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Hitman WoA Lore - How many Elusive Targets ARE there?

With the recent announcement of a brand new Celebrity ET coming to Hitman in spring, I was thinking about which number of Elusive Target this is. It used to be simple, the initial 26 in Hitman 2016 were all unique missions which didnt repeat gameplay from eachother other than using the same pool of six maps. Then Hitman 2 throw a big wrench into all that with its reactivations and reworkings, where I remember there being minor controversy over how to number each ET. Some people would number the new Hitman 2 ETs 1-7, and all the reactivations their own numbering, but then there was the question of counting Undying Returns as separate from Undying and then is Deceivers part of the reactivation numbering or the main ET numbering

It seems that people now with the WoA era dont really number anything anymore, people gave up counting anything unless theyre just counting how many ETs were made for the map pools individually, and if they do they count EVERYTHING as one big number even down to the “Year 2”, “Year 3”, etc. reactivations. Which gets crazy when you see numbers claiming there’s 61 ETs in H3/WoA. Thats crazy and highly inaccurate so i’m going to count every ET and give a canonical number for this new one dependent on each and every methodology you will want to count it with. I will do this in a form of a set of questions you may have:

1. How many ET missions have IO made?

This is the simplest metric. If IO just rerelease an old ET they made it doesnt count as a unique mission but if they some sort of modification to it like a new briefing or cosmetic change or smushing two ETs together not only will I count the original but I will also count the modification as well

So with Hitman 1’s missions we have the initial 26 consisting of 9 in Paris, 6 in Sapienza, 4 in Marrakesh, 3 in Bangkok and 2 in Colorado and another 2 in Hokkaido. Then we add on the Deceivers from H2, where they combine the Congressman and Guru from Sapienza into one mission with a new briefing and new backstories for both characters, to give us 27 on the H1 maps and 7 in Sapienza

With H2’s missions we have to tackle the Undying: technically, and I mean technically, there’s three versions of the Undying: The Undying, The Undying Returns and The Undying Returns (2024). However the 2024 reissue doesnt modify the briefing and its only difference from the Undying and Returns versions is a different thumbnail and a new unlock which could have just happened with either version of the mission anyway. It uses the Undying Returns briefing and Mark Faba’s look from Undying Returns so it’s just a reactivation of Undying Returns. However Undying Returns will count as a different mission in this numbering because it has a new briefing and in the mission itself Mark Faba has an eyepatch from the events of The Undying. No gameplay differences, unlike The Deceivers which is more difficult because you have to kill two targets in one go, but IO would consider this new work so it will count as two missions:

Which gives us 1 mission in Hawkes Bay, 2 in Miami, 1 in Colombia, 1 in Whittleton and 2 in Sgail totaling 7 ETs in H2 and 34 so far

H3 gives us 1 in Dubai, 2 in Dartmoor, 2 in Berlin, 1 in Chongqing and 2 in Mendoza with 8 ETs in its maps. Giving us 42 ETs so far

So by this metric the next ET will be the 43rd Elusive Target mission IO have made

2. How many gameplay-unique missions are there?

But this is a super boring number to conclude from this because no one in their right mind would count The Undying Returns as a unique experience from The Undying, barring the obvious fact of Hitman’s gameplay that you could choose to play one version differently from the other but anything you do in one is transferable to the other as nothing about Faba’s routine and dialogue, the cosmetics of the map or the placement and routes of NPCs is any different. So now we have to count how many missions have IO really made

So we start again with our initial 26 but we leave out the Deceivers. The Guru and Congressman are counted separately because they were made separately. The total of H1 remains 26

Then we take H2 and subtract the Undying returns, giving H2 6 ETs and in total we now have 32 so far

H3 remains at 8 so now we have 40 ETs that IO have given us across all three games from 2016 onwards

So this newest ET will be the 41st unique Elusive Target mission made from scratch by IO. I think this is probably the most official, crowd-pleasing number we could conclude with, but I want to get wackier so join me in the next few questions as we get super nerdy on the numbering

3. How many unique, playable ET missions are in Hitman: World of Assassination?

This is probably the purest number we can distill it down to, because it’s a question of if you were to boot up WoA and every ET was somehow activated all at once how many unique missions would you be able to play? This is probably the most useful number for casual fans wanting to play everything

