Set to release on January 20, 2021, Hitman 3 will be the most expansive entry we’ve seen in IO Interactive’s sandbox trilogy. As with past entries in the series, choosing the way that you want to play is just as important in Hitman 3, and the new levels should give players plenty of room to work and explore as they take down various targets. Expectations are high and that means IO Interactive has a lot to deliver on, something that many are confident it will accomplish. “If I could only have one game in 2021, it would be Hitman 3. But then if I could have a second game, it would be Wolfenstein 3,” Jeff Grubb, a reporter for VentureBeat wrote via Twitter. Other users have also expressed similar excitement about the upcoming title.
On Location
The latest entry in the series will feature six new locations to explore, like Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Dartmoor England, and Chongqing Province, China. While IO has yet to reveal all the places that players will visit, our looks into the game thus far have revealed quite a bit. Upgrades made to IO’s Glacier Engine, the game engine used to design Hitman 3, will allow for better reflections, more optimized textures, and overall crisper visuals. This means that the latest entry in the series will look even better than the previous two installments. Furthermore, thanks to the studio’s World of Assassination plans, all these visual upgrades also will be available on the past missions and levels from Hitman and Hitman 2 when playing them through Hitman 3. Having such detail and player freedom is important because of the sandbox nature of the Hitman series. Unlike more linear stories, such as the Call of Duty series, Hitman 3 allows players to choose exactly how they want to take out targets. Previous titles have given players the ability to take out targets in a multitude of ways, including more elaborate kills—like setting up a recording booth to electrocute someone—to more mundane kills, like throwing a screwdriver at the target’s head. It is this creative freedom that has helped make previous titles in the series so popular with players. While we only know three of the planned six locations Agent 47 will visit, IO Interactive also has shared, through a Developer Insights video released in July 2020, that the narrative in this entry of the series will take a darker turn than the previous ones. Of course, details are still murky on that front.
Truly Connected
One of the biggest promises of the Hitman series was a “World of Assassination.” Originally unveiled in 2018, the idea was to bring locations and missions from previous games to future iterations. As such, players will be able to experience all the missions and narratives from Hitman and Hitman 2 in Hitman 3 when it releases, so long as they already own the past two titles. These missions will be completely remastered to take into account all the advances that IO Interactive has made with Hitman 3. This includes changes to the game’s artificial intelligence (AI), new mechanics that might appear in the latest entry, and any visual upgrades made to the game engine. By allowing players to import previous Hitman missions and content into Hitman 3, IO will deliver on its promise of a connected experience that doesn’t require players to download multiple games. Once that content has been imported, players will be able to take full advantage of the upgraded versions of the past levels. On top of upgrading them, though, IO also has optimized them, and recently revealed on ResetEra that the entire trilogy only will take up around 100GB when installed. Another cool feature coming to Hitman 3 includes a special PlayStation VR mode, which allows Sony console gamers a chance to explore the world of Agent 47 in a full VR environment. From what has been shared so far, the game will work similarly to Resident Evil 7’s VR mode, which utilized a Dualshock Controller instead of the PlayStation Move controllers. I’m extremely excited to see what Hitman 3’s new locations have to offer, and the appeal of new devices to make use of is equally exciting. Tack on the upgraded visuals and the ability to replay past Hitman games with all those same enhancements in a single package, and I think it’s safe to say that Hitman 3 is easily going to be the best Hitman game we’ve ever received.
