Having had time to digest things a bit, I'm going to offer my ranking of the Hitman 3 levels. Other opinions are available.
1. Berlin
This has to be top, just because it has so much going on. It almost feels like they're showing off, to be honest.
2. Dartmoor
The place nearly has more atmosphere than it knows what to do with, and the investigation is the best optional thing they've ever done.
3. Chongqing
I warmed on it after running challenges for Mastery. It's a very standard setup with a lot of very clever little options and tons to discover.
4. Carpathian Mountains
Controversial, I know. A radical departure, and I totally get why people don't rate it, but the narrow layout is such a shift, and forces you to think so differently, especially for SASO, where mistakes are very costly. I think it's really clever.
5. Dubai
It's fine. It's a Hitman level, and hands down the most generic of the lot in the third game, but it doesn't get anything wrong.
6. Mendoza
Last place is not to say it's not good; but some great hidden bits and a couple of fantastic possibilities (leading the tour) don't discuss the fact that it feels the most bogged down by the narrative, and, as I mentioned up-thread, a lot of the challenges involve arranging complexity, rather than discovering exploitable situations that occur in their own. It's very game-y.
My exit wasn't hairy but I did think I'd fucked it. File under 'One you start the objectives, there's no going back':
Spoiler - click to showI managed to lure Magee into the toilet and subdued him, then tossed him out the window… except immediately after that, someone else came wandering in that I wasn't expecting. Cue me leaping out of the window and down the drainpipe expecting to get shot to ribbons. It didn't happen, but I was compromised and didn't get Silent Assassin which was a bit meh. Not that I think I'd have got anything else for getting that on top of what appears to be a shirt with gloves…
Yeah, you unlocked a variant of the location default suit for Silent Assassin on Elusive targets in the first two games. Dunno what they're going to do for the Hitman 3 locations, though, since the suits are a mastery 20 unlock for each level.
Ugh, that was going so well until I panicked at the last hurdle.
Spent ages following the guy in the mansion over a couple of runs, finally distracting and taking out his bodyguards before punting him off a cliff, but rushed the second one.
Got spotted hiding a body when the bloody target came back into the room, and ended up shooting him in the face with an unsilenced pistol. (It was the first one I got in the inventory, and I panicked.)
Luckily I wasn't seen as the shooter, so while the gunshot got all the guards running towards the body, I slipped out and escaped.
I love the way we've all come up with different approaches. Very Hitman. For the record, I got Mansion Guy by dropping the ICA explosive phone behind a bookcase where I knew he would go, he picked it up then I sauntered out of the mansion like Heath Ledger in Batman as everything exploded behind me. Then for Tower Guy I infiltrated the level above where he was wandering around, and dropped a chandelier on his head. Quite stylish apart from the Benny Hill shootout as I pegged it towards the exit.
So I'm the only one who
Spoiler - click to show went to the safe house, snuck into the other flat to steal the kitchen assistant outfit, poisoned the wine in the wine cellar using rat poison taken from the kitchen, ran off to climb the drainpipe and infiltrate the toilet by the first guy's meeting, lured him in and subdued/threw him out the window, then went back to the cellar in time to see the other guy make himself sick by drinking the wine, before finally drowning him in the nearby bathroom and escaping by boat via the dock?
Since I've barely touched the game (I'm still on the Escalation of The Final Test!), I had no kit to play with and had to go with what was in the level.
My approach was Spoiler - click to showchandelier in the town hall, cliff yeet in the mansion.I should have thought to bring poison, really, but ho hum.
(I'm still on the Escalation of The Final Test!)
You're probably just doing this particular one for the achievement - but don't feel you need to do every escalation on every level before moving on, you will drive yourself insane. Some of them are extremely difficult. Treat them as optional extra content to come back to later, when you want to challenge yourself on a familiar map.
