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Hitman: The Complete First Season — What Critics Thought

Hitman: The Complete First Season earned generally favorable reviews for its detailed locations and flexible, replayable assassinations, though critics differed on episodic delivery and raised concerns about online features and pacing.
Length3 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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Hitman: The Complete First Season earned generally favorable reviews, with critics most impressed by its intricate locations, flexible assassination options and reasons to replay each mission. The main reservations concerned online implementation, while some reviewers also questioned the AI, graphics, story or pacing. Whether the episodic release model was a strength or a frustration depended on the reviewer.

What was the critical consensus?

Metacritic currently labels Hitman: The Complete First Season “Generally Favorable” and displays an 84 Metascore. The page shows different critic-review totals in different sections, so a precise review count should not be treated as settled. The score is an aggregate, not a platform-by-platform comparison; the available material does not establish aligned scores across platforms.

What critics liked most

Detailed locations built for experimentation

The strongest recurring praise was for the locations: large, carefully designed spaces that reward exploration and support different approaches to a target. Review summaries highlight the number of ways to carry out an assassination and the pleasure of learning a location through repeated visits. A PC review summary praised the “stunning settings, amazingly detailed level designs, and a vast number of ways to kill your target.” Metacritic review page PC review excerpts

Replayability with a purpose

Challenges give players reasons to return to a mission and try a different plan, rather than simply repeating the same route. The attraction is the combination of player choice and locations that invite further discovery: a new disguise, opportunity or method can change how a familiar sandbox plays.

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#1 Best Overall
Sale
Hitman: Definitive Edition - PlayStation 4
  • As Agent 47, you will perform contract hits on powerful, high-profile targets in an intense spy-thriller story across a world of assassination.
  • HITMAN: Definitive Edition brings together all of the episodes and locations from HITMAN Season One, plus the Patient Zero bonus campaign and Game of the Year content.
  • All of the Escalation Contracts, Featured Contracts and Challenge Packs are also included in the Definitive Edition!
  • Subgenre:Stealth Action

Where reviews differed

The episodic release model

Critics did not agree on whether releasing the season in episodes helped or hindered it. PCGamesN’s review excerpt called the model “a triumph in both mechanics and delivery,” arguing that it suited the sandbox format. Other reviews objected to friction from the release structure. These are contrasting assessments, not a single critical consensus.

Online features, AI and presentation

Online implementation is the clearest recurring reservation in the captured reviews. Some PC reviews also raised concerns about AI and graphics. These criticisms are reviewer-specific; they should not be read as a finding shared by every outlet.

Rank #2
Hitman Definitive Edition (PS4) (Renewed)
  • PLAY AS THE WORLD'S GREATEST ASSASSIN - Complete freedom of approach -Over 100 hours of gameplay -Play to create your own contracts, and share with friends online.

Story and pacing

One review said the season did not deliver a complete-feeling storyline, while a Game Informer excerpt criticized the supersized levels for making the adventure feel drawn out. Those concerns address narrative cohesion and length rather than the sandbox design that drew much of the praise.

What the complete first season included

The first episode released on March 11, 2016. GameSpot’s release schedule lists the six main episodes through Hokkaido, dated October 31, 2016. IO Interactive described the season’s locations as the Prologue, France, Italy, Morocco, Thailand, USA and Japan. GameSpot release schedule IO Interactive physical-edition announcement

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Rank #3
Hitman: Definitive Edition (Mexico) - Xbox One
  • As Agent 47, you will perform contract hits on powerful, high-profile targets in an intense spy-thriller story across a world of assassination
  • HITMAN: Definitive Edition brings together every episode and location from HITMAN Season One, plus the Patient Zero bonus campaign and Game of the Year content
  • All of the Escalation Contracts, Featured Contracts and Challenge Packs are also included in the Definitive Edition

IO Interactive announced a collected physical edition for PS4, Xbox One and PC for January 31, 2017. The announcement listed Escalation Contracts, Challenges, Opportunities, community-created Contracts and then-upcoming Elusive Targets, as well as three bonus missions, the original soundtrack, a making-of documentary and the Requiem Blood Money Pack. That pack included a white suit, white rubber duck and chrome ICA pistol. The announcement records the edition’s original planned contents; it does not establish whether a used copy still has redeemable codes or whether the edition is currently available.

In the announcement, then-IO Interactive Head of Studio Hannes Seifert described the disc as combining what the studio had “learned, refined and updated over the course of a 10-month live season,” and as the result of player input, development and feedback. IO Interactive physical-edition announcement

Rank #4
Hitman Definitive Edition 20th Anniversary PlayStation 4
  • Basic game that includes all seven locations from the first season
  • All bonus missions including Patient Zero Campaign
  • Over 100 hours of play time
  • Also includes the Requiem Blood Money Pack
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Who is the game for?

The reviews point most strongly to players who enjoy learning a level, testing different routes and replaying missions to uncover alternatives. Someone looking primarily for a tightly paced, self-contained story may be less persuaded by the aspects some critics found drawn out or incomplete. Players should also weigh the reported online and technical reservations rather than assuming the experience was universally smooth.

The ESRB rates Hitman: The Complete First Season Mature 17+ for Blood, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language and Use of Drugs. Its rating summary describes a stealth-action game in which players control Agent 47, an assassin eliminating targets across missions. ESRB rating

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Quick Recap

SaleBestseller No. 1
Hitman: Definitive Edition - PlayStation 4
Hitman: Definitive Edition - PlayStation 4
Subgenre:Stealth Action
$41.74
Bestseller No. 4
Hitman Definitive Edition 20th Anniversary PlayStation 4
Hitman Definitive Edition 20th Anniversary PlayStation 4
Basic game that includes all seven locations from the first season; All bonus missions including Patient Zero Campaign
$42.85
Bestseller No. 5
Best Value
Hitman Definitive Edition (Xbox One)
  • PLAY AS THE WORLD'S GREATEST ASSASSIN - Complete freedom of approach -Over 100 hours of gameplay -Play to create your own contracts, and share with friends online.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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