Published , by Bill Lavoy
Published , by Bill Lavoy
When IO Interactive rebooted the Hitman series in 2016 they kicked off what could be considered a golden age for the franchise. After the linear approach to Hitman: Absolution in 2012, the 2016 iteration featured open levels that rewarded players for creative approaches to eliminating targets. Each level was packed with interesting NPCs and side stories, and the developer continuously pumped fresh content into the experience to ensure players were never bored. This continued all the way through 2020 and the complete life cycle of 2018’s Hitman 2.
With Hitman 3, IO Interactive is looking to close out the World of Assassination trilogy that began in 2016 and wrap up the story of Agent 47, Diana, Lucas Grey, and their fight against Providence, a powerful organization playing puppet master with the rest of the world. The same open design has returned, but there is a heavier focus on storytelling than the previous two games. This, along with the inclusion of the camera, permanent shortcuts, and new weapons and gadgets, keeps the experience fresh without losing sight of what the series has become.
Hitman 3 kicks off with Agent 47 visiting Dubai and the world’s tallest building to eliminate two targets associated with Providence. Right away, the game starts to showcase the new features, gently guiding the player to make use of the camera, as well as having Agent 47 interact with a keypad. Both features are new to the World of Assassination trilogy, as are permanent shortcuts. These are instances where Agent 47 can open a door or drop a ladder that he can access in future runs to get where he needs to go faster or create more unique assassination opportunities. In the case of Dubai, I was able to drop two ladders that allowed me to get a four-minute Silent Assassin, Suit Only run when replaying the level. The high of studying my target's routines and working out the timing paid off after I made use of the new ICA Remote Micro Taser, dropping it in a pool of water and setting it off when my target walked through.
I was able to do the same thing with permanent shortcuts in Hitman 3’s second location, Dartmoor. Dartmoor is a top-three destination for me across the entire trilogy and comes complete with its own murder mystery that had me so captivated I pushed killing my target to the back burner. I could have killed her a dozen times and didn’t bother. I had more important matters at hand. In fact, by the time I was ready to off the nasty old lady that Diana put in my crosshairs, her bodyguards were all sawing logs in bins around the level and she was wandering about completely unguarded. I’m shocked she didn’t die of old age based on how long it took me to finish the job.
The Hitman 3 base game comes with six main missions with cinematics sprinkled between them to tell the story IO Interactive has cooked up. This is no different from the previous two games, but players can expect to be a bit restricted on their first runs, as loadouts are frequently disabled to allow the story to properly unfold. The good news is, this is only an issue on a first playthrough, as loadout slots, unique starting points, and smuggling opportunities are all back and available after a first completion.
The progression system is largely unchanged but has been tweaked a little. Completing challenges within a level will award points towards a destination’s mastery. Each mastery level achieved will provide some type of unlock, be it a smuggle point, unique starting location, or weapons and gadgets. Missing from Hitman 3 is a one-sheet that shows players everything they haven’t unlocked and how to obtain it, but the classic challenges are more streamlined than previous games and should make unlocking some cool gear a little more straightforward. The post-mission screen will also give players a playstyle rating, which is a unique title the game assigns based on the actions taken in the previous mission.
Once I’d worked my way through each mission to complete the Hitman 3 story — a task that players can expect to take less than 10 hours — I returned to each location to finish mission stories, challenges, and mastery levels of each destination for the weapon and gear unlocks. This is where the game opens up and really begins to shine, which is true about Hitman (2016) and Hitman 2 as well. Nothing beats playing through each of the opportunities and spending time mastering each level to create new ways to kill each target, or finding a disguise that let’s Agent 47 walk around like he owns the place. However, I preferred doing this in the two previous games, as there are levels — plural — in Hitman 3 where Agent 47 must retrieve something in addition to killing his targets, and another mission that is somewhat linear. There’s a mentality in me as a player that once I eliminate my targets it’s time to GTFO, and that isn’t always possible here. It’s not unlike Sapienza from Hitman (2016) in that some of the creativity of killing targets is lost when you must detour to a different part of the map to pick up a piece of paper.
While I enjoyed every level of Hitman 3 on my initial playthrough and some on subsequent runs, my review copy of Hitman 3 included Hitman (2016) and Hitman 2. I found myself wanting to go back and play those levels as much as I did the new ones, and I think Hitman 3 could miss its mark with players who don’t own the previous two titles. Part of what has made the franchise such a win for me over the last four years is being able to use all my unlocks on any level across two games. Anyone who buys only Hitman 3 will have six destinations and far less gizmos and gadgets to call on, and I think the overall experience could end up lacking for those that don’t own the full package.
Visually, Hitman 3 and all its destinations look amazing. My copy was for PC and I was able to crank every graphical setting and maintain more than 100 frames per second with a 2560x1440 (2K) resolution. I was able to take advantage of the gorgeous graphics thanks to the PC version having NVIDIA Ansel support, allowing players to take in-game HUD-less screen shots without a built-in photo mode. Hitman 3 also features several graphical enhancements, including ray tracing and improved lighting, which was especially easy to spot under the neon lights of the Chongqing destination.
Complementing incredible visuals is the stellar sound design, whether it’s an NPC conversation or environmental sounds. The acting for both Diana and Agent 47 is masterfully done, as it is with many of the targets and NPCs throughout the experience. The best part of the sound, though, is often the music that captures the mood of a certain level, or the humorous dialog between two NPCs. Players will have hours of fun just listening in on random conversations throughout each of the levels, and there is always a feeling that each location is alive with everything that can be heard at any given time. Stand in the middle of the crowd in Dubai and just listen to how cool it all sounds.
While I enjoyed the conclusion to the World of Assassination trilogy’s narrative, the best that Hitman 3 has to offer is when it sets players loose in its levels to be creative and explore. Nothing beats the process of plotting out a potential route, working out the various pieces by saving and loading repeatedly, then finally putting it all together in that perfect run. That’s still there in Hitman 3 as it was previously, but each time a mission asked me to retrieve something it felt like a chore after my first run. Still, it offers players a huge amount of content if they don’t expect to experience it all on a single run. It’s a game that’s meant to be played repeatedly, and it benefits from the addition of the camera and the permanent shortcuts. It’s great on its own, but combined with Hitman (2016) and Hitman 2 it helps make up the masterpiece that is the World of Assassination trilogy.
This review is based on a PC review copy provided by the publisher. Hitman 3 comes out on January 20, 2021 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Google Stadia.