So we take our initial 26 and cut it down to 24. The reason why we do this not only are we now counting the Guru and Congressman as one mission, because with the Deceivers you can only ever play them together in the WoA launcher, but also the Gary Busey ET was never made available in H2 or H3/WoA. So counting them as separate would be ridiculous because that’s not the format theyre ever experienced in anymore and theres no inside-the-game evidence they ever were apart other than inference from them never interacting which requires a knowledge of their route. So this gives us 9 Paris ETs, 4 Sapienza ETs, 4 Marrakesh ETs, 3 Bangkok ETs, 2 Colorado ETs and 2 Hokkaido ETs for a total of 24. Fun fact I initially forgot to count the Blackmailer in Paris and only realized it when my math in this segment was out of wack. So I initially underestimated how many ETs were in Paris, not only is it double what Sapienza currently has but it’s a little bit over that

Then adding 6 to that 24 we get 30 and the ever unchanging H3 number brings up to 38 in total

So in conclusion the next ET will be the 39th unique playable mission you can tackle in vanilla WoA, on a good day

4. How many canonical ET missions are there?

Now this is the big question because while we can debate how ETs can be canon, it’s no doubt that with their lore bleeding into the main game and vice versa with Mark Faba namedropping future Berlin targets only to get namedropped himself by Vidal as a previous target of Diana and 47, as well as the ICA Data Core showing a whole slew of ETs on 47’s file whether we like it or not ETs are canon. But then that begs the question of how many of these ETs are part of this canon?

Well first we take our initial 26 and cut it down to 25, as the canon version of the Congressman and Guru is the Deceivers. However what we then do is add it back up to 26 because now we have to talk about The Brothers. The Brothers was a cut ET mission where you were to kill two of the brothers of prior Sapienza target Silvio Caruso, in Marrakesh. This was never released except for content leaks that were later made as mods but their names were included in the ICA file on 47 in the Chongqing mission so in the lore 47 canonically killed Caruso’s brothers sometime during all this mess

Then we have to include The Undying Returns as a canonical separate contract from the original, whether he killed Faba or not, because the unique briefing means he was given this contract which he fulfilled and then had to be given a new contract to kill him again. With this it brings us back up to 7 for H2 and 33 so far

Then with the immovable 8 in H3 we bring ourselves up to 41 in total so far in terms of canonical, separate contracts 47 has taken on, elusively that is

Which makes this next ET the 42nd canonical elusive target contract 47 has taken on

5. So how many people has he killed?* (*In the ET format)

This one’s the most interesting question because this isnt a question of how many contracts 47 was given or how many missions you can play, but instead a pure kill count. Because some ETs arent merely one and done, theres a few multi target missions. So just for fun lets count out how many guys you kill in these ETs

In H1: Paris has all 1-target missions, so we count that as 9 again. Whether we count the Deceivers or not doesnt matter, we’re just counting how many people die in Sapienza and that’s 6. Marrakesh has 4, but counting the brothers let’s bump it up to 6. Bangkok gives us our first two target mission: The Ex-Dictator and his wife, which gives us 4 kills in Thailand. Colorado has 2 again but The Surgeons in Hokkaido brings its kill count up to 3. So all in all we have 30 kills on the H1 maps

Then with H2 we have no two target missions but remember Undying counts a second time, whether Faba died and came back or a body double died in his place this is a confirmed kill. Giving us 7 total kills in H2 and 37 so far

H3 gives us another two target mission, this time in Dartmoor. So 1 kill in Dubai, 3 in Dartmoor, 2 in Berlin, 1 in Chongqing and 2 in Mendoza for 9 for H3 and 46 total people killed in the Elusive Target missions

So, assuming this next mission will also be one target as usual, the next ET will be the magic number itself: the 47th person our Agent 47 has killed in an Elusive Target mission. That’s a whole lot of killing

6. But what about [BLANK]?

Now we could go about this all day if we broaden the standards of what an Elusive Target is. It’s well known that IO reuse and rework unreleased Elusive Target missions into other formats. For example the Patient Zero campaign and the initial two Special Assignments in Mumbai and Colombia were made from ETs they had lying around. There’s also more unreleased ETs with no canonical ties one way or another, but there’s also some other cut content that seems like cut ETs but in reality they mightve just been beta tests

But I think this list is the one that answers all the questions of the ET numbering that actually matter. The rest is too niche even for me

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frogoat · 3 months

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Thank you @erik-the-creator-mainblog and everyone who got me to 500 reblogs!

A Timeline of the Frogwares Sherlock Holmes Games

Most of the following is based on direct information found in the various Sherlock Holmes video games made by Frogwares. While the games make several references to the original Canon as written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, they function separately as perhaps an alternate version of events with new material. For example, when some of the Canon cases are adapted or elements of cases are borrowed for the games original cases. That said, we can at least refer to and compare the Canon with the games own timeline for clues as to how it all lines up…or doesn’t line up at times.

