Should You Buy Hitman 3

The  frequency with which we end up talking about the Hitman franchise has become predictable enough to be put on a calendar at this point. It’s one of our favourite franchises these days, after all, and with the World of Assassination trilogy concluding with Hitman 3, it would be insane of us to not talk about it. Fundamentally, if you’re a fan of Hitman 1 and 2, Hitman 3 is a no-brainer. For the sake of this review, however, I’m going to talk about Hitman 3 as its own game as much as possible, since this game will definitely attract plenty of players new to the franchise. Without wasting too much time with the introduction, however, let’s just get to the actual meat and bones of Hitman 3.

Stealth, Action, Comedy

Hitman 3 looks like a stealth-action game in the vein of the classic Thief or Deus Ex games, but really, it’s one of the most intricate puzzle games ever made. Rather than sneaking around, Hitman 3 revolves around finding the right costume that will give you the right level of clearance to make it into the right part of the map so that you can take out your target. Hitman 3’s gameplay loop is more about exploring and feeling out the level and then making a plan that will allow Agent 47 to take out his targets and make it out without anyone realising. Sure, Hitman 3 doesn't really add too much in terms of new equipment, but IO pretty much perfected Agent 47's arsenal by the time the studio was done with Hitman 2 anyway. I also appreciate being able to knock people out by throwing bananas and meaty bones at them.

It certainly helps that Hitman 3’s levels are incredibly dense. The series has always played with the idea of verticality in interesting ways, but Hitman 3 takes it up a notch with new levels like Dubai and Chongqing. Not only are the levels themselves expansive, but they have several layers of elevation to play with. Providing players a lot of avenues of approach means that Hitman’s also pretty great for replayability. And that’s precisely something one of Hitman 3’s new features is meant to promote.

Shortcuts can now be permanently unlocked for levels. Sure, these shortcuts are great for your current mission, but since Hitman 3’s gameplay loop also involves repeated playthroughs of older missions, the fact that these new shortcuts persist through different playthroughs once you’ve unlocked them means that every time you play the mission gives you new approaches, avenues and strategies to work with. The Hitman franchise’s fantastic level design is in full display with the presence of these shortcuts, giving every single destination in the game a grounded realism that few other games (other than Bloodborne) can muster. By realism, I don't mean that Hitman 3 is a dark and gritty like The Last of Us Part 2 or something; Hitman 3's destinations feel like they belong in the world, rather than just being levels in a video game.

World of Assassination

Hitman 3, being the supposed finale of the trilogy, also brings to an end the story that started back during the days of Hitman’s episodic release. While it started out pretty dull – there’s only so much a cloak-and-dagger spy fiction story involving multiple conspiracy theories can do in an episodic format to be honest – the direction the story took with Hitman 2 instantly hooked me in.

Hitman 3 brings the story to an end that, while not finishing off Agent 47’s chapter for good, has definitely shaken up the status quo in a way that no subsequent Hitman game will be the same.

Its promise of being the ultimate Hitman experience is incredibly realised thanks to IO Interactive’s unique take on game releases. On a fundamental level, Hitman 3 houses all the levels from the trilogy. This means that you can go through the entire trilogy, start to end, while playing with the improvements and refinements made in the engine with Hitman 3.

In a way, this makes Hitman 3 the most accessible game in the franchise yet. Not only do all levels from Hitman and Hitman 2 run fantastically inside Hitman 3, they also make use of some of the new features the engine has gotten over the years, including Hitman 2’s addition of shrubbery you can hide in and reflective mirrors, and Hitman 3’s ultra-optimised file size. I cannot stress how important and impressive it is that IO Interactive managed to fit in the entirety of the trilogy with 80GB of drive space required.

So, should you buy it?

Aside from the drama surrounding the ownership of Hitman 2 on PC, there isn’t really much to complain about with Hitman 3. It’s fun, the levels are fantastic, and IO Interactive does a fantastic job of leaning into some of the more comedic elements of the franchise. There is a mastery of level design that is at full display with Hitman 3, and its story wraps up the trilogy in a fun way that leaves things just open ended enough to maybe hope for a sequel some day. Add on top the fact that the PC version of Hitman 3 is downright fantastic, and there’s little else to say. Hitman 3 is a must-play game, especially if you also own the previous two entries. It offers potentially hundreds of hours of fun, discovery, and hilarity.

PC – Rs. 1,419 – Buy

PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (physical and digital) – Rs. 3,999 – Buy

Xbox One, Series X|S (physical) – Rs. 3,999 – Buy

Xbox One, Series X|S (digital) – Rs. 3,499 – Buy