Hitman 3 is the third and final game in IO Interactive's assassin trilogy, a title as high quality as its previous chapters, so much so that, in our review (here), we defined it "A must-have for those who have already played the previous chapters and want to conclude the narrative arc started in 2016 but also an opportunity for newbies to try the HITMAN trilogy with a single package ".
Whether you are starting from Hitman 3 or have long since become familiar with the world and the rules of Agent 47, we want to share with you 8 tips to better face it.
The levels
In many games, when an enemy patrols an area, they do so repetitively, in a loop that always traces and retraces the same steps: Hitman takes this convention and takes it to the nth degree, with each NPC in the metaphorical role of an actor. on stage. In addition to this, there are forcing necessary because this complex mechanism never leaves out of the player agency, the player's power, in short: in the Dubai level, for example, the guard who will explain the emergency evacuation procedure over the phone. building will only start doing this when Agent 47 is close enough to hear him.
As the first run of the level, for this very reason, we advise you to walk around a bit, picking up weapons, keys and disguises, so as to collect the greatest number of clues about these hidden “mechanisms”.
Do you feel lost? Try the "story missions"
Virtually every location, in Hitman 3, contains and gives the opportunity to tackle "story missions", a sort of guided tour through the level that allow you to more easily find a goal or the opportunity to do it discreetly. You will meet them while exploring the location of the level, with a pop-up on the screen that will make the opportunity even more evident: if you decide to follow it, the supervisor of agent 47 will give you a brief explanation of what awaits you.
Obviously it is not necessary to rely only on hope, since if you want to follow a particular mission you can do it as soon as the level is started: this, from mission to mission, will put you in the right mindset to learn to seize these opportunities even before the game makes them evident to you. such as the possibility of poisoning a drink or finding a target alone in a relatively safe area.
Unlock more challenges
The developers of IO Interactive have always been rather condescending on the "save-scumming" issue, ie reloading a save as soon as something goes wrong: the game has an autosave function but also allows 8 manual saves, which can be used at any time except in combat. These can be exploited to the maximum, causing for example a sudden trip to the bathroom of our target and then saving, so that we can first drown him in the toilet, then reload to be able to kill him with a blow to the head and reload again to kill him by suffocating him: reload a saving, in fact, does not cancel the challenges already completed.
Use the "instinct vision"
Agent 47 is able to see things that we mortals are not even remotely able to perceive, which is clearly represented by his "instinct vision": this is a sort of enhanced X-ray vision that colors the profiles of NPCs and objectives (the first white, the second red) and which shows, at a glance, who is able to see us "through" our disguise (they have a large white dot above their head), who has been rendered helpless ( an animated circle of white dots) and also all the important objects in the area (bright yellow).
Watch out for the red exclamation marks
The environment of Hitman 3 always communicates quite clearly with the user and the red exclamation points are yet another proof: these indicate something that can be interacted with but which, if done in sight, will make you discover in the eyes of the NPCs present. They are not perennial hints, as they also depend on any disguises you are wearing: if we want to poison a drink but this has a nice red exclamation point, it means that we are too in plain sight, but if for example we were wearing a waiter's disguise this would not arouse suspicion .
The best inventory
There are really a lot of items in Hitman 3, more than those unlockable by taking the "master" level in a certain location; some of these are almost indispensable, let's see which ones:
- coins: 47 best friends, can be thrown anywhere, really anywhere (they make noise even when falling on the grass, apparently), to distract someone and make it easier to kill them or to get past them without creating suspicion
- crowbar: if you don't have the tools to pick a lock with you, you can always break it with a crowbar, but this will obviously cause a bit of a fuss; this tool also serves to "facilitate the breaking" of supports and cables that, perhaps, are holding that heavy load placed right above our lens
- screwdriver: lethal weapon, of course, but also a tool needed to tamper with objects, such as the cable of a power plug
- emetic poison: usually you can find it around the level as rat poison; placed on food or drink will act in such a way as to push the lens to search, and without guards below, the nearest bathroom, creating a comfortable opportunity for action
- lethal poison: the lethal version of the poison, unlocks the “no taste, no trace” challenge if used to kill our target; it is very rare, so if you find it around the level, take it without thinking twice
- silenced weapons: if you decide to stick to the stealth nature of the title, you will almost certainly need silenced weapons such as the Hackl 9S Covert, the various ICA19 models, but also more powerful weapons such as the Dak X2 or the Enram HV; these are also useful for destroying cameras, although this may attract the attention of nearby NPCs
Unlock every shortcut
The permanent shortcuts are part of the DNA of Hitman 3. In your first playthrough, you will find stairs and doors characterized by yellow metal locks impossible to force: find a way to "go around" and unlock them on the other side, so as to make them become permanent shortcuts for subsequent runs. Just remember that if you just need a button to open a door, you will need a crowbar to unlock the metal stairs.
Say "Cheeeeeseee"
Hitman 3 introduces a really cool gadget worthy of a James Bond: the digital camera. This clearly not only allows us to take pictures, but also to identify and highlight important objects in the level, and even to hack certain objects, such as window covers in Dubai or computer screens in Chongqing, without forgetting the use we will make of them. in the Dartmoor level, to solve the murder.
Here we are at the end of this small series of tips on Hitman 3, we just have to wish you ... good kills.
► Hitman 3 is a Stealth-type game developed and published by IO Interactive for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Google Stadia, the game was released on 20/01/2021 The version for Nintendo Switch is scheduled in the 2021.
