Fourth Hitman entry and franchise peak on PS2. Open sandbox levels, reactive AI and disguise system reach their peak. Creative approach possibilities and replayability are exemplary. A masterpiece of stealth gaming, still a benchmark today.
Your verdict
Category
Action1 player16+
Description
The peak of IO Interactive's classic trilogy, released in 2006 and widely considered the best Hitman on PS2. Agent 47 strings together thirteen contracts across the world, with a payment-and-notoriety system that rewards discretion. Open levels and multiple approaches: the genre's quintessence.
Hitman - Blood Money review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
4/5
Story
★★★★★
"Captivating"
The art direction makes notoriety a visible datum. After a botched contract, a newspaper appears reporting the murder, publishing a composite sketch and listing the clues left behind, so that Agent 47's reputation displays in black and white. A messy job darkens the clipping, thickens the description, makes witnesses warier on the next contract.
The soundtrack draws on the music played by the settings themselves. Each locale teems with diegetic sound sources: an opera in performance, a wedding orchestra, a casino's muffled sound system, a bar singer. These ambient musics do not merely fill, they become tools: covering a shot under a held note, timing a death to a crescendo, blending into the din of a party.
The story reads like a hired killer's great ledger. Each contract earns a sum, spent on upgraded weapons, bribes and equipment, so that Agent 47's career is measured in gains and expenses. The story makes money the connecting thread, turning a series of assassinations into the cold management of a deadly enterprise.
A peak of IO Interactive's stealth series, where the bald assassin strings together contracts with remarkable freedom of approach, praised for its murderous sandboxes and staging. Still common in the West, its interest lies in this status as a reference of sandbox assassination rather than scarcity. A prime piece for fans of creative stealth of the PS2 era.
A questionable morality
Planning a target's perfect removal feels like an elegant puzzle: disguises, poisons, staged accidents and a quiet exit. You almost forget the goal is still to kill people for a fee, with the game rewarding you all the more for working cleanly. Assassination becomes an exercise in style, and you set about acing it like a diligent pupil.
Is Hitman - Blood Money still worth playing in 2026?
Released in 2006 on PS2, IO Interactive's entry marks the peak of the Hitman formula in the PS2 era. The notoriety system, which punishes witnesses and cameras, and the ability to disguise each kill as an accident turn the levels into genuine assassination sandboxes. The vast, multi route maps reward observation, patience and creativity over frontal action. Jesper Kyd's score and the hushed atmosphere add real class. A few rigid controls show their age. Essential for fans of emergent stealth and for followers of Agent 47, with a design philosophy that the modern reboot trilogy would later expand and refine considerably.