I’ll attempt to provide sources where necessary for any claims I make that aren’t overtly referenced in the games themselves. I will be looking exclusively at the mainline games from Frogwares, not the more casual games released on handheld devices etc. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

1869+ - Chapter One (2021)

*As this game has not been released at the time of this writing, this is all based on the details we have from trailers and interviews*

Acting as a prequel to all previous entries in the series, Chapter One is said to revolve around a 21 year old Sherlock returning to his former family home on a Mediterranean island to investigate his mother’s death. As shown in the first trailer, Holmes’ mother is given the name ‘Violet Holmes’ on her gravestone, along with the years ‘1829-1869′ which evidently refer to the year of her birth and death. It’s possible the game takes place in 1869 shortly after Violet’s, though this hasn’t technically been confirmed as yet. In fact, the previous game Devil’s Daughter has a brief reference from Holmes to his mother dying when he as very young, so it’s possible this was foreshadowing. If the game does take place in 1869, it makes Holmes significantly older in his later adventures than might have been expected. Alternatively, perhaps Holmes returns to investigate Violet’s long-ago death following the introduction of new information. Other trailers say the game takes place ‘at the end of the 19th century’. Time will tell.

1888 - Versus Jack the Ripper (2009)

Events of this game occur from the 31st of August to the 9th November 1888 and loosely follow the historical events surrounding the mystery of Jack the Ripper. The location of Whitechapel is seen again in Testament of Sherlock Holmes and mentioned in Crimes & Punishments. At present this is the earliest point in the Frogwares Sherlock Holmes timeline, though evidently the next entry Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One will be set far earlier, dealing with a 21 year old Sherlock.

1894 - The Awakened (2007)

The game establishes in the opening scenes that it takes place ‘Two years ago, London, 6th of September 1894′ and spans a few months, ending in ‘Scotland, Ardnamurcham Lighthouse, December 1894′. During this time, Holmes’ and Watson’s journey spans from London to Switzerland to New Orleans back to London and finally the aforementioned Scottish lighthouse. Notably, while investigating the Swedish Edweiss Institute, Holmes discovers a seemingly brain damaged and amnesiac but very much alive Professor James Moriarty. During his escape, Sherlock triggers the Professor’s memories of his archenemy, which will lead to complications later on. Also, aside from the obvious Lovecraftian references and a few to the previous entry’s Silver Earring characters, we also get some solid D & D nods and brief encounter with a boy by the name of Hercule Poirot.

1895 - Crimes & Punishments (2014)

This game is probably my favourite in the series. It’s also the first to present a collection of smaller mysteries, rather than an overarching plot. That said, the game does present a loose thread throughout the background of the various and otherwise unconnected mysteries which leads to the final case involving the anarchic and socialist group known as The Merry Men. The first case -an adaption of The Adventure of Black Peter- can be definitively dated as taking place in 1895 due to the titular victim being born in 1845 and established as 50 years of age when he dies. According to the original Canon, Peter died July 1895, meaning at least this single mystery may take place right around the time of the Arsène Lupin game, either before or after.

The second case is loosely based on The Lost Special, a not-quite-Canon story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle which was released in 1898 but set in 1890. However, the thread about The Merry Men makes it apparent that the game’s version of the adventure occurs after the previous case, so potentially still in 1895.The following case is an original one called Blood Bath and features a suspect named Sir Percival Blinkhorn. I mention this because there is a nod to this character in The Devil’s Daughter which gives his date of death as 1895, making it pretty easy to pin down when this mystery takes place. Additionally, because Crimes & Punishments presents the player with moral choices at the conclusion, via the mention in Devil’s Daughter we also have a canonical outcome for the case.

The next case is a fairly close adaption of The Adventure of the Abbey Grange set in 1897, but based on a photo dated 1893 that is said to be from ‘a year and a half ago’ this case mystery could be easily placed in either 1894 or 1895 much like the other cases before it. A document seen later in the case complicates matters by giving the murder victim’s date of death as November 7th 1894. Still, it may be possible to explain this, as in both the original story and this game’s case Holmes tells the guilty (though noble) party to return for his love in one year’s time. Perhaps the main case is set in 1894 before the rest of the game’s adventures? This is supported by the fact The Merry Men are not mentioned during the case, making it’s placement less connected to the prior mysteries.

