In the finale of the Hitman world of assassination series, IO Interactive brings us an exciting game that builds on the success of its predecessor of stealth games. 

Here are the 5 top reasons you should be playing Hitman 3 in 2021:

1. Story

Despite criticism of the story in the first two installments of the series, story is where Hitman 3 shines and sees, in my opinion big improvements. Following on the story of the first two titles, Hitman 3 pulls together what was somewhat disjoint story to a remarkable ending. We learn more about Agent 47 history and the secret provenance organisation partners are exposed as Agent 47 teams up with an unpredictable ally to end the organisation once and for all.

Not to give away much of the game story, there is a lot of surprises in Hitman 3 story that await you!

2. Graphics

While the Hitman series has never been associated with the most impressive graphics, Hitman 3 takes graphics up a notch, with eye catching scenery that will make you stop and admire the work of art and appreciate the effort the developers have put in creating the right atmosphere for a stealth game. From eerie locations and animation to great recreation of amazing world wide locations, Hitman 3 has it all.

To add to the scenery, great music and sound effects are a must. This is a category where Hitman 3 delivers and disappoints at the same time. We see some nice music played in the starting menu and during the episode cut scenes. There is also a good share of ominous music that will keep you on your toes, the silence in some scenes broken by dialogues gives a real feel to a stealth mission.

However, we see little improvement in the sound effects of weapon. For example a silent gun sounds very similar to a normal gun, but then maybe guns are not a great weapon to use in a stealth game?

There is an impressive use of motion combat in the game and the animation is done beautifully, it is one feature to look out for in the new Hitman.

3. Mission Design

The brilliance of the Hitman series is highlighted in the amazing care given to mission design. The whole mission is crafted so carefully like a piece of jewelry. It is designed to give you endless opportunities to explore and caters for all skill levels.

If you are a casual gamer, you will be able to follow along with the story and the hints give you a sense of how you can achieve the goal of the missions with some predefined opportunity to execute. But there is much more to mission design than meets the eye in Hitman 3, the goal of the game for you might be to get a perfect score in a perfect time - something which you may feel like getting the big achievement. 

However, missions also cater for the adventurers and people seeking to make trouble. Anything can be used as a weapon and there are many ways to finish a mission, it is up for you to decide how that is done.

The emphasis here is on replayability, The missions are designed to be finished in many ways, you can design your own path and execute it, the game will uncover great many secrets that only someone looking closely will notice. It is a standbox for you to discover as the game adapts to your choices.

4. Freedom of gameplay

Following on from the mission design, it is only natural for Hitman 3 to give the same great feel of freedom in your style of play we have all loved and enjoy in the earlier titles. As with the older Hitman titles, any style of play is correct so long as you execute it and have a plan.

Anything goes - you want to kill people with ridiculous items, you got that, you want to go on a assassination rampage with deadly weapons, you got that. The game gives you the ability to test the AI which may at some points act incredibly dumb while in other situations cunningly smart.

It is up to you to explore the many dozens of ways you are able to interact with this AI mind field and see what you can uncover by playing in some unorthodox ways.

5. Humour

A Hitman game won’t be a Hitman game without its hilarious yet intentional mishaps either in the way the guards won’t suspect you if you wear a specific outfit or how it is easy to kill someone with a rock rather than a weapon. How funny it is that you can drawn someone in a toilet and hide them inside a cupboard and no one will notice. Hitman 3 is no exception. It is as if the game developers are saying we want you to experiment with crazy ideas, uncover ways to achieve your mission goal in many different ways.

To say that Hitman 3 and to some extent the Hitman series is a assassination simulator, would be an understatement. It is a mixture of stealth, murder, fun and adventure in amazing mission designs and a canvas for you to understand the world of AI and how to execute plans that can be crazy and humours. Regardless of your gameplay strategy, Hitman 3 has something that will sure leaving you captivated and hungry for more.

There has been many disappointments in games over the past year, Hitman 3 comes as a breath of fresh air to give us hope in great games of more games to come this year. Absolute gem you should play today!

Hitman 3 is now available on the Xbox One and the Xbox S and X series as well as exclusively on Epic Store on the PC for a while. Don’t miss out on another masterpiece of the Hitman series.

Get Hitman 3 from Ludos Digital.