Our review of Hitman World of Assassination (aka Hitman 3), developed by IO Interactive. Available now for PSVR2 (reviewed), PS5, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, Stadia, Windows, Meta Quest.
WHAT IS IT?
A long-overdue virtual reality conversion for beloved stealth title Hitman 3.
IS IT GOOD?
It is destined to become a PSVR2 mainstay and showpiece.
WHO SHOULD PLAY IT?
Jason Statham, Telly Stavalas, Patrick Stewart.
CODENAME 47
Hitman represents that rare example of a series which only gets better with each new release. While we have a soft spot for, say, the PS2-era Blood Money, there’s little question that increased technological capabilities, combined with IO Interactive’s finely-honed knack for level design – the product of some twenty-five(!) years of making these games – means that the modern Hitman trilogy now represents the best assassination simulators outside Assassin’s Creed.
IO’s latest, Hitman 3, has been wowing gamers with its six impeccably designed missions since 2021, ranging from its breathtaking Dubai-set opening through its dramatic jungle finale. In 2023, IO made available all previous missions from both the 2016 Hitman reboot and its highly-regarded 2018 successor Hitman 2, rebranding the whole package Hitman World of Assassination and gifting players a massive playground to explore.
It’s now 2025, and IO has delivered something we didn’t even know we wanted until we got our hands on it: the entire modern Hitman trilogy, in full immersive virtual reality – once again proving that when it comes to PSVR2, the best games are the conversions of existing two-dimensional titles.
Look out, Gran Turismo 7 and Resident Evil Village – you’ve got company.
SILENT ASSASSIN
Two awful cinematic adaptations and the best efforts of IOI aside, the Hitman series has never really been about its story. Each iteration, from the original 2000 Windows-exclusive Codename 47 through the current “live service” World of Assassination, has attempted, if not exactly valiantly, to get players invested in its Discount 007 universe of convoluted acronyms and double/triple/quadruple betrayals, even as its charisma vacuum of a lead character has resisted all attempts to give this series any semblance of personality.
And that’s fine. Agent 47 (we’re never treated to his real name) is, and will always be, the perfect cipher, a blank-slate puppet designed only to act out the player’s commands. More so than ever, Hitman VR is an excuse to amble around IOI’s ever-expanding virtual playground in which the end-goal (the “contract”) is never as interesting as the way you get there.
Since at least 2016’s Hitman reboot, when the game dialled down the number of missions but dramatically expanded the options available in each mission, Hitman has become the very definition of sandbox gaming. Sure, you could just run in, guns-a-blazing, and take out that drug lord or corrupt politician. But what’s the fun in that, when there are cocktails to poison, elaborate Rube Goldberg contraptions to trigger, or comically ironic set-ups to seal the deal? All encouraged, of course, by Hitman’s amusing “Challenges”, which suggest increasingly novel ways to end your target.
Popular consensus is that Hitman 3 was already the best of the series, even before the World of Assassination update added in the other modern Hitman missions for free. Now, with its new PSVR2 update, World of Assassination has quickly become one of our favourite PSVR2 titles, and probably the best stealth game on any virtual reality contraption.
CONTRACTS
Hitman VR has a keen sense for what works well in the VR space, largely avoiding those problems present in lazier conversions.
To begin with, the world has been reworked to allow for far more interactivity. There are the simple things – doors must be opened manually, push buttons require you to, well, push buttons – but also the more interesting ones, like dragging a body out of sight, or leaning against a wall and peering around a corner to eavesdrop. You can also throw, like, pretty much anything, ranging from firearms (hopefully only after you’ve run out of bullets) to whatever random objects are at hand.
The immersive feel of Hitman VR extends to the way Agent 47 – as in, you – move through the world. A clear standout from the original Hitman 3 was its very first, Dubai-set mission in the vertigo-inducing heights of the “Burj Al-Ghazali”, a lightly fictionalized version of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. Would-be Tom Cruises will be delighted to hear that Hitman’s “On Top of the World” is now even better in VR, though it may induce anxiety in those less VR-familiar (or more acrophobic).
At the opposite end of things, it also feels very cool to simply work your way slowly through a crowd, blending in as you sneak up on an unsuspecting foe. (Unfortunately, for not entirely clear reasons, the actual “blend-in” function, required for certain semi-scripted situations, forces you into third-person, one of the few immersion-breaking aspects of this otherwise consistent VR conversion.)
The conversion is, like any, not without its imperfections. Agent 47’s hand movements are not 1:1 accurate, and it can sometimes feel awkward to aim your weapons. Certain objects which appear like they should be interactive turn out to be background decor, leftover from the 2D version. The graphics, which were never really meant to be seen up close, are by definition less impressive than on your HDTV, but that’s to be expected.
Like any solid VR conversion, the real question for most players will not be why should I play this, but rather why should I play this again, having already triumphed over the original World of Assassination and its many bonus missions doled out over the years. The answer, much like Gran Turismo VR before it, is that this new perspective results in a fundamentally different game.
Hitman on your big fat widescreen HDTV is phenomenal. Hitman where you’re the Hitman yourself? It’s a whole other world.
Don’t look down.
***
Final score: 9/10 inexplicably muscular, bald-headed bartenders carrying around suspicious-looking packages.
Visit the official website for Hitman World of Assassination here.
