Key Highlights:
- An Amazon listing revealed Hitman HD Trilogy before Square Enix formally announced the collection.
- The collection remastered Silent Assassin, Contracts and Blood Money for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
- Hitman HD Trilogy launched on 29 January 2013 in North America and 1 February in Europe.
Hitman HD Trilogy appeared online ahead of its official announcement in December 2012, with an Amazon listing revealing the collection and an expected January 2013 release date.
The listing pointed to a 29 January launch for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in North America. At the time, Square Enix had not formally announced the collection, making the retailer listing the first major indication that three earlier Hitman games were being prepared for an HD re-release.
Hitman HD Trilogy bundled Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Hitman: Contracts and Hitman: Blood Money. Each game received an HD presentation for the newer consoles alongside Trophy and Achievement support.
The original Hitman: Codename 47 was not included. The 2000 game had launched exclusively for PC, while the three games selected for the collection had previously appeared on consoles.
The Amazon listing also mentioned a Premium Edition containing an art book with 22 reinterpretations of memorable moments from across the three included games.
Confirmation arrived almost immediately after the leak. On 13 December 2012, Square Enix and IO Interactive officially announced Hitman HD Trilogy and confirmed the three-game line-up.
The final regional release schedule also clarified an important detail from the original retailer listing. Hitman HD Trilogy launched in North America on 29 January 2013, while Europe and other PAL territories received the collection on 1 February. We reviewed the Xbox 360 version following its European release, giving GLN a first-hand look at how the three older Hitman games had been adapted for newer hardware.
Its arrival followed Hitman: Absolution, which had released only a few months earlier in November 2012. The HD collection therefore gave PS3 and Xbox 360 players an opportunity to revisit three earlier Agent 47 games shortly after the series returned with a new entry.
Hitman HD Trilogy also marked the first appearance of Blood Money on a PlayStation console. The game had originally released for PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360 and PC in 2006 before joining Silent Assassin and Contracts in the PS3 collection.
The three games have since taken different routes onto newer hardware. Xbox currently offers the HD versions of Silent Assassin and Contracts together as the Hitman HD Pack, while Blood Money remains available separately on the platform.
More than a decade after this collection appeared, the earlier Hitman games are receiving another retrospective release. Hitman Classic Trilogy Remastered was announced in June 2026 for release in 2027, although that collection takes a different approach by combining Hitman: Codename 47, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin and Hitman: Contracts rather than recreating the 2013 HD Trilogy line-up.
