NPC, short for non-player character, or non-playable character, is any character within a video game which isn't controlled by the player. The only character not featured as an NPC is Agent 47 himself, thus making him the only playable character, although there are exemptions.
NPC characteristics have changed somewhat as the Hitman series has progressed, but the following are reliable generalizations that are broadly true across all games in the franchise.
Walking cycles[]
NPCs have a default walking cycle during a mission. This means they will always start at the same location when the mission starts, and then perform certain actions at certain times. Some NPCs may be going on a looped cycle, meaning they will do the same things over and over again in a circle. There are also NPCs who will do certain things only one time. Agent 47's actions, as in the action you take as a player, could affect the walking patterns of certain NPCs, meaning some of them have various cycles to take depending on how you alter the game's timeline. There are also NPCs who must be triggered for a certain cycle to begin, mostly by starting their cycle completely by walking near them, in most cases triggering a conversation of some sort with another NPC. There are also plenty of NPCs who are stationary and will never move out of position.
Save reset[]
Once you save a game, some NPCs may reset their cycles completely the next time you load your save. This means nearby characters may be in completely different positions when you load the game, not having started their cycle yet. This could potentially be problematic depending on the situation you are in and may sometimes require you to wait for them before you can properly carry on.
Types[]
There are various types of NPCs. Most of the times they will simply be split into civilians and security personnel. Generally speaking, civilians will not attack you but rather go and fetch a guard if they become suspicious of you. This is not true across all games in the series, however; in Hitman: Blood Money, it is possible for a civilian to pick up a firearm and shoot the player should the player be committing hostile acts in the vicinity, though this is rare and these NPCs cannot reload said firearms. The security personnel will engage you themselves and are almost always carrying a weapon of some sort.
Living and Deceased NPCs[]
All non-scripted NPCs are capable of being killed through action by the player. Targets are the main NPC the player will have to kill in order to complete a contracted mission. The survival of VIPs is often used as a mission objective, with their deaths leading to a mission failure, regardless if the initial target is dead. Police and Enemy NPCs are distinct, in that killing Enemies gives less penalties than killing Police.
The killing of Civilians is often highly discouraged (through both method and ethical means) and will impact a mission score/rating severely.
Deceased NPCs can be discovered by others, which will make guards within the mission react. If 47 is nearby when the discovery is made, there is a very high chance of his cover being blown. If not, the guards throughout the level will become a lot more suspicious of the player's actions. NPCs (living or dead) discovered without clothing will often result in the same guards looking out for you wearing the same outfit, quickly leading to cover being blown. Each game of the classic series handles these situations slightly different, from consistent cover being blown, to the NPC simply waking up and retrieving another set of clothes from a nearby closet. Found deceased NPCs (from Blood Money onward) are Body Bagged by guards and dragged to the nearest security room. Once a body is bagged, the player will no longer be able to drag it; however any possessions they had are still available to take. In Blood Money, an NPC's outfit can not be taken once their corpse is bagged, although it is possible in later entries.
The discovery of unconscious or deceased NPCs directly affects the mission score, the mission's Alert Levels, and the tension 47 feels. It can also make outfits less useful, especially when the body it is taken from is found.
In Hitman: Codename 47 and Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, deceased NPCs can be found laying completely motionless, and sometimes with visible wounds. The in-game map does not differentiate between living and dead NPCs, thus having them appear the same.
From Hitman: Contracts to Blood Money deceased NPCs are now represented by a circle with an X through it. Despite the updated map, some NPCs are still shown as alive, despite being obviously dead. In some cases, this can be considered an Easter Egg, however in other cases, it may be the result of a glitch or an engine limitation (See Crowds below).
Animal NPCs are also represented via the map in Contracts, but are not differentiated between living and dead. This representation did not return in Blood Money.
There are ways to incapacitate NPCs instead of killing them, starting with Silent Assassin. An incapacitated NPC will often wake up on their own, or when discovered. If the victim notices or spots 47 before being incapacitated, the victim will tell the nearest guard. Incapacitated NPCs hidden in body containers will never wake up, and will remain unconscious for the entire mission. Their bodies will also never be discovered by guards or other NPCs.
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin to Hitman: Blood Money[]
In Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Hitman: Contracts and Hitman: Blood Money, NPCs and their locations are represented on the map as circles, with a line going through showing the direction they are facing "⏻". NPCs are given a colored icon on the map to identify what kind of NPC they are.
Civilian[]
Civilians are marked as grey icons, and while they do not fight, they are potential witnesses and will report to the guards any suspicious activity. They will always flee for safety when around combat. In Blood Money, Civilians can pick up dropped weapons if they feel threatened and will try to shoot 47 with less accuracy than guards. When the magazine empties, they will drop it. Any civilian casualty (except accident kills) will significantly lower your rating and/or monetary reward.
