Hitman 3 (PS4)

Note: The following review contains spoilers for Hitman 2 (2018).

In January of 2021, IO Interactive independently released the final game in the World of Assassination Trilogy, Hitman 3, bringing the long-running story arc to a close. This results in a more story-driven game that actually enhances the experience more than it detracts from it, as it never once forgets that it’s a video game. Though Hitman 3 is certainly the best way to experience the Trilogy as a whole, it doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s basically an updated version of Hitman 2 (2018), not that that's a bad thing.

After a helpful recap, Hitman 3 picks up where Hitman 2 (2018) left off, with Agent 47 and Diana Burnwood teaming up with Lucas Grey and Olivia to track down The Partners and put an end to the reign of Providence and The Constant. This part of the plot wraps up surprisingly quickly, lasting only two levels out of six, which initially feels disappointing. However, IOI managed to make up for this by having the rest of the story focus more on 47 and his relationship to Diana Burnwood, as well the concept of his own free will. There’s enough content here to carry the rest of the plot and leads to a satisfying, though rather quick, ending that neatly wraps up the storyline of the trilogy.

With the more story-driven nature of Hitman 3, IOI also made sure that the story itself affected the gameplay. For instance, in the third level, 47 doesn’t have anyone to help him out by radio, so they added in an earpiece that made it so the Targets inadvertently give him the right information. Small touches like these are very clever and show that the developers put thought into effectively delivering the story they wanted to tell without sacrificing player agency.

The story focuses more on Agent 47 himself.

Like in the previous games, 47’s journey takes him to six locations across the world: Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Dartmoor, England; Berlin, Germany; Chongqing, China; Mendoza, Argentina; and Carpathian Mountains, Romania. Each of these locations have their own interesting mini-stories and gameplay twists that help make them memorable in their own way. Perhaps the best of this batch is Dartmoor, which incorporates an intriguing whodunit within the level that 47 can attempt to solve while also pursuing his target.

Much like the previous game, Hitman 3 doesn’t add a whole lot to the gameplay of the World of Assassination Trilogy. A new camera item that 47 automatically carries in his inventory lets him scan the environment for various purposes or hack electronic locks from afar. Keypad locks also come into play and are necessary for accessing certain areas, though the code is always the same regardless of how often the player repeats a map, so all you have to do is memorize them or write them down (or look them up online). Certain maps now have shortcuts in the form of ladders and doors that will remain permanently available after 47 has unlocked them once, opening up new routes for later playthroughs.

Beyond that, there’s a much-needed quality of life change with optional objectives. After playing through a mission the normal way, you’re able to skip opening cinematics and optional objectives apart from killing the main Target(s), enabling faster play and facilitating easier speedruns of the game. If you want to see everything again, all you have to do is select the initial starting point. For whatever reason, the only exceptions to this are Dartmoor and the Legacy version of Whittleton Creek, where you still have to complete the extra objectives. When you finish a mission, the game will no longer obnoxiously bug you about playing through the other suggested Mission Stories, though you can still start a mission with one active.

If you own the Deluxe Edition of Hitman 3, you can choose to start a level with Developer Commentary active. This commentary only plays from the start of the mission and only when you choose the initial starting point, but it provides some great insight into the choices they made for the look and feel of each level. For example, Chongqing takes place in a quiet city in the rain to contrast with the packed underground rave in Berlin and maintain a reflective tone at that point in the story.

Chongqing has a unique atmosphere.

Like Hitman 2 (2018), Hitman 3 allows access to every map and campaign from the World of Assassination Trilogy, as long as you either buy Access Passes (basically buying the game through Hitman 3) or redeeming the same passes for free if you already owned the previous games. In an amazing turn of events, however, Hitman 3 reduces the total file size of the entire trilogy to over 60 GB thanks to dramatically improved file compression, so players don’t have to dedicate as much space to the Trilogy on their preferred system. I’ll mention, however, that I was able to redeem the free Access Pass for the GOTY edition of Hitman (2016) despite not owning the GOTY disc or GOTY upgrade. This would mean that players like me who couldn’t access the GOTY content before can now finally see what they missed. Players can also perform a one-time transfer of progression data between Hitman 2 (2018) and Hitman 3, though they’ll need an IOI account first.

