Itâs great to see so many people recognising how amazing Hitman is. We can add MrMatty to those who chose it as his game of the year too. He gives a really good breakdown of why it was his choice.
(The video is time linked to his #1)
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Writing on Games lists this as his #5 best game of 2021.
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Kotaku has Hitman 3 as one of their 12 (unranked) Games of the Year:
Edge Magazine puts it at 7 of their Top 10:
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One common theme is that so many critic reviews specifically mention the detective mission story as a highlight.
Quite the Return on Investment from such a small and creative detail added to the usual gameplay that got a lot of attention from the general public.
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Or they are all reading from a script 
Seriously though, itâs nice to see Hitman getting so much love from the end of year lists.
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The detective mode (heh) was a very big part of playing Dartmoor, especially first time round. Iâd argue itâs what makes Dartmoor so appealing.
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I like it bc it follows my own little rule of anything once. I like stuff like that as long as it doesnât become the standard. Having one or two levels per game with something unique is fine, especially the way Hitman does it. Iâd even accept a level where the client requires a certain kind of kill. Although I would hope they would do that on a recycled map so as to not waste a new map. I guess we kinda had that with Vector, which was enjoyable but would quickly grow old so no need to do it again anytime soon.
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I canât stand it when people say the HITMAN 3 detective story (or other murder mystery stuff in general) is inspired by the 2019 movie Knives Out. Okay I guess Agatha Christie just doesnât exist then. I kid you not, I heard someone say this about the new film adaptation of Christieâs Death on the Nile the other day. Ah yes, of course, a novel originally published in 1937 was inspired by - checks notes - 2019âs Knives Out.
(I realise this is slightly unrelated from the topic at hand, but I had to mention it!)
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Hitman 3 has been nominated in âBest Technologyâ category at GDCA22. Congrats ! 
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Halo Infinite (343 Industries / Xbox Game Studios)
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Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios)
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Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
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Returnal (Housemarque / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
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Hitman 3 (IO Interactive)
Honorable Mentions: Battlefield 2042 (EA DICE / Electronic Arts), Resident Evil Village (Capcom)
The ceremony will be held on March 23, 2022. I hope HITMAN 3 Year 2 will bring even more interesting features before this global event.
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I liked the write up for choice by EGM of Hitman #3 in 5th position in GOTY standings:
2021 was full of improbable game releases, but Hitman 3 is near the top of that list.
Look at everything that had to happen for it to even come into existence. Following a controversial, episodic release model for 2016âs Hitman and a lack of initial sales, Square Enix dropped developer IO Interactive in 2017 while the studio was in the middle of making Hitman 2 . So not only did IO need to retain the rights to the series, but it also needed to find the money to continue making games for a âWorld of Assassinationâ trilogy that hadnât even gotten to the second chapter yet.
When something like this happens, itâs usually a death knell for a series. Either the series simply gets lost in intellectual-property-rights purgatory, or a new developer starts working on the series and canât quite capture the magic of the original vision.
Yet, thereâs something special about the Hitman series and its developer, some magic that transcends the bottom line. One of the reasons that IO was able to retain the rights is because Square Enix CEO and president Yosuke Matsuda, a noted fan of the series, believed that it âwouldnât be Hitman unless it was Hitman made by IO,â and that letting IO keep the franchise âwas the best way for the game to continue.â The sentiment that itâs better to just let go of a valuable IP because the IP itself will be better for it is not something I can ever recall hearing from a CEO or president, like, ever.
But what is the secret formula that makes Hitman so beloved? It could be the intricate level design and complex, interlocking gameplay systems that make a video game feel like a Westworld-esque theme park. It could be an art style that both fetishizes and satirizes the hedonism and inequity of late capitalism. It could be the protagonist, whose steely blankness teeters between self-parody and undeniable coolness.
Whatever that formula is, itâs on full display in Hitman 3 , but this entry is in many ways its most daring and creative. One of the levels can be played as a murder mystery. Another sets up Agent 47, the perennial predator, as the prey. One of them even places 47âs mostly unseen handler, Diana, as an NPC that walks around the map. Seeing as how Hitman might be taking a long break after this chapter, IOâs developers clearly had a lot of ideas that they didnât want going to waste.
Ironically, itâs the finale that really encapsulates what Hitman 3 is all about. Throwing out everything that makes the series so beloved, it places 47 on a moving train, giving him a linear path to his destiny. Itâs a baffling, seemingly counterintuitive decision to end a series thatâs known for its open-ended design. And somehowâmaybe because itâs so rebellious against the seriesâ expectations and self-imposed rulesâit still works. It shouldnât even exist, and yet it does. What could be a more appropriate note for this series to end on than that?
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Video Game Donsworth had HITMAN 3 on his best of list, all the way up at number 4.
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If it doesnât deserve awards then how come it has so many awards? Checkmate!
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And youâve been nothing but disruptive and negative on these forums. Iâd suggest you calm down on your hatred of H3 and IOI or you wonât be too welcome here anymore.
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This means alot since Dunkey received over 2.2 million views on this youtube video since posted two days ago.
This youtuber has a fixation over Donkey Kong (and Mario), but I am glad that he likes Hitman.
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Which is exactly why I posted it.
I mean they are really good games, I donât play platformers much but even I respect that Mario is the result of a lot of consistent and extremely high development standards.
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DKC 1 & 2 and SMW are the pinnacle of the Platformer genre, just perfect.
In terms of broad appeal to the general masses, Mario and Donkey Kong are king. I remember Donkey Kong in the arcades way back when.
I tend to only play platformers when associated with a rogue-like e.g. (Hollow Knight), or an FPS (TitanFall2).
I donât think I have ever really played a platformer since I was a young kid. Try as I like I could just never get into them