I've done very few escalations, but I think that's partly down to my own mentality - often, trying to get Silent Assassin is an exercise in immense frustration. I've learned to be a bit more cavalier in my approach, unless the objectives specifically state otherwise, and they can be a lot more fun than I initially credited them.
You're probably just doing this particular one for the achievement - but don't feel you need to do every escalation on every level before moving on, you will drive yourself insane. Some of them are extremely difficult. Treat them as optional extra content to come back to later, when you want to challenge yourself on a familiar map.
I was actually doing it because I wanted to do everything in one area before moving on. Will take your advice after this one though and just get to know the levels first.
My self-imposed requirement is to get maximum Mastery and an SASO run before moving on, but Sgail's slow drip of progress is making me question those criteria.
I was actually doing it because I wanted to do everything in one area before moving on. Will take your advice after this one though and just get to know the levels first.
Every level after the training facility has a Mastery level that increases as you complete challenges. Maxing that out will feel like you've "completed" the level. A Silent Assassin Suit Only run, if you feel up to it, is the gold standard test for how well you know your way around.
My self-imposed requirement is to get maximum Mastery and an SASO run before moving on, but Sgail's slow drip of progress is making me question those criteria.
I remember Sgàil being slower going even in Hitman 2, and mastery progress speed has definitely been reduced since then.
EDIT/ADDENDUM: The Proloff Parable, the Deluxe Escalation in the Carpathian Mountains, is very good, and features some fantastic tonal whiplash in the kind of gameplay it demands of you. Starting it (or the Gauchito Antiquity in Mendoza) gets you the costume, but you only have to complete stage 1 to unlock the gear, meaning (for anyone interested) Proloff is now the easiest sniper rifle to get - and, as a bonus, it has the same perks as the Sieger 300 Ghost, which (as I mentioned above) was the best pre-Chongqing sniper rifle in the game.
I went back and did this and got the sniper rifle - thanks Ninchilla.
Ended up sticking around and completely rinsing the level: SASO, all challenges, secret ending, the lot. Really enjoyed it actually. Carpathian Mountains will never be a classic Hitman level but as a cinematic (and cathartic) ending sequence it does a pretty good job I think.
I do wonder if
Spoiler - click to showthere was originally supposed to be a final level set at 47/Grey's orphanage. That part of the story never really went anywhere and there doesn't seem to be much reason for 47 and Edwards to be in Romania at the end of the game, apart from that connection.
Wasn't there a level set Spoiler - click to showin the Oort-Meyer facility as the finale of one of the earlier games? I seem to recall one of them (Blood Money?) opened in the immediate aftermath, but I never really played much of any of the older entries.
No idea - never played any of the earlier games at all.
Finally got to Sgail Mastery 20 over lunch, thanks to a fun little Escalation involving dropping things on people, and a sloppy Sniper Assassin run. I'd been taking out the security system very early in most of my runs, so I still have pretty much no idea where any of the cameras actually are on the map – which, when starting a run in a totally new location, turns out to be a Pretty Big Deal.
New York next, which I'm quite looking forward to. I haven't seen much about it, but I get the impression it's a much more condensed location than the sprawling labyrinth of Sgail.
New York is a fantastic map, but yes, it's pretty small-scale. In Hitman 2 it only had 15 levels of mastery, they've upped that to 20 for Hitman 3 but I'm not sure they've actually added any challenges so it might be quite a tough one to max out.
That's proper serial killer behaviour right there. I approve.
Pretty sure someone did this in Hitman 1 Colorado with the car jack, too.
First run on New York went remarkably smoothly, though I narrowly missed out on Silent Assassin by stumbling into a trespassing area and not getting back out again fast enough. I could probably have reloaded an autosave, but that seemed unnecessary for a first attempt.
I've discovered a lot of stuff already, including a reasonably straightforward security camera wipe, but have already forgotten where I found most of they keys and keycards so it'll be a whole before I'm really confident with it.