On that note, the game still insists that you play online and will still distinguish between Online and Offline progression. Though I haven’t tried playing Offline, I’m aware that playing this way will block off players from a lot of the game’s functions, so keep that in mind if you have bad internet. I’m also aware that Elusive Targets have returned and IOI has apparently changed how they work, but as of this writing, none have appeared in the game and I have no idea what any of the changes are.

The PS4 version of the game, which I played, has PlayStation VR functionality, allowing players to go through the entire World of Assassination Trilogy in VR. While ambitious, this mode feels a little rough. This mode alters the controls in a way that messes with whatever muscle memory you may have built up by playing through the games normally and even involves some gestures to interact with items. Fortunately, it has its own tutorial to help acclimate players to the alternate control scheme, but it still feels awkward, especially when aiming a gun or object. I also got a little motion sick after playing with smooth turning and while standing up, so I don’t know if it was meant to be played sitting down. Either way, your mileage will certainly vary with this mode.

The image of 47 wearing a PSVR headset is always funny.

Since Hitman 3 let me have the Hitman (2016) GOTY content for free, I could finally play the Patient Zero campaign originally locked behind a paywall. Playing it during a global pandemic proved interesting, since it involves 47 stopping a death cult from spreading a deadly virus across the world and culminates in a return to the Hokkaido level, where the virus can spread throughout the hospital and 47 might have to kill the infected just to stop the spread. In this section, 47 himself can also get infected, so finding a hazmat suit becomes a top priority. From a gameplay perspective, the missions involved other parts of the involved maps that I otherwise wouldn’t have gone to, so I ended up learning a bit more about the exploration options. Interestingly, the Colorado portion of the campaign felt like a prototype for the Sniper Assassin mode in Hitman 2 (2018), since it involved many of the same mechanics.

In many ways, Hitman 3 looks very similar to its predecessor, but has enhanced lighting and textures that subtly increase the immersion into the world. Each of the new levels have their own atmosphere that really helps them stand out as some of the most memorable maps in the Trilogy. Additionally, the cutscenes are now fully animated, keeping them in line with Hitman (2016) and the bonus missions in Hitman 2 (2018), and cameras now show their field of view with colored lines they project onto the ground, at least in Professional difficulty. While I didn’t spot any texture loading this time, I did notice some odd clipping. During the final cutscene in Mendoza, 47 still held a briefcase that clipped through his head and made the scene harder to take seriously. A more frustrating variation came during the final level, where 47 suddenly had the model of a specific gun stay clipped through his hand even if he holstered it, which made certain animations look odd and briefly confused me on whether or not he had a gun out. While the general UI didn’t change, the tiles in the Planning portion of the mission did get noticeably rearranged.

The level designs are truly impressive.

The audio didn’t change much either from the previous game, though the main menu music sounds more orchestral to play up the more dramatic aspect of the story. I also didn’t know if it was just me, but the selection noises in the menus sounded a little heavier to me, like they had a little more weight behind them than before. While the voice acting and level music were still really good, I also ran into an issue where the dialogue went out of sync during the cold open in Mendoza, so that’s something to watch out for.

Since I got the Deluxe Edition of the game through Best Buy, the only retail distributors in the US courtesy of their partnership with Limited Run Games, I got access to some extras, including exclusive Escalation Contracts and suits, plus a digital soundtrack and artbook. It’s worth noting, however, that the soundtrack and artbook require an IOI account to redeem them and the exclusive suits and items are recolored versions of one the player already has access to. The Escalation Contracts, however, have their own exclusive suits that actually look different. While these exclusives are cool to have, including the developer commentaries, it’s really up to you if you think it’s worth spending the extra money.

The Deluxe Edition content.

Hitman 3 may feel like an updated Hitman 2 (2018), but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The gameplay is still enjoyable, even better in some regard, and the story is delivered in a way that repeat playthroughs of each mission are still enjoyable. If you liked the previous games, there’s really no reason not to pick this one up and the Access Pass system makes it easier for new players to jump on board as well.