I know that things get a little crazy for them during game of the year, but the fact that giant bomb, maker of the amazing hitsmas, has no content for this amazing conclusion to the best stealth series ever is greatly disturbing. I was a bit lukewarm on two compared to one, but this was clearly a labor of love and is the absolute pinnacle of level design and murderous hijinks. Honestly the level of density they have managed to cram into these levels while making them feel more accessible like a sapienza or a Paris is truly remarkable. The murder mystery level in particular had me captivated before I even started exploring, and then it got even better when I realized how many ways I could fuck people up.

I also elected not to carry over my progress from the other hitmen, just the license for the levels so now I can really just dig back in with nice fancy graphics and hopefully remember to turn on my work laptop on time.

I'm sure they will. They've just been streaming deliberations every day this week and I can only imagine how exhausting that is.

That being said, yes this Hitman is very good. And I agree with the waypoint review that some levels do seem extra hand holdy if you just follow the mission stories. But I feel like that's how the last one was too.

@noboners: Yeah that sounds like both of the previous games to me. I've always thought it was one of the strengths of the series presenting you with a very simple path to follow that can spider off into a million directions of nonsense at a given moment.

Jesus Christ. It hasn't even been 72 hours since the game released, and they've been streaming around 4 hours a day for GoTY. There will be content. Most Quick Looks don't go up right away.

They've been recording 4+ hour GOTY podcasts everyday live.

They'll get to it next week.

I agree wholeheartedly OP. As I posted in the reviews thread, I don't have pre-2016 hitman experience, but so far 3 is my favorite of this trilogy. The level design really is next level, and they use the (so far great) story to mess with the typical mission structure in interesting ways.

For example (minor spoilers only):

In the second full-length mission (Berlin), you don't know even know who your targets are when you get dropped into the mission. You only know who they work for. Also, you don't have your handler to help.

I’m loving this one too. In another thread I mentioned that I wasnt sure if the waypoint concerns would bother me or not, but so far there’s nothing to complain about (or at least nothing that wasn’t in the first two games).

They will absolutely produce probably fantastic content with this game. They just have to get past GOTY first.

They're busy preparing to get used to the new office once the pandemic ends.

GB will get there, they're a wee bit busy right now.

Also "greatly disturbing" might be an overstatement, lol.

If anyone is interested in seeing it Dan has a couple QL’s on his youtube page, the first two levels I think. He’s going to do some crossover streams with some MinnMax former Game Informer guys soon too. It’s some pretty good stuff worth checking out. It might be a couple days before he puts more up though because he only streams after his full time job.

Edit: Actually he streamed some more last night. Will probably go up on his YouTube in a day or so.

Anyone concerned about hand goodness, it's really just an orientation to the level. The other , non "mission story" challenges are mostly vague enough that figuring them out is a fun combination of exploration, environmental puzzles, and just plain logic. As gorgeous as Dubai is, the 2nd level in england is my fave in the series so far, with the most sense mansion I've ever believed was a mansion.

And I don't expect the guys to go crazy or anything, not really complaining so everyone take a breath! There's just nothing more enjoyable to me than Hitman giant bomb content, I didn't realize that three to four hour podcasting made up a whole work day :p

Ok, I’m going to agree that what is by most accounts the best game in the trilogy that gave us the 2016 GOTY deserved a quick look on day 1. Heck, Dan got his hands on it before any of the Giant Bomb GOTY stuff and streamed it.

Both me and my wife are key/healthcare workers working 9-14 hours a day through the pandemic, so it baffles me that people genuinely think that 4-5 hours of streaming is a full workday. There wasn’t even any Hitsmas!

Would have been a perfect time to do a hitsmas or something similar now that Hitman 3 is out.

Hitman 3 is very very cool.

But what's not cool? The amount of people in this thread that seem to know what goes into GB's workday. It's especially ironic, considering the remarks Ben gave about why he is leaving. Y'all can freaking wait a week or two for them to do Hitman 3 video content. You know it's coming.

That last level though. What a fantastic sequence.

@takayamasama: two weeks, huh?

In years past they have released the podcasts and had game streams at the same time.

@nickm: In years past all that was pre-recorded.

I've caught a bit of the streams but mostly have been watching the archives and I noticed they've definitely been edited so there's post-production going on beyond just however long they're live for. Honestly don't understand what the big deal is if the QL is a little late, especially since it seems like almost everyone demanding it has played the game already?

Unfortunately I don't think Jeff will dust off his psvr for this, but he should!

Best vr experience I've ever had, and one of the best gaming experiences overall, even with it's several glaring issues.

I should probably get a better PC and play HL:Alyx.

@imhungry: So. Either deliberations are pre-recorded and we get more content, or they’re live and that’s it? I’d prefer the pre-recorded stuff back then. There’s no benefit to it being live, they’re not engaging with the chat.

I love Quick looks and other video features, especially for games I’m interested in. Last quick look we got was on December 11.

