A lot of press outlets and influencers are giving their final impressions of Hitman 3 after playing through a demo of it for the last time before it launches on January 20. This game has always looked phenomenal, but the more I see of it, the more I think it has game of the year potential. There are a couple of reasons for this but ultimately I think it all comes down to the fantastic formula for these games that Io Interactive has refined over the last two releases. They’re such a joy to play, and Hitman 3 looks to be no different. In fact, I think it’ll be better than anything else that launches in 2021.
As you can see, the person making the above video had so much fun with the game that they wanted to play through this single mission, Dubai, more and more by the time they were done with it. That’s not something that you can say for most games out there. Usually, you need a break between games once you’ve finished them, let alone the same mission being repeated over and over again. That’s part of what makes Hitman 3 a game of the year contender. It’s got so much replayability without any sort of live service in place at this point that there’s almost too much for players to get into.
The second reason I think this could be a game of the year contender is because of when it’s launching. January is best known for being a bit of a desolate wasteland when it comes to game releases. However, a few games have come along to buck that trend and show that you can be a success whenever you launch. Hitman 3 is coming out at a time when there’s very little competition. I think that it’s going to benefit massively from that, and that it’ll be a core reason so many players stick around to repeat missions again and again.
There’s so much to unpack in Hitman 3 that it’s going to be impossible to play it all through at once. Launch day is going to be very messy because so many people will be playing this game all at once. It’s going to be a lot of fun all the same though, as will the rest of the year with it.