I spent this evening's man-hitting on the Final Test escalation for the trophy, which I mostly remembered how to do from 2016. After that, I ran a couple of times through Carpathian Mountains to finish off the last few Challenges (though I did have to Google the redacted one). I will say: boy, do you get fuck all XP for just playing the game. Yeesh.
Silent Assassin done on the bank, but I'm fucked if I know how the hell you even get to the manager without a disguise. I'm assuming Sniper involves a point blank rifle to the back of her unconscious skull.
I really like the level, though. Lots of little back corridors and stairs to get around, but also loads of people everywhere, which makes for a very intricate puzzle.
I need to figure out who the two roamers with the partial drives are, though - Diana pointed them out on my first run, but I've only found one of them since, by complete accident.
Bangkok above Hokkaido? Dartmoor at 11!? I mean, they're fairly positive about most of the levels, so I guess there's not much separating them, but that's just… wrong. A wrong list.
(I might be willing to admit that Sapienza is the best level, but World of Tomorrow is not the best mission - the virus objective is just too tedious on repeat runs.)
I think Hokkaido at #15 and Haven Island above New York are the two biggest offenders there, but I suspect the fact they can't even get the name of Whittleton Creek correct shows exactly how much thought and effort went into this particular piece of clickbait.
I was so offended, I came up with my own definitive list… in which Dartmoor also came in at #11.
- Hokkaido
- Miami
- Berlin
- New York
- Paris
- Sapienza
- Santa Fortuna
- Whittleton Creek
- ICA Training Facility
- Mumbai
- Dartmoor
- Dubai
- Bangkok
- Haven Island
- Chongqing
- Colorado
- Isle of Sgail
- Marrakesh
- Carpathian Mountains
- Mendoza
- Hawke's Bay
In general - Berlin aside - I'm quite down on most of Hitman 3. I'm enjoying playing the earlier levels more. Hopefully future escalations, elusive targets and special assignments will reveal hidden potential in those maps.
Familiarity definitely plays a big part, I think, for sure.
If I attempt a full ranking, I might try and do it by mission, rather than location.
I had a very quick look at The Icon the other night - I'd assumed it would be like the Special Assignments in Hitman 2 where they'd just dropped a new target into an existing level, but it looked significantly different and appeared to have its own Mission Stories and everything. I'm starting to think I might have overlooked these bonus missions a bit.
The 2016 bonus missions are very different - totally reworked levels, with almost nothing in common with the main campaign. The Icon is okay, but Landslide is great, and all of Patient Zero is very good (even if the last mission is so difficult I have never managed to finish it). Marrakesh at night has a very different feel, too.
The implication has been that these kinds of episodes will be the form that any future Hitman 3 DLC will take, which I'm quite excited about.
Elusive targets undertaken this week. Couple of nights recon and then readying for the final go when I think 'all of these items I've gained, something must be useful'. Here is my final run: https://youtu.be/x_AMDFR616Q please excuse the terrible camera shooting.
…oops.
Rather than hold/drop items, your can press R1+L1 to place them more carefully. It can be iffy, but it's helpful.
Couldn't help but laugh. the mansion guy was the 'easy one'.
Rather than hold/drop items, your can press R1+L1 to place them more carefully. It can be iffy, but it's helpful.
It's weird because the contact creation tutorial makes a big deal of this but I don't think the game otherwise mentions it at all.
It's essential if you want to use bananas on staircases for maximum hilarity.
Couldn't help but laugh. the mansion guy was the 'easy one'.
The mansion guy was where I fucked up and got spotted; the town hall I thought was a cakewalk.
It's weird because the contact creation tutorial makes a big deal of this but I don't think the game otherwise mentions it at all.
I use it for placing explosives all the time; I even do it with coins - an NPC who spots one while patrolling will pick it up, even if there's no sound, so you can get targets in just the right spot under, say, a chandelier, or in a soon-to-be-lethal puddle.
It's weird because the contact creation tutorial makes a big deal of this but I don't think the game otherwise mentions it at all.
