In the past, the main belief players needed to suspend was that no one could see the barcode tattoo on 47's head when he wandered into their midst in disguise. As Agent 47 marches towards his final quarry, the player encounters a stream of increasingly outlandish characters, each one more depraved than the next. It's also a story in which the protagonist fights a man the size of a brick outhouse while wearing spandex and a Lucha Libre mask in a barn that just happens to be a short walk from a top-secret subterranean science lab. This is a story about a contract killer caring for a defenceless girl at the behest of the only person he ever formed a human connection with. It can't decide whether it wants to be Grindhouse or Noir and its attempts at straddling both camps fail miserably. The main problem is that the game's outlandish plot developments jar horribly with the way it's presented as a darkly atmospheric thriller. Granted, the stories running through all the Hitman games are uniformly rubbish, but Absolution is silly by even their low standards. This rather decent plot setup unfortunately descends into a farcical mess rather quickly. Naturally, this investigation presents 47 with a ton of targets upon which to apply his death-dealing talents. He agrees, stashes Victoria in an orphanage in Chicago, and then sets out to find out why The Agency has put such a premium on acquiring her. After a mission that serves as the game's tutorial, Diane lies in a pool of blood and shower-door glass, begging 47 to protect a child named Victoria she has in her charge. But IO have made a number of design choices aimed at broadening Absolution's appeal beyond the core Hitman fanbase, and while there's still plenty to admire here, unfortunately not all of the changes work in the game's favour.Ībsolution starts off with Agent 47 being sent to kill his former handler Diane Burnwood, who has betrayed the pair's shadowy employers, The Agency. Hints of it remain in the design of a couple of levels and the eye-watering challenge that's presented by the highest difficulty setting. This rule of thumb has been almost completely done away with in Absolution, IO's first Hitman game since 2006.

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