making the choices. In the games story as u said 47 is just a tool to get something done. However in freelancer while Diana is still there by your side now shes only offering u choices of targets where beforehand she may aswell have said here kill those 2 guys becouse resons. In freelancer 47 is in full control and he can walk away from a target if he wants.
21:43 Yes actually
I'd like to imagine someone taking another crack at Hitman for the screen. It would be a semi episodic "hit a week" type mystery thriller, that would follow a Columbo type structure, where we are introduced to the target and then we follow 47 as he closes the distance over the course of the episode.
Wait holy shit this is a year old!? Awesome.
Don’t know about the all art is political, but otherwise this is a fantastic video.
I haven't confirmed it but it appears than in Whittleton Creek there is a totally random npc selling muffins, and if you follow her you can discover she actually sells human meat muffins.
It's details like this which makes the world of Hitman so alive, so worth taking down the "people no one can touch" while you learn more about lives of NPCs totally unrelated to the story itself.
One of my all-time favorite movies,a hero,a man of HONOUR,PROPHET TO TODAYS TIMES&THE HORROR I LIVED WITH TWO HUSBAND'S 👍👍👍👍👍💌😎
A great essay and and even better video in total.
Inrcredible essay!
I really love this video essay - I think it's very poignant and reflects well on the state of the world. Your conclusion that the ideas only really seem to become clear in retrospect in the last, maybe 2 missions, and that the developers' contribution to this 'half baked' idea is that the story ends exactly how it began is probably intentional. We all wish that 47's story ends with him breaking free, with all the shadowy figures controlling the world killed in creative, unexpected, and untraceable ways, and the state of the world improving. The reality of the game is that everyone got replaced, power vacuums tend to concentrate more power, and 47 and diana find themselves having to work together again, from square one - 'as long as there are people like them, there must be people like us'. But in the real world, we don't have that control, there's no perfect assassin for us to wield for the betterment of the world, we don't have the skills, the means, the motivation. In this way, I think 'The World of Assassination' is the perfect foil for our own complacency. Just like the developers realised their own point too late, 47 retired for a year when he thought it was over, fell back into his comfort of control and apathy, humanity too has failed to address our problems until it's too late. Blame whoever you want, shady CEOs, power brokers, capitalists, politicians, the list goes on, the only truth is that the experience and story of hitman only works because the power imbalance is familiar, and has been for decades.
Decades? More like throughout all of human history.
amazing video essay! as a hitman fan its great to see a video essay on the story for once!