It's essential if you want to use bananas on staircases for maximum hilarity.
THIS. I've seen this mentioned before but never in game and I've never used that move/always forget about it. One thing playing this again has made clear, which goes against what I said in PWB, is: Why Am I Playing Other Games!
A wild March roadmap appears!
https://www.ioi.dk/hitman-3-march-roadmap/
… an Easter Egg hunt?
I'm somewhat relieved that the Elusive Contract is going to be on a level I've already played, so I don't have thad added external pressure to just f–king get on with Hitman 3 already. Didn't think I'd be going back to Sgail this soon, but that's cool – I liked it a lot, as a location.
I got a run on New York this afternoon with SASO, which might be sniper-friendly as well, so I'll give that a shot (ha!) this evening if I get the chance. Still a few Mastery levels to go, though, so I'm going to have to start digging through the challenges to see if there's anything I can figure out.
Another elusive target I haven't done - cool! Easter egg hunt is interesting, and I can't wait to show up to a fancy Argentinean vineyard in a straitjacket.
Figured I'd better go back and (re)familiarise myself with Isle of Sgail if it's going to be the location of the next Elusive Target.
Ooof. Not my favourite level. I mean it's fantastically designed and incredibly atmospheric but it's just so hard. Even after all this time I can't get a mental handle on the layout of the place - I can picture all the component parts of the level but not necessarily how they connect. (Maybe it's because it's highly vertical in nature, or because there are very few points from which you can get an overview of the layout). I had real trouble last night trying to get from the warehouse full of crates to Janus's funeral, and I know they're very close together - but as soon as I get into that central keep I just lose all sense of direction.
Also, the place is rammed full of people. There's virtually nowhere you can isolate someone. A few scripted opportunities do leave people vulnerable but in general play you're always dealing with crowds and enforcers.
Anyway, a few more runs should hopefully do it - but I'm expecting my attempt on this Elusive to be a complete shitshow if I'm being honest.
Another run on the bank with some save-scumming got me the last couple things I needed for Versatile Assassin (drowning and lethal poison), as well as two other challenges – taking me to just over Mastery 19. I reckon I've got a pretty solid plan for three or four more challenges, after looking at the list; should be easy enough to combine a few of them to finish off New York and move on.
There's virtually nowhere you can isolate someone.
There are some opportunities for luring people around with coins and commemorative tokens, but the Kalmer might be the best bet for neutralising witnesses without too much furore.
I remember the bank was hit pretty hard by a bug in Hitman 2 which meant that vomiting targets prioritised bins to throw up in, sometimes going a very long way to find a bin rather than using a much closer toilet. At one point I think the "drown a target" challenge was actually impossible as a result. I take it that one's been fixed, at least.
What's a Kalmer?
What's a Kalmer?
It's the tranquilizer gun. You unlock it for doing the Whittleton Creek Mission Stories.
Watching the news today and all I can think about is that Hitman 3 really needs a Buckingham Palace level… if only so they can have an escalation called The Markle Debacle.
A pretty sloppy run at New York over lunch to get a few more challenges – including finally collecting the three separate data drives rather than just nicking the one in the vault – and I'm off to the Maldives (sadly, only in the game).
I don't think I've ever not gone for the safe drive - I'm honestly not sure I was aware that's an option…
I don't think I've ever not gone for the safe drive - I'm honestly not sure I was aware that's an option…
There are two VIPs wandering around the bank – head of security and head of finance, IIRC – who drop partial backups of the data; a third is on the target. They're not indicated in your Instinct, unfortunately (I expected them to show up blue like The Constant in Sgail), and the dialogue from Diana letting you know who they are seems not to trigger every time.
There are a couple of places you can tranq 'em (mostly less-trafficked stairways), if you pick up the Kalmer from the IT room, which doesn't kill them, makes them drop all their stuff, and will preserve Silent Assassin even if they're found.
