Hitman 3

Developer/publisher IO Interactive Format PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series Release 2021

Knowledge is the most powerful weapon in any Hitman player’s arsenal – which is saying something when that arsenal includes sniper rifles, garrote wires, and explosive rubber ducks. The joy of this series is the steady process of acquiring that knowledge; deconstructing the clockwork of the levels to identify targets’ weaknesses, and learning every last movement of its cast to orchestrate daring murders. Studious players become Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, weaving perfectly choreographed paths through these predictable sandboxes. Yet as Hitman becomes more empowering, the peril drains away.

This is what makes Freelancer, the Roguelike mode where your target is randomly picked from the vast pool of NPCs, so audacious: this is IO deliberately breaking its own missions. Now, instead of killing a Bond-villain-like bioscientist, you might have to take out a shopkeeper in the nearby plaza instead.

Though it may seem simpler to kill a side character, the change of target reveals how the interlocking parts of the sandbox’s mechanisms didn’t only protect the original victim but also exposed them – their routines leading them from safety into moments designed for players to exploit. In Freelancer, targets often move in limited loops, never leaving the sight of other NPCs.

Stripped of the equipment earned across the main campaign, and with only one opportunity to complete a mission, Freelancer players must create windows to strike because none is already open. True, increased risk of failure can encourage graceless play – more cautious (and callous) players may take a scorchedearth approach, methodically depopulating the map until a spot on their target’s route is no longer in anyone’s eyeline. But you’re never denied the opportunity to strive for a more elegant assassination.

Faced with a well-protected target, surrounded by witnesses, players can bend their acquired knowledge of Hitman’s maps and AI behaviour to fit a fresh target. Creating a gap in that shopkeeper’s surveillance might be as simple as dropping a knife stolen from the villa’s kitchen onto the street outside. When a passing NPC spots the blade, they interrupt their schedule to pick it up and hand it to the police, abandoning their overwatch and giving you the opportunity to strike.

Kills will rarely be quite as neat as those ordained in the campaign, but each successful mission has a satisfaction born from knowing it was made in spite of the level’s interlocking clockwork, not allowed by it. And in forcing even veteran assassins to adapt their approach, it makes Hitman feel dangerous again.

Q