Hitman 3

Hitman 3 is a stealth game about eliminating specific targets as a highly trained paid assassin, giving us a lot of freedom in performing tasks. It was developed by IO Interactive, the team responsible for all previous instalments in the series. In addition to offering completely new content, as part of a service called World of Assassination, the game allows you to import maps from the previous two installments (if you have them) and the progression made in Hitman 2.

Plot

Traditionally, we play as Agent 47, an assassin with a distinctive barcode tattooed on his occiput. In terms of plot, the production was developed as the culmination of a trilogy begun in the 2016 game Hitman, the threads of which continued two years later in Hitman 2.

In Hitman 3, Agent 47 and his partner Diana Burnwood must team up with old friend Lucas Grey to take down the group known as Providence once and for all. This requires the Agent to complete numerous contracts, the most difficult and important in his career, spread all over the world (we will visit Dubai and Chongqing in China, among others). The game's narrative is much more mature and darker than in previous installments, similar to Hitman: Absolution.

Gameplay

Hitman 3 develops on ideas from previous instalments. Each mission takes the form of a sandbox level, densely packed with various objects and characters - sometimes we'll see up to 300 NPCs on screen. NPCs have an extensive artificial intelligence system, which significantly increases the realism of their reactions to the player and makes blending into the crowd more attractive. We can move around the available terrain in a variety of ways, as the game includes a simple parkour system, allowing us to climb to places that are difficult to reach.

In Hitman 3, Agent 47 can use a brand new gadget: the handheld camera. This is useful for completing certain mission objectives ( such as photographing evidence), but can also be used to remotely hack window shutters and other elements of the environment. Another novelty is the system of shortcuts similar to games from the Souls series - after unlocking a shortcut (e.g. lowering a ladder leading to the roof) it will be available during all subsequent approaches to the same mission.

Our task is to eliminate selected targets, but how we do it depends only on us - the game offers a lot of freedom in this matter. The stealthy approach is particularly rewarded, but it is possible to achieve success through open confrontations. Getting into fights and casualties among civilians, however, will lower the final score for the level. In addition to the main objective, optional side quests are often available.

During the game, the player gets access to a wide arsenal of various weapons (garots, pistols, rifles, melee weapons), but can also use ordinary items found on the maps to kill. Most locations allow you to set up ingenious traps to make your target's death seem like an unfortunate accident. Agent 47 can also change clothes, making him harder for guards to detect or allowing him to get into a special section of the map.

Locations

In January 2021, the locations where the action of Hitman 3 takes place were revealed, and they are: Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Dartmoor in the UK, Berlin in Germany, the Chinese city of Chongqing, the Mendoza region in Argentina and the Romanian part of the Carpathian Mountains.

Technical aspects

The developers have made several improvements to the game engine of Hitman 3. These include support for SSR, a technique that realistically reproduces ambient reflections on in-game objects. These improvements were also implemented in stages from the first and second instalments.