Hitman 3 gameplay preview: Dubai, Dartmoor levels are a great start

Through two of the six missions of Hitman 3, the game is already taking IO Interactive’s World of Assassination trilogy to incredible new heights. I don’t mean just that in terms of the great places Agent 47 infiltrates or the extra toys and tactics at his disposal. Perhaps the most surprising element of Hitman 3 So far, IO Interactive has developed the story and characters for the series – whether it’s 47 and his teammates, or the targets they hunt.

Now, I’d bet the vast majority of Hitman’s players don’t come into the franchise for his storytelling. It is clear that IO Interactive was trying to layer some narrative elements here and there during Hitman 3the predecessors of 2016 Hitman and 2018 Hitman 2. But it wasn’t until the middle of Game 2 – after some massive revelations about 47’s past – that this swirling vortex of a global conspiracy tale entered the picture.

The triumphant end of Hitman 2, in which 47 and his team managed to capture the leader of the obscure global cabal known as Providence, also unearthed a time bomb or two. And about a third of the way Hitman 3, the story took explosive turns. I’m not going to spoil them here, of course, but I will say that by the end of the second mission, I felt really invested in the story. So far, the narrative elements of this Hitman trilogy have mostly seemed like an excuse to string together the meat of the series: its sprawling levels and clockwork mechanics, and the strategic stealth gameplay behind it all. But at this point the shit hit the fan, and I’m all-in.

In a nice nod to the episodic nature of Hitman (2016), the campaign Hitman 3 offers a previous video for you to follow the events of the last two games. At the start of the third, Agent 47 and his cohorts – his ICA manager, Diana Burnwood; his long-lost childhood friend (and co-intern in the art of assassination), Lucas Gray; and Grey’s hacker partner, Olivia Hall – are on the trail of the three Providence Partners, who seek to wipe out the organization by chopping off the snake’s head.

Hitman 3The opening mission of ‘On Top of the World’ begins with Gray and 47 jumping from a plane over Dubai. They target the Burj Al-Ghazali, aka the Scepter, which in the game’s fiction is the tallest building in the world. (The cutscene in question is taken from a Paris-based sequence in the latest Mission: Impossible movie, and while it’s not quite as breathtaking here, it’s still a jaw-dropping introduction to Hitman.) are almost shredded by a helicopter taking off. of the skyscraper – that of Alexa Carlisle, one of the three partners. This leaves the other two, Carl Ingram and Marcus Stuyvesant, as mission targets.

The Hitman Trilogy was marked by missions set in sprawling locations, like the town of Sapienza on the Amalfi Coast Hitman and the streets of Mumbai in Hitman 2. The first two cards of Hitman 3 – the Scepter in Dubai and the Thornbridge Manor in Dartmoor, England – are more compact experiences, with only three ‘mission stories’ (guided assassination attempts) built into each, though the locations are no less complex in design.

The ace-level designers at IO Interactive have some new tricks up their sleeve this time around, including a shortcut feature. When you first read a location, you may come across ladders and doors with yellow metal locks that cannot be selected, which reminded me of a trunk placed on an illegally parked car. Instead, you’ll need to figure out how to reach them from the other side (i.e. from the top of the ladder or the opposite side of the door), where you can break the lock.

These shortcuts are designed to encourage replaying a level; once unlocked, they will remain available in future games. Veteran Hitman players are used to returning to places in an effort to increase their proficiency level, and in Hitman 3, they can use persistent shortcuts to reduce their turnaround time by precious minutes. I also appreciate them just to encourage me to explore every nook and cranny of the levels, even though that’s the kind of player I already am.

Dubai, right from the start, introduced another feature that is new to Hitman 3: Agent 47 now has a high tech camera. You can use it to take photos, but while it’s possible to apply certain filters to the images, the feature doesn’t really qualify as a photo mode on its own (which is why IO Interactive doesn’t charge it like this. ). Instead, it’s used for certain challenges, like the one on Dartmoor which requires you to take a photo of two people flirting with each other, and for scanning. In Dubai, you can scan some locked windows to open them; in Dartmoor, where a murder mystery takes place, you can scan for clues at the … well, lots of games.

As an assassin, 47 must remain in hiding; as such, many levels of Hitman give him the opportunity to hide behind the scenes of an event. Dubai is no different: as 47 arrives at the Scepter, Sheikh Omar al-Ghazali hosts the building’s opening reception. The backstage of an art installation is filled with narrow hallways, multi-level scaffolding with walkways and stairs, and plenty of large chests perfect for storing gear or bodies. And once you secure a disguise for a Guardian, Waiter, or Maintenance Worker, you can freely explore the building’s many floors. But there’s an interesting twist: Like 47 parachutes in the Scepter without its usual info and gear, you won’t have access to the in-game map until you head to an info kiosk and download the floor plan of the building.

As in many Hitman levels, Dubai targets tend to hang out in their own separate areas; Stuyvesant wanders around the reception area, while Ingram is settled into his master suite on the penthouse level. Part of the fun, of course, is finding the adjustable wrench (s) that 47 can throw in the procedure to have its targets intersect. This stage offers an ingenious double assassination that could become one of my all-time favorites in the franchise. I’ll just say this is skydiving and the interconnected layout of the public and staff areas of the Scepter makes it a lot of fun to pull off, whether you use one of the aforementioned shortcut ladders.

[Ed. note: If you’re unconcerned with spoiling yourself and you’d like to watch the skydiving assassination in question, scroll up and check out the 12-minute gameplay video near the top of this article.]

The final cutscene of “On Top of the World” is where 47 and Grey’s Quest begin to go south. Le Constant, the leader of Providence, escaped Diana’s custody – and it turns out he orchestrated everything from the start! (Like I said, it’s a spy story with more twists and turns than a Twizzler.) Alexa Carlisle, the third partner, fled the Scepter because she found out all of her billions were gone. And she is the target of “Death in the Family”, the second mission of Hitman 3.

The mission takes place in the English mansion of Thornbridge Manor, the Carlisle family estate. IO Interactive didn’t want the media to divulge plot details about the mission or details about its murder mystery. So I’ll just say it’s a brilliant and fascinating mix of an Agatha Christie inspired adventure with the traditional Hitman formula.

There’s the expected dose of infighting and family intrigue, plus an element of family history that makes the proceedings seem tragic. Of course, the mansion has its role to play, with secrets reminiscent of the board game Index and a fun nod to Knives Out. And the way the case unfolds – whether you choose to play Sherlock, rather than just fulfill the mission requirements – is built into Hitman’s existing “Intel” system. When you come across any clues, they will appear in your Intel menu. As you uncover more and get closer to resolving the case, the item descriptions will expand with information gleaned by putting twos and twos together, as if 47 was filling in details in her notebook. detective. (If you’re not a detective yourself, Diana’s voiceover helpfully makes the connections out loud.)

And if you can find every clue … boy, is there a huge ending awaiting you when you report to the private investigator client. It involves the first choice of dialogue of the kind I can think of in Hitman, and it stopped me in my tracks – which is impressive, considering 47 is renowned for being a cold-blooded killer devoid of human emotions. . I am very interested to see where Hitman 3The story of s goes from here.

Hitman 3 is slated for release on January 20 on Google Stadia, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. cloud-based version of Nintendo Switch does not yet have a release date.