Hitman 3 is getting VR support in 2021, as are its two predecessors. Hitman 3 is the latest game in the well-known stealth franchise, and is set to release next January following its reveal at the PlayStation 5 event in June.
Hitman is a long-running series that, much like its menacing protagonist, lurks quietly on the sidelines of pop culture in video games. While not as universally renowned as franchises like Halo and Mario, Hitman still has plenty of fame, which has carried it through eight main series games, several spinoffs, and even two movies. The series’ protagonist Agent 47 is a pretty recognizable figure, which is ironic as his main skillset revolves around blending in and escaping notice. Fans have long enjoyed the series for rewarding patient and thorough stealth gameplay and providing multiple options for how to eliminate targets.
With the advent of Hitman 3, developer IO Interactive is set to take the franchise in a bold new direction. PlayStation shared a trailer for Hitman 3 during its State of Play stream earlier today, showing the new development. The trailer showed Agent 47 doing his usual work in a first-person viewpoint, which is unusual for the franchise. The reason for the departure is that Hitman 3 will also be playable in virtual reality, as the trailer reveals. The trailer ended with Agent 47 closing in on his target, then walking up from behind and lowering his iconic garrote over his quarry’s neck.
After the VR gameplay ended, IO Interactive declared that the entire World of Assassination trilogy would be playable in VR. This trilogy covers the three most recent games in the Hitman series, starting with 2016’s Hitman. The trilogy places a significant focus on large, open-ended sandboxes with multiple environmental factors and objects that the player can exploit to eliminate their targets. Critics and fans have praised the high degree of player freedom offered by this design philosophy.
Adding full VR support to three whole games is no small feat. This is especially true of the World of Assassination trilogy. Putting all of these vast, richly detailed environments into a VR environment and making it adequately navigable and interactive is a very ambitious pursuit indeed. If IO Interactive can pull it off, though, Hitman fans will have a bold and deeply immersive new way to experience Agent 47’s bloody career. The recent success of Half-Life: Alyx is proof that VR can deliver powerful and engaging experiences with all the polish and excitement of mainstream console games. If Hitman 3‘s VR mode is anywhere near Half-Life: Alyx‘s level, then IO Interactive is sure to have a hit on its hands.