The following case is a wholly original adventure taking place at the Kew Gardens and thanks to a few documents found throughout the investigation, it’s evident that it occurs in 1895. The concluding case of the game is also an original one called A Half Moon Walk which brings The Merry Men into the finale. This case sees Holmes and Watson in Whitechapel once more and features references to the Ripper, naturally. This case specifically identifies fireworks being used in celebration of Queen Victoria’s Birthday and Sherlock notes it is May, which lines up with the real world event but indicates Black Peter may have occurred earlier in the year than previously thought. Confirmation of the year 1895 is found when comparing dates of the theft of jewellery said to be a decade prior in 1885. Curiously the games ending cinematic makes mention of a woman moving in next door, presumably intended at the time to foreshadow the next game in the series.

1895 - Versus Arsène Lupin/Nemesis (2007)

This battle of wits spans less than a week from the 14th to 19th of July 1895, with the titular French gentleman thief sets challenges for the master detective across London landmarks. Lupin is foreshadowed in the previous game, Awakened by way of a newspaper article detailing one of his exploits. Furthermore, we get another retroactive reference to the thief during the chronologically earlier Jack the Ripper game when Holmes receives ‘A gift from a young admirer’: a bottle of French champagne from ‘Raoul d’Andresy.’ The game also has overt references to the previous game thanks to Watson’s troubled nightmares and a Cthulhu statue. Oh, and there’s a cute Batman reference for those paying attention!

1896 - Mystery of the Persian Carpet (2008)

More of a side-story, this game begins on the 7th of August 1896 and appears to span only a few days. This game usually isn’t included with the main series of games, often being grouped with the handheld releases instead. I don’t have much to say about this entry, I’m afraid. It relies mostly on reused assets from the previous release in the form of still images for it’s mostly click and find gameplay. If anyone knows of any connections to other games in-universe, let me know!

1897 - Secret of the Silver Earring (2004)

This game also spans a brief period of time; the 14th to the 18th of October 1897. A character mentioned in this game (Hermann Grimble) is mentioned as having been burgled in a later game in the series, Arsène Lupin, making another retroactive connection between two of the games.

1898 - Testament of Sherlock Holmes (2012)

While the framing scenes of this games’ narrative features three little children reading from Watson’s journal at an indeterminate point in the future (though one that becomes more clear as the story progresses), the main story concerning Holmes begins in September 1898 as seen on the newspaper articles throughout the game. We also see returning characters Lucy and Danny from the Jack the Ripper game make appearances. Far more importantly, this game sees the return of mastermind and archfoe Moriarty and marks the first appearance of his daughter (unnamed at this point) in it’s closing moments. Moriarty dies for real this time, leaving his young daughter behind. Holmes adopts her.

1899 - The Mystery of the Mummy (2002)

The one that started the Frogwares video game series of Sherlock Holmes adventures. This story is very clearly set in ‘London 1899′ based on the opening cinematic, and features a solo Holmes answering a request from his distant cousin Andrew’s soon-to-be-wife Elisabeth Montcalfe. The case involves investigating the Montcalfe manor for clues relating to the disappearance and apparent death of Elisabeth’s father Lord Montcalfe, a respected Egyptologist. Dr Watson only appears in the final cinematic of the game, having been on vacation with Mrs Watson, which is I believe the only mention in the games of John’s marriage. This is also -on the surface- the latest chronological adventure for Sherlock, however I have one more I’d like to touch on that I believe *should* take place afterwards.

1895 or 1904/5 - The Devil’s Daughter (2016)

I’m going to be throwing speculation and a corrections into this entry’s timeline. Why? Because without it, the timeline falls apart and I feel it’s easily remedied with a little effort. This game forms a more connected plot which plays across the smaller cases Holmes investigates. The overarching plot surrounds new neighbour Miss Alice De’Bouvier. I think the previous entry, Crimes & Punishments was intended to lead directly into this game, with the teaser of a new female neighbour but as you’ll see that doesn’t make sense. Not only do we meet Miss De’Bouvier, but we also get to know Holmes’ young adopted daughter Katelyn who has been sent home from boarding school unexpectedly. Katelyn is the daughter of James Moriarty first seen as a small child in Testament. Kate becomes aware of the facts of her parentage by the game’s conclusion. Now, the first case, Prey Tell, provides our first continuity problem thanks to a boy named Tom from Whitechapel whom Holmes deduces was ‘born in 1887′ and is ‘8 years old’. This obviously places the game’s events no later than November 6th-7th 1895 (which is further confirmed by pre-paid rental slips and letters seen a little later), which doesn’t fit with Katelyn being a part of Holmes’ life before the events of her introduction in Testament set in 1898. I attribute this discontinuity to Frogwares changing plans during production, as they also made the creative decision to change the physical appearance of both Watson and Holmes and recast the voice actors in an evident attempt to softly refresh the series. There’s a potentially self-aware nod to this changed timeline: Tom has a copy of The Strand Magazine which first printed ‘The Adventure of the Norwood Builder’ by Doyle in his possession. This Canon story is set in 1894 but was published in 1903 however the cover in-game gives it an 1893 cover date, a whole decade earlier than in the real world. Further discontinuity occurs when Katelyn is gifted a copy of ‘Dracula’ by Alice. If the story were to take place in 1895, then Dracula wouldn’t be in print for another two years in 1897 let alone, as is mentioned, banned from Katelyn’s boarding school library.

