At the end of Hitman 3, IO Interactive offers players (and Agent 47) a choice: kill Arthur Edwards (also known as The Constant) or inject themselves with the Ether Serum, effectively erasing their consciousness and removing all memories of Diana and their time together. While it appears like Agent 47 makes up his mind in a cutscene, before players even regain control, if they decide not to kill Edwards and wait around for a moment or two, Agent 47 has another option.
The events which brought Agent 47 so close to The Constant are somewhat convoluted, but stem from Diana betraying Agent 47 both because he killed her parents and also because she needed to find a way to get him access to Edwards. Diana wants to become the next Constant, and she wants revenge, and (like her father used to say) she wants to prove that “No one is untouchable,” a sentiment both her and 47 echo in the game’s (likely canon) normal ending. In Hitman 3’s secret ending, however, this doesn’t happen.
When players decide to explore Hitman 3’s final area and take their time, or when they stand still next to the serum for more than a moment or two, Edwards will say “Second thoughts? Perhaps we understand each other after all.” As Agent 47 stands over the Ether Serum, Edwards eggs him on by saying “Go on then. Free yourself. Lucas Grey was haunted by his humanity.” Instead of killing The Constant, players now have the choice to pick up the serum and inject themselves with it instead, erasing 47’s memory of the past three games and turning him back into a tool for other people to use. As Edwards says, “Freedom from choice is also freedom. Everything is so much simpler in black and white.“
Injecting Yourself In Hitman 3 Brings You Back To Hitman
If players decide, Agent 47 can inject himself and erase his own personality. When he does, he will begin to fade in and out of consciousness, and The Constant (obviously) will be quite pleased. He tells Agent 47 that he will take care of him now, and players don’t get any sort of conclusion with what happens to Diana Burnwood. Instead, they are given a callback to the very first Hitman game.
How Hitman 3 References The Original Hitman
When Agent 47 awakens after injecting himself with the serum, he is in what looks to be a padded room in an insane asylum. A voice comes over the intercom, one which sounds suspiciously like Edwards himself, and says “Wake up. Wake up, my friend. It’s the dawn of a new day, and you have things to do.” This scene, and these words, exactly mirror the introduction of the original Hitman: Codename 47 game, which began with 47 in the exact same location. The only difference is here 47 is wearing his iconic suit and red tie, whereas in the original Hitman he was dressed in a hospital gown.
Because the montage after Hitman (2016)’s ICA facility training level seems to insinuate the events of games like Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Hitman: Contracts, and Hitman: Blood Money have already occurred before the end of Hitman 3, it’s likely that this is not supposed to be a canon ending insinuating that Hitman 4 will follow in the footsteps of Codename 47. Especially since players have to wait around and be indecisive about Arthur Edwards’ murder (which seems very unlike what 47 would do in this situation) to achieve this ending, players should assume the game’s normal finale, where Hitman 3 depicts 47 and Diana working together as partners a year in the future, is what future games will embrace as truth. Even so, this secret ending is a great callback to the original title which started Agent 47’s journey, and by looking at each side by side it’s a wonderful way to see how far both the series and Hitman 3’s developers have come.
