Hitman: Absolution

General Info

As of August, 2019, Absolution's Contracts mode is offline because the devs couldn't make it work with new European regulations. This means all achievements, weapon and costume unlocks tied to Contracts mode are now unavailable. It is not clear that the mode will ever become available again.

Don't try for a perfect the first time through. You'll gain upgraded abilities as you play through the game (more instinct, accuracy, etc), which will make sneaking around much easier when you replay them.

As far as instinct goes, unless you're going suit-only, it's best to save it for that move that disguises you unconditionally.

If you just crouch behind an object, enemies might still see you. To take cover, use the stick to cover function to be actively leaning against the object.

Attaching to cover really helps breaking line of sight. Beware: Doorways are the only objects that are guaranteed to stop your movement at the edge. Crates will let you slide around the corners without a button prompt.

If you only need to pass small restricted area, you can dash through. You will get a trespassing warning, but if you are out of it fast enough, enemies will not resort to lethal force.

Many levels in Absolution are very linear in design. The designers ran out of time to do things in a remotely subtle fashion, so if something is signposted, it's intended. If there's a spot to hide a body, the devs expect you to knock out or kill some one nearby. If enemies have a conversation and then turn away, you're supposed to sneak past after the conversation. If two enemies are talking while walking, you're supposed to follow them.

Disguises

Disguises will not work on other people wearing the same outfit. Yes, on many levels there is only one disguise. Yes, this defeats the point.

Unlike Blood Money, disguises are not free passes to enter restricted areas, as people look through disguises much faster. So try to stay out of line of sight even when disguised and use hiding spots where you interact with an object.

If a level is heavily populated by guards, and you don't need to trespass into guard only areas, try to find a disguise the guards won't find familiar.

If a level only has one disguise option, put it on and continue to move around as if you were sneaking. This will save some instinct meter for later. Enemies might notice and tell you to "stand up straight/cut it out", but you can break line of sight and they will return to their patrol.

Points

Knocking out a civilian is point neutral if you then hide their unconscious body.

Unless you're going for a perfect no-kills, suit-only, unspotted run, there are a lot of things you can do without damaging your score too much, for example: Headshot + Body Hidden - Non-Target Kill = 0 points.

As long as you don't activate any checkpoints you score will be back to zero when you restart. This lets you go on mad dash through a level to figure out where things are the first time.

Completion

As mentioned at the top of the page, at this time Contracts Mode and all associated achievements and unlocks are unavailable. This appears unlikely to be resolved.

You may have noticed x out of x item/challenge indicators at the end of levels for finding all objects. You only need to pick up an object once and complete the mission to permanently check it off in the list. These are not scored for anything, so don't feel obligated to find them. Previously, some items were listed that were inaccessible- this has been fixed in a patch.

Evidence usually spawns in a logical location ingame. Look for where security or guards would congregate, run security, or do planning.

Although every evidence tape/folder can technically be retrieved in a suit-only SA run, it's not really doable without using crazy person master stealth AI exploits. Just wear a costume and run the level again.

Mission-specific challenges are often described with very vague hints. In addition, several of them have conditions or features that are not accurately explained (or even hinted at) in the challenge description, even after they are completed! Check a guide for these.

There is a very rare completion bug that will permanently lock off the later parts of a multi-level challenge; Angel of Death is most infamous for this. If the first part of the challenge is completed, but there is still a lock icon next to the next level of the challenge, this bug is affecting you and the only solution is to scrub your entire save and start from scratch. It is believed this was caused by badly implemented patches hitting players mid-challenge completion, so if you are just starting the game now you are probably safe.