The second case, A Study in Green is where we see the earlier mentioned reference to Sir Percival Blinkhorn. Additionally, Miss Alice gives Katelyn a copy of The Adventure of the Empty House, which in the real world was published in 1903 and is set in 1894. It details Sherlock’s miraculous return following his apparent death 3 years prior during his struggle with Moriarty. A victim in this case may be a reference to Tarzan, being named Zacharias Greystoke. Oh, and a Sir J Brombsy is also among the list of deceased donors, presumably a relative to the family seen in the Silver Earring game. An expedition in 1881 is said to have been 14 years prior.

The third case presents us with Miss Alice’s birth certificate which gives the year 1867 and we know she is at least 21 years of age (though, evidently older) thanks to another letter. Sherlock discovers he played a major role in Alice’s father being arrested in 1875 which is said to be 20 years prior, again setting the events of this game in 1895. While it’s not impossible that Holmes was active in 1875, it does make it an extremely early adventure based on the Canon, one that predates Watson’s first meeting with Sherlock.

Despite all of these clear and established dates, we still have to consider how this story fits into the continuity of the other games, particularly Katelyn only entering Holmes care in 1898 as established in Testament. A part of me suspects the writers simply liked the concept of Holmes raising the daughter of his greatest foe and perhaps preferred to have this occur earlier, to line up better wth Moriarty’s original death in the Canon during The Final Problem. Either way, I find it more satisfying to use a looser approach to this entry: ignore the established dates from documents and simply place it where it best fits in the game series order of events over all. Essentially, I propose we adopt a sliding timeline to the series, almost. I don’t believe there are any in-dialogue references to the years in question, so we could apply the same lower-tier canonicity to the dates in documents as one might to movie props that contradict the year given on screen or in dialogue. There’s some fun little discrepancies in the fourth case that make me more certain that the game should at least take place at a later year then indicated.

The fourth case Chain Reaction (and my person favourite of the game) involves investigating a traffic ‘accident’. A key aspect of the mystery involves a stolen technical cab from the Underground Electric Railways Company of London, which is in fact a real company that upgraded the existing system of underground railway between 1903 and 1905 to use electricity. If this adventure and the rest of the game were to take place in 1895, this would be an anachronism. Hence why I propose a date of 1904 (or 1905 if you prefer a nice round decade jump) which allows for the electrical system to exist and also gives Katelyn a sensible placement in the timeline after the events of Testament. In fact, it also allows Katelyn to be the older child who attends boarding school, reads Dracula (published in 1897) and generally behaves like a girl older than the small child seen in Testament. Perhaps 6 years older? Of course, this requires us to ignore the specific dates in all the previous cases in the game, but as none of them appear to be tied to anything that absolutely requires them to take place in 1895, I think it would be just as easy to move them forward a decade without affecting anything relevant to the narrative.

So, yes, it’s not a perfect solution but it does correct the continuity errors inherent by placing this story earlier than Holmes’ first meeting with Katelyn in1898. 1904 or 1905 is a better placement for the narrative of the Devil’s Daughter. This is where I think the games narrative should be set. I personally believe the superficial appearances of Watson and Holmes further justify this approach, as visual design and details change throughout the series based on the development teams influences and preferences at the time and can thus be dismissed when they are contradictory to the overall narrative. Who knows, maybe Watson just changed the dates and this game is merely a retelling with his usual embellishments?

Anyway, that was my attempt at a timeline for this great series of games. If you have any notes, please don’t hesitate to share them!

#500 reblogs #tumblr milestone #thank you #This is cause for celebration #I guess #Sherlock

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