There’s a tangible sense that the stakes are higher for 47 and Diana than they’ve ever been, and without going too much into spoiler territory, there are some delightful surprises and/or twists within a number of the game’s six locations that can slightly alter or even fundamentally change the nature of the mission 47 was originally on (at least temporarily). Unlike in Hitman and Hitman 2, where most of the gameplay in missions were largely tangential to the main story that unfolded during the cutscenes, Hitman 3’s missions hew more closely to Agent 47’s personal motivations to protect his friends, take down Providence and ultimately regain his childhood memories. The renewed focus on narrative isn’t just superficial either. Hitman 3’s fully fleshed out CG story sequences brings the narrative back the status quo, and while the caliber of animation might not be as impressive as what IO was able to produce when they were still owned by Square-Enix, the scenes still go a long way to deliver the emotional impact that “the most important contracts of entire career” call for. While Hitman 2’s cutscenes were arguably stylish and told the story in their own visually effective way, when compared to the first game’s effort the “moving CG slide-show” ultimately came across as an unfortunate cost-cutting measure by the now independently-owned IO Interactive that detracted from the experience. One of the most impactful changes players will notice before they even take control of 47 in the first mission is that the fully animated CG story cutscenes which were so impressive in Hitman but were replaced by 3D rendered still-frame sequences with voiceover in Hitman 2 have returned to their former glory.
Developer IO Interactive has made no small effort in its marketing to declare Hitman 3 as “the dramatic conclusion to the World of Assassination Trilogy”, and as such there is an unprecedented focus on the story in comparison to Hitman (2016) and Hitman 2 (2018). If that synopsis read at all to you like something off the back of a pulp spy/thriller novel, you’d be quite accurate in assessing the game’s intended tone. With the Constant still at large and armed with the knowledge that 47 and Burnwood are now working with The Shadow Client against the directives of their own employer the ICA (International Contract Agency), it is only a matter of time before they too become targets. While the society’s mysterious figurehead, the Constant has just escaped their imprisonment, his brief interrogation has provided them with the identities of Providence’s three remaining partners, and they are one step closer to taking the entire consortium down altogether. Hitman 3 picks up right where its predecessor left off, reuniting the player with (Agent) 47, his handler Diana Burnwood, as well as their new and uneasy allies, 47’s childhood friend (not to mention one of the world’s most wanted terrorists known as The Shadow Client) Lucas Grey and hacker Olivia Hall, as they hurtle towards the inevitable endgame with their common foe, the secret organization known as Providence. The final chapter in the Hitman: World of Assassination Trilogy has arrived, and it’s been well worth the two-year wait.
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