Enemy[]
Enemy NPCs are marked as yellow, and they represent armed forces that will watch any activity, and open fire on 47 if he's seen doing something suspicious (trespassing, walking over fences, throwing objects, pulling out weapons) or reprehend him depending on the action and game (In Hitman: Blood Money, trespassing will make enemies give a warning to 47 before they open fire).
Security[]
Security NPCs, also referred to as Police, are marked by a blue icon, and they will behave very similar to enemies, though they will cover different areas of the map and coexist with enemy NPCs. Security NPCs will watch any activity, and open fire on 47 if he's seen doing something suspicious (trespassing, walking over fences, throwing objects, pulling out weapons) or reprehend him depending on the action and game.
VIP[]
A V.I.P. (very important person) is a person who is crucial to the mission. For example, you may have to protect them (Margeaux LeBlanc in Till Death Do Us Part), kidnap them (Lenny Dexter in Streets of Hope) or they may hold a key or combination (German Ambassador in Invitation to a Party). They are shown by a bright white icon. In most cases, death of such person means mission failure, but exemptions exist.
Target[]
Target NPCs are marked by flashing red icons, and they represent 47's primary target(s). Their AI might belong to either Enemy, Civilian or Security.
Optional Target[]
Only featured in the Hitman: Blood Money mission Flatline, an optional target is an NPC that can be assassinated for a reward, but is not mandatory to the contract. These feature as pulsating yellow icons, similar to the Enemy and Target icon combined. These AI are civilian.
Minor targets[]
Minor targets are a rare type of NPC are marked by light red, non-pulsating icons, compared to the Target NPC. These targets are often not objective based and are seen as a complication without reward. Examples include the Spetsnaz Agent and the mysterious assassin.
Crowds[]
Crowds are represented in Hitman: Blood Money as a static mesh of interconnected civilian icons, pulsating with a fade effect. It is only featured in The Murder of Crows. The NPCs that are within these crowds are similar to non-iconed NPCs in crowds of later games. Any direct attack on these NPCs will kill them, regardless of lethality, and they cannot be dragged or used as shields.
Animals[]
Only featured in Hitman: Contracts and Hitman: Blood Money, animals pose a varying threat, and were usually used to alert guards of the players appearance. These were represented by a filled yellow circle and a line representing directional facing. Unlike other NPCs, the icon does not change when an animal NPC dies. Dogs are also able to directly attack the player, depending on the size of the dog. Select animals also appear in earlier and later entries, but mostly for story or aesthetic purposes, and are typically not marked on the map.
Helicopter[]
Helicopter icons are represented by a white circle with a line with another smaller circle on it coming out of the large circle. The SWAT use a helicopter in Deadly Cargo, and the Triad use a helicopter in Slaying a Dragon.
Vehicle[]
Vehicles are shown as a rectangle with a line coming out. Stationary vehicles are not always shown.
HITMAN World of Assassination[]
Civilian[]
Civilians are basic NPCs that cannot fight back nor armed (one exception is Sully Bowden, where the target can fight back 47 in a fist fight). They will report their suspicious to the Guard NPCs if they witness 47 performing illegal actions (Ex. Trespassing, holding an illegal weapon, Murdering etc.) or detect any suspicious activities (Ex. Discovering an unattended Briefcase or weapons or noises created by 47).
Guard[]
Guards are dangerous NPCs that are armed and can investigate any suspicion. They can fight back if 47 attacks them first (unless blinded, they will be knocked out immediately) or catch 47 doing any illegal actions. They will often escort certain NPCs (mostly Targets) and patrol around areas. In most cases where there's a distraction that attract multiple NPCs, The Guard NPC will always volunteer to investigate.
If 47 is caught trespassing, they will ask 47 to follow them as they escort him out of the restricted area unless 47 is in a Hostile Area or disobey their orders, they will immediately open fire at 47.
When on Combat, they will engage to a fist fight if they are close to 47 and throw Flash Grenades to blind 47 temporary if he stays in the area for too long or if there are enough Guards to push forward. They can also try to flank 47 if given an opportunity or else they will stop entering the area and take cover and wait for 47 to move to another area or get out of cover.
Guard NPCs can also serve as barricades (nickname as Sentry Guards) demanding to frisk 47 for illegal weapons before granting 47 an entry. If 47 goes through them, they'll see 47 as trespasser and try to ask 47 to follow back and comply with their frisk or else they'll start shooting at him.
