Parents' Guide to

Hitman: The Complete First Season

By Paul Semel, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Violent, tough, yet creative episodic stealth-action game.

Game Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Windows 2017
Hitman: The Complete First Season Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

  • Hitman Game: Screenshot #1
  • Hitman Game: Screenshot #2
  • Hitman Game: Screenshot #3

Community Reviews

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age 12+

Based on 13 parent reviews

Pam_87
Pam_87 Adult
September 1, 2019
age 13+

Not Anything I Expected

Hitman...just the title itself sounds violent. However, the developers have done a good job at cleaning up the bad messages the series used to send to players. The goal of the game isn’t to shoot everybody in an ultimate bloodbath. This type of behavior makes the game much less interesting. Kids play as a stealth assassin hired by the United States government, and there are complex backstories that detail motives for eliminating certain threats and targets. These aren’t driven by greed or hatred, but by fear for the people’s safety. There is minimal blood, as well as no gore whatsoever, and blood only comes from gunshots. I believe that even squeamish children could handle it, since it only lasts a fraction of a second. A majority of PG13 movies today have a lot more blood than I have seen from my son playing this game. No sexual content was found in the game, although when the male lead character changes into other (male) characters’ clothing to disguise himself, they are left in only a pair of briefs, giving a slightly humorous effect. Language was a bit of an issue, but the major characters NEVER curse, and profanity is only found within the dialogue of random bystanders. Originally, when I heard a swear word come from the TV, I was a bit upset, but my son told me the language he hears at school is a lot worse than the game. Also, This was fairly simple to turn off in the settings. There were a few scenes where characters drank alcohol, but unless your child doesn’t know what wine is, this is nothing to worry about. At first, this game seemed like any other spy game/movie I have seen (think Mission Impossible, James Bond, etc.). Later on, as I watched my (11 year old) son play this game, I realized that it is more of a puzzle than a shooter. Every level brought a new challenge that tests players’ mental abilities, and different achievements were granted for finding creative ways to eliminate the target. I even found myself in on it once or twice, enthusiastically telling my son to rig the car’s suspension instead of poisoning the drink :) !!! And whats more? It's even better because its free and I know my 11 year old won't need my credit card this time!

This title has:

Easy to play/use
Too much violence
1 person found this helpful.
Pedro D.
Pedro D. Adult
January 11, 2023
age 16+
There is violence, swearing and bit nudity.

This title has:

Too much violence
See all 13 parent reviews

What’s It About?

In HITMAN: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON, you play as the titular killer as you work your way through a series of assassination missions. After completing some training missions, you're sent to a fashion show in Paris, where you have to take out the two heads of a clothing company who have a side business as terrorists. This edition features all of the locations from the episodic mission releases over the course of 2016, as well as new Escalation contracts, challenges, and in-mission opportunities. It also comes with three bonus missions, a soundtrack and making of the game documentary.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (13):
Kids say (27):

While this third-person action game is deep and inventive, its steep difficulty can make it rather frustrating as well. As with all the games in this series, Hitman: The Complete First Season tasks Agent 47 with killing specific people, and good luck if you get in his way. Besides a wide variety of weapons, you have a number of fun gadgets at your disposal and can even knock people out and take their clothes to get past checkpoints and guards. But this is where things start to get annoying. While the game is to be commended for giving you creative ways to reach your targets and take them out, there are times when the guards seem almost too good at their jobs, to the point where this stops being challenging. It also doesn't help that the game doesn't have an "Easy" option -- or, for that matter, a "Hard" one for those who like a real challenge.

Finally, while this collection adds in three bonus missions as well as all of the missions from 2016, there's still some problems here. The limited time missions are gone, so if you missed your chance to play them, you're out of luck. That means relying on community created objectives, or waiting for other missions to be released to follow over the upcoming months, which can be irritating if you don't have any patience. But then, if you don't have patience, maybe an inventive but ingenious stealth-action game like Hitman isn't for you.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about violence in video games. In this game, you have to kill your target, but you can spare other people, so what advantage is there to not killing someone? Have you tried playing a mission without killing someone who isn't your objective? Is it troubling that assassination is the goal of the game?

  • Talk about patience. To complete your missions, you have to be careful and sometimes wait for the right moment, so how can you apply this to your daily life?

Game Details

  • Platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Windows
  • Pricing structure: Paid
  • Available online?: Available online
  • Publisher: Square Enix
  • Release date: January 31, 2017
  • Genre: Action/Adventure
  • Topics: Adventures
  • ESRB rating: M for Blood, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes
  • Last updated: June 30, 2022

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