You’re Agent 47, dropped off at a high tech firm in Chongquing, China. Your objective is to eliminate a number of targets and hack the company’s data core. How you accomplish these tasks is completely up to you—just don’t get caught.
The Hitman franchise has been around for decades, with the latest iteration beginning in 2016 and continuing in two sequels. Developer IO Interactive announced this month in a blog that the final installment of the trilogy, Hitman 3, will become Hitman World of Assassination on Jan. 26, and will at that point include the previous entries, Hitman and Hitman 2. The games are being consolidated in order to combine all the various versions and expansion packs into one title—and now is the time to buy it at a substantial discount.
Why you should buy Hitman 3 right now
All copies of Hitman 3 will update to Hitman: World of Assassination regardless of what platform you use to play the game. The all-in-one game will cost $70 once it is released, but you can get Hitman 3 right now before the update for much cheaper, and be automatically upgraded to the all-in-one version once Jan. 26 rolls around.
If you’re okay with purchasing game codes from “gray market” websites like CDKeys, you can get the code for Hitman 3 for $27 for PC right now. Best Buy has the Series X/Xbox One game on clearance for $25, and GameStop is selling Hitman 3 for $20 for the Series X/Xbox One, or the PlayStation 5 version for $28. Amazon has the PlayStation 5 version for $23 as of this article, and the Series X/Xbox One for $27.
Purchasing any of these now is the way to go, since World of Assassination (which carries a retail price of $70) is likely to be priced like a new game upon release.
Is the Hitman trilogy for me?
Think of Hitman like a slowed down, stealthy take on Grand Theft Auto (GTA). If you love games that require a little more thought and strategy while keeping the same level of open world freedom as GTA, Hitman might be the game for you. It’s a third person point-of-view actioner with similar gameplay, but built around assassination missions rather than wreaking general havoc.
While you can jump in and play Hitman 3 without playing the previous two games, you will miss out on some deeper aspects of the storyline. Luckily, you only have to wait until Jan. 26 before you can start playing the earlier titles on your platform of choice.
If you have more questions about the update, check out IO Interactive’s FAQ.