Dexter Sawmill

"Dexter Protects You"

―Motto

The Dexter Sawmill (also known as the Dexter Industries Sawmill, Old Mill or the Dexter Mill) is a sub-location in Hitman: Absolution. It appears in the mission "Dexter Industries" during three segments "Dead End, Old Mill, Descent".

Information[]

DexterSawmillSign — The Dexter Sawmill sign seen ontop the facility.

In the first segment "Dead End" Agent 47 parks his recently acquired vehicle off near the entrance of the Sawmill with a Dexter Industries truck passing by, here he slowly but surely infiltrates the intermediately guarded facility. Here it is learned that this is the sub-location of the factory however was used originally as a mining facility.

In "Old Mill" 47 gets to see a portion of the interior of the sawmill, lots of old and obsolete machinery sits with two factory guards playing a fighting game. After the second segment, In "Descent" 47 scales below to the mines of the mill, here it is shown that the backside of the mill is falling apart due to it being dilapidated and used for guarding.

Behind the Scenes[]

"The first sketch of a mill location, which later turned into the Dexter Industries saw mill and moved into the badlands."

―IO-Interactive on Full Disclosure during the chapter "Early Environment Concepts".

Concept Art[]

During early concept art, it was learned that the Sawmill originally was planned to be out in the forest, abandoned and was initially known as an "Old Mill". However was quickly revised into being the Dexter Sawmill seen in the final game. In both the physical & digital "Professional Edition" artbook of Hitman: Absolution, it is shown that they moved the old mill too the badlands of Hope South Dakota. However many additions were made to the old mill where it eventually became the Dexter Sawmill. The second page in the artbook showcases the exterior & interior of the Sawmill, in which very little was changed.

Full Disclosure[]

In "Full Disclosure" the Sawmill appears in three alpha build footages. Firstly it appears in "Test Footage 02^[1]" very briefly with very minor changes in terms of props and the sheds. In both the "Prototype Instinct NPC" and the originally "Prototype Instinct Mode^[2]" videos many concepts, props & themes were removed or changed. In the NPC version, we get to see a very early UI, an early un-suppressed ICA19 Silverballer and others. We also get to see a wrecked van, early machinery, and Jeep Wranglers in the background. The Jeep's were actually the original iterations of the VTX97. However in the "Instinct Prototype" video, the NPC fire line was much more demonic like.

Trivia[]

No NPC ever makes mentions of the Sawmill.
The Sawmill makes an appearance in both the Tools of the Trade^[3] & the Introducing: Agent 47 trailer(s)^[4].
The bottom concept art of the Dexter Sawmill is used as the Dexter Industries postcard seen in the main menu.