Every entry of the hitman trilogy has a debatably shitty ending
Hitman 1&2 end on cliffhangers. Hitman 1’s is diana agreeing to switch sides in order to get more information on 47’s origin. Hitman 2 has 47 regain his lost memories and remember he killed diana’s parents
Hitman 3’s ending was narratively satisfying with the option for 47 to either kill his target or for the first time do a dishonored style spare him but erase his memory with the same serum used on 47 which I found a clever way of tying up a story about choice and the consequences of being a contract killer but the actual level was a bad, linear corridor with no replyability
However all of those are only shitty because the team made stupid decisions. Havinng a linear end level is okay so long as you dont try to keep your marketing all hush about it, stupid decision 1. Stupid decision 2 was to have the story be this three game arc when it wouldve been better to make it somewhat disconnected so each installment actually ends before the next begins. Because if their financial situation went any different they wouldve been fucked and the story wouldve been unfinished. My real pick for worst ending ever i saved for last:
The hitman 2 dlc bridged the gaps between the second game and third but had a cutscene so incompetently made people thought a character had turned bad when he didnt
Context: your ally and 47’s brother subject 6/lucas grey are looking for these three leaders who are the third game’s starting targets. The three leaders have changed identities but they manage to hack into the network that helped them and track down the new identities. However, offscreen the real main villain of the trilogy gets freed and runs off then uses them hacking into the network to steal all the assets that wouldve went to the three leaders and makes himself the new head honcho. Then Lucas gets a text and ominously says “everythings gone according to plan, we have our targets”
So people thought Grey freed the villain and was double crossing 47. However the third game explains he just underestimated the guy and it was actually a random sailor who freed the villain. A random sailor we never see. No mention of him ever again in any level, which is a shame as the hitman trilogy is excellent at worldbuilding and using namedrops in previous levels to build up future targets and mission scenarios
So why did Lucas Grey say everythings according to plan? Well in hitman 3 when the villain phones diana she asks how he got her number and he says “i have everyones number”. So this throwaway line very quickly explains that he had Grey’s phone number and was able to fake sending a text from another number telling him everythings fine, and presumably also disabled Grey and 47 from getting calls until they get to the first mission in Hitman 3 presumably a few days later. Now as much as i enjoy respecting the audience’s intelligence to figure stuff out that’s both way too much information to have to infer from one line, it’s clearly made to cover up some poor writing and cutscene direction from the previous game and it’s also quite a stupid concept. How did he fake the phone number? How did he stop the other calls coming in that wouldve warned 47 of his escape? If he had Grey’s number how couldnt he track him down using his phone? which was the whole point of the first half of hitman 2’s story, it’s that he was hard to find
