Quick Look: Hitman 3

Mechanical (no story specifics) spoilers/elaborations about a couple of things that were mentioned:

Ha. I stayed up til 2am playing through Dartmoor last night. Amazing map.

This is like the only franchise where after a trilogy of fairly similar games, I'm still absolutely itching to play more. I really hope IO's Bond game is going to scratch that itch.

As someone who hates whenever Hitman gets up its own patoot about story and thinks the story objectives and scripted events are almost anathema to what Hitman is, I was really happy to play this and find that IO did a good job of stripping out MOST of that stuff on replay.

The last level is still a pretty bad throwaway that feels like they rushed it out to meet a goal of TECHNICALLY having 6 maps. The other maps are on balance incredible though.

@stordoff: I think IOI learned a lot from their previous games and how people reacted to mission objectives like the one in Sepianza and Whittleton Creek and the way they handle those in Hitman 3 is very smart. It's something I'd like a lot more game to take into account when replayability is a core mechanic. (I'm looking at you DMCV and Bayonneta)

Man, what is it with Vinny and just hucking knives out to nowhere

One of the few times where waiting for the "best" version of a game was worthwhile. I've watched Hitman on the site, but never played it myself. Now I have all 3 games to mess with, looking and running great, in a pretty open part of the gaming year. Hurrah, I say.

You actually can't bring in levels from Steam yet. IOI says they're working on a solution but I haven't seen any updates at all. Very frustrating.

The Twitch streamers ybbaaabby, DanRyckert, and JosephJBroni (Dave Lang) have also been streaming this game a bunch recently, check out their archived videos if you want to see more! Lang in particular is a highlight in that he actually understands the game's mechanics. Even though sometimes being clueless is more entertaining. :)

I like that they tried story stuff in the structure of how they opened and ended certain levels even if it wasn't amazing. I also like that none of it's there the next time you play a level. Just a shame about the quality of the final level.

@scylo: last level is amazing

I really like the last level. Fun relief of finally going all out murder train.

The best maps in this game are 1,2 and 3 but just the map in 3 not the objectives you do in it.

Looks like good ol’ Hitman fun. As someone that played the original Hitman: Codename 47 back in the day and saw the potential for greatness in that very rough gem, I’m astounded how far its come over the years.

Honestly, Auntie Carlisle made a lot of enemies, so I'm not surprised. But who the hell murders the help before the hors d'oeuvres come out?

I've been playing on PC and barely touched any other game since. Mastering the levels and going through the old levels (and 2's DLC which I've never purchased) in the updated engine is just as great as it's always been. I really appreciate that IO went with some gimmick in each level to differentiate a little. My rankings of the new maps from best to worst (which is still pretty good) : 3>5>2>1>4

I would love a series of Vinny and Alex playing through Hitman missions.

They could've padded out the hitman content so much like they did with 1 and it'd be entertaining the whole time. I think I find it a lot more fun to watch while they learn and explore the game instead of a wrapup quicklook.

Thank goodness this exists!

The importing process was borked for the first 6-8 hours at launch but they ended up getting it all together before the end of the day. Still getting reconnecting issues from time to time but for the most part it's all up running well. This was my experience importing Steam info to Epic. Also just ended up buying Hitman 2 on Epic for 80% off just to get the full game.

I've been playing on Master for the first time and it's really not that hard, just gotta make sure to remove all the HUD Helper elements.

@permanentsigh: Agreed

It was really bloody confusing on which Hitman 2 add-on to buy, there are several of them, buy one that includes HM2 campaign and expansion pass, I ended up buying them separately by accident. Otherwise I love the hell out of this game and some of my favorite GB vids are hitman related. Hope to see more!

As much as I enjoy watching Hitman being played perfectly, I'd also watch Vinny doing his thing for hours. I'm also very excited about Brad showing-off some Hitman VR in the near future.

While I'd like that too, I feel like they would need to come up with some type of gimmick (like in the GOTY videos where they had to do thing X while using thing Z) to make it entertaining, because they're both playing this currently and have probably already finished it, so there wouldn't be anything new there for them, aside from trying to do all the bonus objectives from each map.

But I do at least hope that once Hitman 3 rolls out it's new Elusive Targets, they'll be streaming their attempts at those.

The rollout of this definitely seems a little weird if you're trying to jump in with a complete Hitman 1-3 collection new, or trying to fill in gaps. I have Hitman 1, but not 2, and was looking to try to pickup 2 to catch up on the story and have it all in one place. There apparently was a sale on Hitman 2 stuff on PSN, but that finished up before Hitman 3 launched, so now there's only a $60 or $100 complete edition. So essentially $160(!) for me to get all of Hitman in one place.

Would like to support I/O, but until it all goes back on sale there's no way I'm trying to get back into the world of assassination.

Another underhand knife-toss à la Hitsmas. I cackled out loud.

There can never be too much Hitman content.

@glots said:

Alright. Here's my idea for the gimmick - HITMAN.

It's like HORSE, but with murder. You'd have Vinny and Alex (and/or Brad) go into contracts mode and try to successfully make a contract in one go. If they fail, the next person gets a turn, but if they succeed, each other person has to complete the contract or get a letter. They take turns making the contracts until they have a winner.

Bonus points since they can post the contract and let the community "play along" if they are so inclined.

This is the content I needed. Please play through all of the levels.

I used two coins to quickly get the Private Investigator’s clothes. Coins are unreasonably effective in the recent Hitman games.

Cabin Boy reference. *chefs kiss

It's crazy to me how unpopular Berlin seems to be with a lot of folks, it's my favorite map in the game. I LOVE the lack of hand-holding on it and being free to do what I want, instead of having the Stories there to give me free kills with a guide. There are still small story-like things in the map (like becoming the club manager, or the light tree that they showed) but it's up to YOU to discover them instead of just following waypoints/objectives.

i can't believe he flicked that fucking knife again...

I loved when 47 dropped the bass!!!!!!!!

@crippl3: I'm with you. Not saying people are wrong about it, but the opposites opinions that this map gathered surprised me. Playing the game and understanding its mechanic for the first time was a "best moment of the year" moment for me, and I loved all the experience I had in the map. Even after two replays it is still my favorite map of the game.

About this engine, they have kept on optimizing and perfecting it, what ran like shit on hitman 2 on this pc now runs butter smooth on same system while looking absolutely amazing on 1060 system.

amazing.

@deathpooky: if it makes you feel any better, IO has said hitman 3 has already covered development costs.

somebody needs to explain to cyberpunk guys why we do not need rtx for full motion reflections from mirrors...

Man, the music in the Berlin level is giving me life. I miss techno clubs.

@permanentsigh: Good suggestion. I'd be into that, too!

I hope Vinny and Alex are encouraged to tackle the Hitman series together for us if they read these comments. :-) <3