Enforcer[]
Enforcers shares the same behavior as either the Guard or Civilian NPC and are identify by a white dot above them. They are not fooled by 47's disguises and getting caught by them will raise suspicion and lose the Silent Assassin rating. 47 can fool them by performing "Blend In" actions on certain areas unless he triggers Searching Phase or commits a crime.
During the Suspicious Phrase, Enforcers will follow 47 and attract attention to nearby NPCs unless they lose sight of him. If 47's seen by them for too long or hiding in containers while being seen, they will either report you to the Guard NPCs or attack you if they are a Guard NPC.
In rare cases, certain armed Enforcers will skip the Suspicious Phrase and will immediate attack 47.
VIPs
VIPs are objective based NPCs highlighted by blue (via Instinct) and they must live throughout the mission. Any death of the VIP caused by 47 or other NPCs will cause the mission to fail.
Suppliers (Freelancer Exclusive NPC)[]
Suppliers are friendly NPCs that appear exclusively in Freelancer Mode. There will be always at least one Supplier on each mission, usually at a covert location with a few to no NPCs passing by. They will offer 47 a variety weapons and tools he doesn't own for purchase through the currency Mercs. They will not react nor report 47's illegal activities to anyone. They will react if there are NPCs in the same room as them forcing them to blend in, 47 must wait or take out the NPC to start trading. Killing Suppliers will neither drop weapons, tools and Merces, nor allowed 47 to take their disguises.
Suppliers' icons are marked on the maps and in the game via Instinct Mode.
Couriers (Freelancer Exclusive NPC)[]
Couriers are special NPCs that appear exclusively in Freelancer Mode. They can either be newly placed or an already available NPCs on the maps. They carry an amount of Merces that player can steal from them by taking them down (one of the most favored method is using Banana available from the Safehouse to make them slip and drop Merces) They usually are by themselves and has a special dialogue and sound effect when 47's near them. Other than that, they still have their own cycles, and act exactly like Civilian or Guard NPCs.
After they are being woken up from a knockout, they will continue their cycles and special dialogues, this time without the sound effect. Merces dropped from them will neither be seen nor lost.
Only in Normal mode, Couriers' icons are marked on the maps and in the game via Instinct Mode. In Hardcore mode, they won't show any icon at all. It's also worth to note that there are already a few available NPCs on some maps who have the same dialogues, but they're not necessarily Couriers.
Suspects (Freelancer Exclusive NPC)[]
Suspects are randomly generated special Civilian NPCs that appear exclusively in Freelancer Mode. Among them is one Leader, which is the real and only target in a Syndicate Showdown. They will move around areas like typical Civilians NPCs. Sometimes, they will stop to do activities like drinking, eating..., aka Tells, and change their cycle to engage in meetings of specific agendas (there're three types of agendas available - Business, Handover, and Secret). Suspects are quite sensitive, as when being alerted by any mean (except for some situations), they will attempt to escape and leave the mission, rather than report their knowledge to nearby Guards NPCs like normal Civilian NPCs. If the true leader successfully escapes, the campaign will fail (but not immediately fail, like in the case of VIPs. Instead, 47 will be guided to exit the missions, which can help player keep weapons and tools)
In a normal Syndicate Showdown, all Suspects won't enforce to 47, even when he is in a trespassing or hostile area (except when on some ledges or pipes, as it is illegal action itself). However, in an alerted one, (it's indicated by a yellow banner text with the HUD of the Skull in a Triangle when selected on World Map, or beside the in-game mini map), all Suspects will become Enforcers to 47's suits and all guard disguises. They won't, however, see through 47's civilian disguises.
Suspects are marked as purple in Instinct Mode. 47 can use a special Suspect Camera to show the true Leader's looks, tells and meeting agenda, and mark them as the real target or not. Of course, it can still function as a normal camera. After the true leaders are eliminated, all remaining Suspects won't be marked purple anymore and will be shown as normal NPCs in Instinct Mode.
Lookouts (Freelancer Exclusive NPC)[]
Lookouts NPCs are Special Enforcers that can only be found during the Syndicate Showdown. They can see through all of 47's disguises and patrol around chokepoints of the map. If getting spotted by the Lookout or alert by nearby crimes/explosions/..., they'll immediate report to all connected Syndicate Suspects (depends on which Syndicate Agenda Network they're protecting) and start being suspicious of 47 if spotted before, like typical Enforcers.
If caught, they have a short animation of trying to use their earpiece to attempt to communicate which 47 can use to prevent the Lockdown. If successfully communicated, all the suspects within the Agenda Network they're protecting will start to escape and leave the map, and if the Leader happens to be one of them, the campaign will fail.
Subduing Lookouts without getting caught by them will prevent the lockdown, however if they're knocked down in a non-accidental manner and later awaken, they'll become alerted and report to their connected Suspects as well.
