Skyrim mod lets you shank NPCs as Agent 47 in a Hitman Contracts-style assassination mode

The great thing about Skyrim is that, if you don't like Skyrim, by this point you can make it into pretty much anything else. The game now has a decent claim to be the most-modded of all time, with over 170,000 mods listed across the basic and Special Edition on Nexus Mods. Whether you fancy recreating World War 2 in Tamriel, guilt-tripping yourself over NPC deaths, or just chilling while the game plays itself, there's a good chance someone's way ahead of you.

The title of this one speaks for itself, kinda: Hitman Contracts for Skyrim. It is not a full conversion of the excellent 2004 Hitman: Contracts, but a single focused quest that casts you as Agent 47 with five unlucky NPCs on your to-do list. It's the work of modder Magickaless, who also posted the below video of 47 taking out some Skyrim residents.

"It includes an assassination quest, the classic suit and a few weapons," says the creator. "I used Book of Shadows for the subdue animation. It's not part of my mod but I wholeheartedly recommend it for anyone who likes stealth."

The mod starts with you having to find 47's suit, a kitchen knife, and a silver crossballer from Riften. After this you can find a note that has the details of your contract, and then it's time to shank-'em-up, albeit in a game that has a very basic vanilla stealth system. Luckily mods can help out there too, and the description for Hitman Contracts includes a few suggestions.

Oh, and now it works: Which is always nice. Magickaless initially released the mod last year, but it had a major quest bug that stopped players accessing the contracts, which is now fixed. There's also an additional reward for completing the contract added in the form of an unenchanted version of the suit, and one of the targets has been spiced-up with extra spells so they've got more of a defensive chance.

And I guess the thing I've neglected to mention till now is that this thing is a hoot. Agent 47 out of context in a world like Skyrim, crouch-walking around and strangling those clumsy NPCs, is just a funny idea when it's realised like this. Welcome to Skyrim, 47: These targets will require more than an arrow to the knee.