I understand there not being a quick look for this yet, it came out in the middle of their live streamed GOTY casts, but I thought we would get some prerecorded features. Rorie did a solo Spelunky 2 stream last week and said everyone else was doing GOTY stuff, so I expected some sort of extra features. A Ben focused thing would have been nice, like Abby had.

@nickm: Last quick look we got was on December 11.

I had to double check that. No quick look since Destiny over a month ago.

@pudking: this is what I'm talking about, I'm a ride or die here but there's very little content lately, don't want to inspire pearl clutching by wishing for more than a few long podcasts over a month.

Being a detective in that level is the funniest and best moment out of all the mission stories I've seen so far, wish I shelled out for the deluxe edition as there are currently no escalations available, but they'll drop over time.

@pudking: yes, that’s what I was saying. Slim pickings. I understand if I were a free member, in that case the take it or leave it approach is fair enough. But I’m a day 1 paying member and lately I don’t feel like we’re getting our money’s worth.

@sahalarious: 1. You’re totally right. 2. I am so excited to be detective 47! Is it like an Agatha Christie whodunnit?

@nickm: it is! It plays out like Knives Out almost, with you exploring the manor for clues while interviewing the suspects,proving or disproving alibis etc

Gotta say when they announced they were moving GOTY into the week when Hitman 3 was getting released I was a little surprised, but given the sites history with the game I assumed this was done to coincide with some cool Hitman feature along with the discussions. I was further surprised that after delaying the GOTY talks it turned out to just be 5 days of live podcasts and lists with nothing else. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the podcasts just fine but after a delay that I assumed was done to prepare something extra it all felt a little barebones. Either way, excited to see the inevitable Vinny hijinks whenever they get around to it.

I agree, it's a shame there's not a Quick Look yet. And the general lack of content is disappointing, zero Quick Look's in 45+ days is bad.

@expensiveham: Almost like nothing major released after black Friday, then there was a series of holidays, and then a week of live recording GOTY.

So... November/December 2021 then?

Nahh, you're right that's too optimistic. 2022 or maybe 2023 it is then.

I think the week before GOTY was mostly spent with people catching up on games so that they could discuss them more during those podcasts. But things should be back to relative normal this week; you can feel free to check the upcoming for more streams arriving this week and I'm sure a QL for Hitman will be on its way shortly.

@finaldasa: In years past they've released the podcasts AND had show DURING the holiday break. If you think their output was enough, I’m glad for you, but as you can see there are people on here, paying members as well, who aren’t satisfied with this output. Our voices should be heard as well, we’re just giving our feedback and not calling anyone names, not sure why you feel the need to get sarcastic and try to prove our concerns aren’t valid.

@nickm said:

The assumption that the only work that the GB staff do is the stuff that is actually recorded is probably one of the most infuriating things I see peddled on this site.

@ramone: I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again. Actually, I’ve said it way more than once, but I’ll keep saying it. We got less content, much less content this year than in years prior. Either they have been working Uber-overtime before or they’ve simply not put the same effort this year. From what I’ve seen, it’s the latter.

Here is what former GB staff member Dan Ryckert had to say about 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WuihnXHkJY

@djredbat: Oh, you mean the guy who’s job doesn’t involve him playing games?

@nickm: Even though he doesn't get paid to play games he still streams a lot on his youtube channel, more than GB has the past few months TBH.

@djredbat: what sort of bizarre false equivalence is this? Come on.

@sethmode: why is it a false equivalence?

@nickm said:

Please show me the stats that back this up, as far as I can tell they've put more videos out in 2020 than in 2019, in fact by quite a significant margin. That is with the biggest disruption to their usual workflow possible and relying on upskilling a bunch of people into video producers.

Say what you will about the quality of the content but you can't doubt their effort.

@nickm: just because Dan does it in his free time a lot means nothing for GB and their situation? Like a literal false equivalance?

@ramone: I meant this year, meaning this Game of the Year, that one’s on me

@sethmode: I still can’t see why. Duder was comparing content output.

@nickm: I gave you the reason.

@nickm said:

OK fair enough, but a lot of that content heavily leaned on people being in the same location which is obviously not possible at the moment.

They still pumped out tons of videos/podcasts over the usual period when the GOTY content would drop.

I think accusations of laziness or a lack of effort are pretty ridiculous when we have no idea what goes on behind the scenes and especially when the majority of the crew have indicated that they've dealt with significant personal challenges this year.

@sethmode: in that case, I don’t think you were right. Thing x is greater than thing y. That’s all there is to it. Accept that thing x is done by just one dude, so, actually, maybe you are right, there’s your false equivalence.

So, back to topic, when is the Hitman 3 quick look happening? I’d still love to see it.

@nickm: whatever you say, chief.

Not to get too off topic but I haven't kept up Dan since he left, is he still at WWE? I haven't heard a single thing about that since he left, I mostly just see his video game stuff popping up here and there.