Eager to take classic Hitman action on the go? Square Enix has revealed the newest Hitman mobile game during its E3 2021 presentation, and Hitman Sniper: The Shadows follows a new storyline of lethal assassins, international targets, and intrigue.
When the game opens, franchise protagonist Agent 47 is gone, leaving players to take over a new quintet of sniper assassins to help handler Diana Burnwood and the International Contract Agency (ICA) to handle a new threat.
Players will encounter familiar Hitman gameplay, manipulating enemies and the environment to eliminate elite targets around the world. They’ll take assassination contracts and build their reputation using the five new snipers and their varied skills.
Hitman Sniper: The Shadows will come out for iOS and Android at an unspecified date later in 2021 as a free-to-play experience, presumably with in-app purchases.
Hitman’s mobile legacy
Hitman Sniper: The Shadows, initially titled Hitman Sniper: Assassins when Square Enix first teased the game back in March, diverges from its namesake – the 2015 mobile game Hitman Sniper. It’s still unclear how much of the shooting gallery gameplay will carry over into the new game, but the publisher confirmed that it will have an entirely new story unconnected to the events in the original Hitman Sniper.
The live-action mobile shooter Hitman Sniper followed a very different game – the 2014 turn-based puzzle game Hitman Go, a critically-acclaimed slower take on the franchise’s stealth assassination gameplay. The success of Hitman Go (which led to similar mobile puzzle versions of Lara Croft and Deus Ex), not to mention the inventive reboots of the main franchise continuing through Hitman 3, gives us hope that this new mobile game could deliver a unique take on the franchise.