The first big game release of 2021 is here, and Hitman 3 is going to have January all to itself with a surprisingly prescient launch, given how crowded the holiday season was, and how much attention it can get now.
Embargo lifted for Hitman 3 reviews yesterday, and the game has scored quite well indeed, currently sitting at an 88 on Metacritic in an industry when anything over an 85 is considering a big win (don’t get me started on score pressure from both publishers and fans, however).
41 scored reviews are in and its racking up solid numbers from a lot of big names. Here’s a bit of a roundup of what outlets are saying about Hitman 3, the “proper” third installment of the trilogy, minus other games we’ve seen from the IP.
VG247 (10/10) – “Taken individually, Hitman 3 feels like great value, with plenty of variety and lots to do. When taken as a whole, the World of Assassination trilogy is hands-down one of the best and most complete-feeling trilogies in video game history.”
Forbes (9.5/10) – “If I were reviewing Hitman: World of Assassination (a game which does not yet exist but will almost certainly be released by this time next year), I would give it a 10: more than the sum of its parts, a triumph of world-building and design unlike anything else in the industry. But it’s just Hitman 3, and so I’ve got to dock it for allowing its convoluted story to interfere with what it does best.”
IGN (9/10) – “Rich, rewarding, and highly replayable, Hitman 3 is a superb instalment of IO’s idiosyncratic but much-loved stealth series. The fundamentals haven’t changed since 2016 but its collection of outstanding maps makes for a refined, reliable, and robust curtain-closer to the current Hitman trilogy.”
Games Radar (9/10) – “A slick and entertaining conclusion to a trilogy full of inventive, beautifully crafted levels to explore and exploit.”
So, any dissenters? Yeah, there are some, but very few, and even they aren’t super low.
ComicBook.com (7/10) – “Hitman 3 isn’t a game that I would call bad in the slightest, but it hasn’t done a lot to wow me out of the gate. It feels more like an expansion than a showy, new sequel. Still, even with a handful of drawbacks, the promise is there that this will only continue to be a game that grows and gets better over time.”
If Hitman 3 were released in 2020, it would have been just outside the top 20 of scored games released that year, higher if you rule out remasters and smaller titles. For brand new, AAA titles, it would likely make it into the top 10.
While Hitman 3 does seem to represent a conclusion in many ways, it stands to reason the series will continue on indefinitely as one of gaming’s iconic franchises, though it will likely be a long while until we see another installment. And if it does return, it’s possible we could be moving on from Agent 47 altogether, but we’ll have to see what happens.
Right now, with little else released except all those holiday titles, picking up Hitman 3 for pretty much any platform you have seems like a good idea, and I’m told you can jump right in without playing the others first. So think about it, and let me know how it goes.
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