Hitman: Absolution (iOS) Review: Agent 47 Makes a Cold, Calculated Return to Mobile

Bringing big-budget console games to mobile devices has always been something of a gamble. Although a lot of ports may look the part, the moment you try to move, aim, or react under pressure, the seams start showing. When it comes to a franchise as popular as Hitman, the margin for error is microscopic. Such games thrive on precision, improvisation and tension, and the whole experience falls apart if any of those do. Yet Feral Interactive has been steadily proving that modern mobile hardware is no longer a limitation but an opportunity.

Hitman: Absolution marks the studio's second attempt at adapting Agent 47's world to iOS, and it is not a half-measure by any means. It is a mobile port that still delivers that meticulous, cold, satisfying feeling of executing a plan to perfection that you only get from Hitman games.

Hitman: Absolution (iOS) Price, Supported Devices

Hitman: Absolution's iOS port is available via the App Store, priced at Rs. 999 in India and $14.99 in the US. Feral Interactive has ported the game for both iPhone and iPad, and it supports a handy list of devices running iOS 18/ iPadOS 18 or later firmware. As per the publisher, it can run on iPhone XS, XR, and newer models, including the iPhone SE (2022). The game is also designed to work on the iPad Mini (2019), iPad Air (2019), iPad (2019), the iPad Pro (2017), and their newer models.

The game itself is around 3.9GB in size, but it further requires around 9GB of additional data to be downloaded. I played Hitman: Absolution on an iPhone 17 running iOS 26.

iOS Controls

Controls are usually the part of a mobile port that makes or breaks the experience. Fortunately, Feral has clearly spent time thinking about this. Instead of covering the screen with buttons, the game uses a smart Interaction Area system that reads where you tap based on what the camera is pointing at. I used Dynamic Mode with basic touch controls, and it felt surprisingly natural once I got used to it — almost like using a mouse.

Players can customise the placement of the on-screen controls for better access
Photo Credit: Feral Interactive/ Screenshot - Shaurya Tomer

There is a lot of room for personal preference as well. Players can shift icons around, resize them, and adjust transparency until they feel comfortable. Hitman: Absolution lets you choose between Enhanced Aim, Auto Aim and Aim Assist. Enhanced Aim quickly became my favourite, especially when playing on touch, because it snaps to the closest target and moves to the next one smoothly. Tilt Aiming is fun to try as well, but not something I depended on.

Then there is the controller option, and this is where things really get interesting. I paired my PS5's DualSense Controller with the iPhone over Bluetooth, and it uplifted the experience. Lining up a shot, slipping past a patrol, dragging a body out of sight — all of it felt more confident with physical buttons. The game supports keyboard and mouse controls, as well, and mixing touch movement with keyboard shortcuts turned into an unexpectedly enjoyable setup, although I did not try it out extensively.

Players are offered the typical Hitman experience, with cover mechanics and stealth-based missions
Photo Credit: Feral Interactive/ Screenshot - Shaurya Tomer

Small touches, however, like Highlight Interactibles, Cover Control Enhancement and View Reticule help you constantly stay aware of your surroundings, which is crucial in a Hitman game.

Story

Hitman: Absolution keeps the core fantasy of being a calculating assassin, but brings a different emotional aspect to it. Instead of being a detached tool of the agency, Agent 47 is sent to kill his handler, the only person he has ever been close to — Diana Burnwood. The handler becomes a target after she rescues a girl that the agency intends to train into an assassin like Agent 47. When Diana dies in 47's arms and asks him to protect the girl instead of abandoning her, the game stops being a straight line of contracts and becomes something more personal.

From then on, you embark on a cross-country chase built around betrayals, uneasy alliances and a parade of larger-than-life villains. The set pieces are theatrical in the best way, but there is a genuine emotional thread running underneath it all.

In Hitman: Absolution, Agent 47 cannot undo the choices that defined his life, but by protecting the girl, he can at least save another from the same fate. This choice between redemption or delusion is left up to the player and gives the story more weight than you might expect.

Gameplay and Graphics

Visually, Hitman: Absolution looks far better on mobile than I expected it to. Some areas caught me off guard with how good they look on mobile. The neon-lit bars of Chicago, the rain-slicked streets outside the strip club, and the burning library level stand out in particular. Reflections bounce off puddles, volumetric light cuts through smoke and fog, and the glow from city billboards paints the environment with that signature Absolution mood. Then there is the Blackwater Park penthouse, full of reflective marble, glass staircases and deep lighting fall-off.

Hitman: Absolution presents brilliant visuals, especially on OLED screens
Photo Credit: Feral Interactive

Smaller details also hold up remarkably well. Agent 47's suit fabric, the metallic glint on weapons, wet clothing after weather sequences, and the smoky haze inside nightclubs are all intact instead of being stripped away for mobile. Finer details like destructible props, spilt glasses at bars, the grit on construction equipment, and the crushed velvet texture on casino interiors look surprisingly crisp, too.

You also get options to adjust visual presentation and performance through various modes within the game. Graphics mode gives the game sharp textures, convincing shadows and dramatic lighting without causing heat buildup or battery drain during long sessions. Performance mode, meanwhile, shifts the focus toward responsiveness and is great for players who prefer rapid camera movement and quick aiming. Battery Saver mode lowers the load while still keeping visibility and stealth fully viable, for low-end devices.

Hitman: Absolution offers different graphical presets, including Graphics and Performance
Photo Credit: Feral Interactive/ Screenshot - Shaurya Tomer

The interface adapts to your actions, rather than displaying every command on-screen at once. After a few hours, complicated gameplay sequences, such as quietly taking out a guard, hiding the body, slipping into cover and moving across a room, became fairly easy and almost like a muscle memory. Despite playing on a touch screen, I did not feel like touch-based controls were making the game harder than it originally was, except for a few instances.

The most noticeable cases were when things started to escalate — indoor gunfights, crowded rooms where enemies rush from multiple angles, and moments where quick swaps between aiming, moving and interacting are needed back-to-back. In those situations, I sometimes mis-input a command or overshot the camera by a hair, which often flips the tone of a mission instantly. While the game was not “unplayable” by any means, the difference between touch and a controller became very obvious when the action sped up.

Fast-paced sequences, including fights, are better experienced with a controller
Photo Credit: Feral Interactive/ Screenshot - Shaurya Tomer

If there is one part that feels dated, however, it is the checkpoint system. You have to activate checkpoints to save progress manually, and leaving a level before reaching one means replaying the entire mission the next time you launch the game. For missions that are long and layered with objectives, the repetition can get grueling — something I experienced on multiple occasions.

On the other hand, the core loop is so rewarding that it outweighs that frustration. Hitman: Absolution constantly pushes you to observe, experiment and rethink your approach. There is nothing quite like watching a plan come together exactly how you pictured it — and there is something even better about rescuing a collapsing plan with total improvisation at the last moment.

Verdict

Hitman: Absolution on iOS is one of the most confident AAA mobile ports available today. It respects the original console design, preserves the game's original atmosphere and tension, and adapts performance and controls without compromising the experience. Yes, it takes up storage; yes, it benefits a lot from a controller; and yes, touch controls struggle during frantic moments. Despite these frustrations, Hitman: Absolution on iOS is a rare mobile port that sets ambitious targets and actually pulls it off like a seasoned assassin would.