Hitman: The Real Places Behind the Missions

The 2016 game's story begins in Paris with a stolen list of spy identities up for auction at a fashion show staged by Novikov's label, Sanguine. Agent 47 is sent to stop the sale, and he kills Novikov and his business partner, Dalia Margolis, at the show. Paris was the first level the team built, and it set the rules for every level after it. A bonus mission is also set at the Palais de Walewska. The show and the palace are invented, so the pin marks the city.

Location precision: The show's venue is invented; the pin marks central Paris, where real fashion-week shows are held at venues throughout the city.

The second episode takes place in Sapienza, a fictional Italian town where Caruso's private lab houses a virus prototype that 47 must destroy. The designers made it a circular "snailhouse" level, inspired by Italy's Amalfi coast and the town of Vernazza, and mostly researched it remotely through Google Images, YouTube and Google Street View. Real Vernazza is one of the five towns of the Cinque Terre, the region's only natural port, and is famous for its elegant houses.

Location precision: Sapienza does not exist; the pin marks Vernazza, the town the designers named as an inspiration.

In the third episode, a contract tied to an impending military coup in Morocco sends 47 to Marrakesh to eliminate General Reza Zaydan, the coup's mastermind, and fugitive bank CEO Claus Hugo Strandberg. The Summer Bonus Episode later remade the level with new targets, challenges and opportunities. The game does not tie its district to a real street, so the pin marks the city. Real Marrakesh has a medina that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with Jemaa el-Fnaa square, many souks and the Kutubiyya Mosque.

Location precision: The level's district is invented; the pin marks central Marrakesh.

Visitor guidance: The medina quarter holds Jemaa el-Fnaa square, the souks and the Kutubiyya Mosque.

In the Bangkok episode the Highmoores hire 47 to kill Jordan Cross and Ken Morgan, the Cross family lawyer, who are staying at a private resort. IO's artists wrote a short story for each hotel room and told it only through set dressing. The Patient Zero bonus campaign returns to a luxury resort in Bangkok, where a cult uses an upcoming exhibition. The resort is invented; the pin marks Bangkok, the capital and largest city of Thailand.

Location precision: The resort is invented; the pin marks central Bangkok.

The first game's story ends in a hospital in Hokkaido. There 47 kills Soders, who is due medical treatment in exchange for a list of all active ICA operatives, and his Providence liaison, the fixer Yuki Yamazaki. In The Sarajevo Six, a bonus storyline, the last target, Taheiji Koyama, is in a hospital in Hokkaido too. A snow festival event came to the same map in January 2019. The hospital is invented; the pin marks the island, Japan's second-largest and northernmost main island.

Location precision: The hospital is invented and no town is named; the pin marks the centre of the island of Hokkaido.

Hitman 2 sets a mission in the slums of Mumbai. 47 dismantles the militia's eastern cell by eliminating Grey's top lieutenant, and the player must identify an unknown civilian as the target and kill them in a public area. The team visited Mumbai so the level would feel authentic, hoping to evoke the smells, tastes and sounds of these places. The game names no neighbourhood, so the pin marks the city, India's financial capital.

Location precision: The game names no real neighbourhood; the pin marks central Mumbai.

Hitman 3's first mission is called "On Top of the World". 47 and Grey eliminate Ingram and Stuyvesant in Dubai during the inauguration of the Sceptre, a skyscraper modeled after the Burj Khalifa. The team worried that the level would not make players feel high up on a massive skyscraper, and the art director and lead environment artist visited Dubai for reference. The real Burj Khalifa is the world's tallest structure, at 829.8 m.

Location precision: The Sceptre is invented; the pin marks the Burj Khalifa, the tower it is modeled after.

In Berlin, 47 arranges to meet the hacker Olivia Hall, Grey's only other trusted ally. The level designer lives in Berlin and scouted the city for the mission, taking reference photos and recording sounds, and the team worked to make the rave and its music authentic. It is the first level of the trilogy with armed targets who fight back. For real clubs, bars and galleries, try the area around Hackescher Markt.

Location precision: The level is tied to no street address; the pin marks central Berlin.

Diana invites 47 to a gathering of Providence members in Mendoza, where he must eliminate the only people opposed to her succession. IO picked Mendoza as an internationally known wine region and merged a tango idea with a vineyard idea, then built a fictional location with authentic-looking terrain and vegetation. The real Villavicencio Natural Reserve inspired its architecture. The level also shows tango and the drinking of mate.

Location precision: The estate is invented; the pin marks Villavicencio Natural Reserve, the place that inspired its architecture.