Killing them will deduct 50 Merces or none, depends on if they're a guard or a civilian NPC. Killing a total 25 of them will net the Challenge "Coast is Clear!".
Players can easily identify Lookout through their Enforcer status icon above the NPC, and the HUD of the Binoculars that the Lookout is nearby. Their suspicion meter also seems to raise and fills up slower than typical Enforcers'.
Assassins (Freelancer Exclusive NPC)[]
Assassins NPCs are Guard NPCs that can only be found during the Syndicate Showdown. They can disguise themselves as plain clothes civilians as they escort their assigned Suspects around the map. They are extremely dangerous NPCs as getting caught by them, will reveal themselves and pulled out their weapon dealing massive damage to 47 wounding him within a few shots.
If the Lockdown is triggered, they will escort their Suspects to the exit path. After the Suspect escape, they will remain stationary at the exit path or they will search around the map until their searching phase ends.
Despite being armed, Assassins won't see through all of 47's disguise, even if he is in a trespassing or in a hostile area (except when climbing on some ledges or pipes, as it is deemed an illegal action itself).
When knocked out or killed, they will drop a variant of HWK21 Covert and will not give 47 a penalty since they are considered as Guard NPCs. This also nets the Challenge, "No Room for Competition".
Players can easily identify Lookout through Instinct as Assassins are highlighted as thick white outline, and the HUD of the Skull that the Assassin is nearby.
Behavior[]
There are three basic types of NPCs: civilians, security forces (guards) and targets. Targets are obviously central to the story and mission and will have the most complex patterns and behavior. Guards are the primary enemies of the player, which he must either evade or defeat. Civilians are far more restricted in their movement, although many of them play roles in the story that can be exploited. In the World of Assassination trilogy, only guards will engage the player in combat. Numerous targets have backgrounds that describe them as hardened criminals, killers or combat veterans, but almost none of them will retaliate against the player, instead attempting to flee or alert guards. The exceptions are targets that are also guards, a situation that occurs on only two occasions in the entire trilogy. This is no doubt necessitated by the AI being rather inflexibly divided between combatants and non-combatants.
NPCs will walk around the map or just stand still, performing the actions they have been scripted to do, depending on what happens. NPCs will walk to investigate sounds that they hear, such as thrown or falling objects. Committing crimes around NPCs will raise their suspicion towards you. This could be everything from brandishing a firearm, to attacking someone, or by walking through a restricted area of the game zone. Depending on the type of NPCs you are dealing with, their reactions to different events taking place will vary. Guards will for example try to hunt you down, while civilians will simply try to run away from you when you are committing crimes. NPCs will run to alert the nearest security character regardless of whether the NPC would ordinarily have access to the area; thus, you may encounter NPCs opening doors or entering buildings that they should not have access to.
While NPCs are sometimes staged to be engaged in conversation, they generally do not interact with one another unless scripted to do so. Some specific exceptions exist where characters that are meant to know one another will converse if they walk into each other's line of sight; the player can often arrange such encounters.
In the World of Assassination trilogy, some NPCs, usually targets, are "paired" with security guards who follow them everywhere. These guards will react to threats to the target and if necessary evacuate their target to a "lockdown" location for protection. The bodyguard is always conscious to his charge's location, so if somehow delayed or separated he will eventually return to the target's location automatically, unless the target has been disposed of in a container or an inaccessible map feature such as a cliff or body of water.
Line of sight[]
NPCs have a specific line of sight, meaning the area which they can see around them from looking straight forward. Their field of view is typically referred to as a vision cone. In early games they were not able to see behind them even through mirrors present, but in the World of Assassination trilogy mirrors become functional, allowing characters to see the player behind them. NPCs can hear sounds behind them and will turn around to investigate if a loud noise is heard. Most NPCs tend to have poor peripheral vision: they will be unable to see you even if you sneak right beside them and will only see you if you are slightly in front of them in any direction.
Crowd NPCs[]
"Crowd" NPCs are characters with minimal AI that cannot be interacted with. They exist to simulate large gatherings of people, in which the player can become inconspicuous to security guards. Typically, when being frightened, either by 47's illegal actions or crimes nearby, they'll spread themselves out, make it's unable for 47 to blend in, but won't attempt to report to guards. They appear in Blood Money, Absolution and the World of Assassination trilogy.
Trivia[]
- In Hitman: Contracts, there are a few NPCs that will appear as alive on the map, despite being dead.
- A ghost also appears in Contracts as an easter egg and unique NPC. He does not appear on the map at all.
- Guards in Codename 47, Silent Assassin and Contracts can all pinpoint the player if they fire a gun nearby.