I agree. They just need to act wisely like EA with the old Battlefield games. I’m sure (I Hope) IOI can be at least as good as EA…
https://web.archive.org/web/20190412235503/http://revive.gg/notice
I can still play BF2142 & 2 on an emulated master because EA are not such dicks.
I’m thankful for the game, however. I could only rant in the beginning, suspecting politics behind the scenes that I have no clue about anyway - if they even exist…
My apologies for my tirades, IOI. I don’t care for social media, this forum being the exception, and I almost lost my wits here as well…
There is so much valuable input on this thread…
I’ll keep my meds dialed in, try to get enough rest, and continue to respect my peers here on the forum. There are many a creative pal amongst the contract crew, a lot whom I call friends.
I appreciate the ability to create contracts on H3 and share them with anyone. It will be the lifeblood of this game long after the 7 deadly sins are over and there is nothing new forthcoming for H3 from IOI.
Someday a new Hitman game will appear. My hopes are that this thread will have some positive effect upon IOI in the construction of their new game. I’m quite sure they are paying attention to this thread…
What I mean is you don’t have a lot of freedom and flexibility compared to bonus levels like ‘A House Built on Sand’ or ‘The Icon’ etc. Vitality will only last so long then it puts restrictions on you doesn’t it?
If day time Dartmoor was a bonus level like those from the 2016 game it would be really cool. Don’t get me wrong I like the 7 Deadly Sins Escalations, but once I’ve played them once I don’t have that urge to rush back to play them like those 2016 bonus levels for example.
Just my opinion obviously 
I feel like the live model and the idea of bonus missions could really help these last two Hitman games paint over some of their mixed elements. For Hitman 2 the main problem was levels like Colombia and Mumbai had three targets all spread out and these levels would be even more well liked if there were bonus missions which took advantage of the base level design but scaled it down to be more manageable. Hitman 3 I personally like all the levels to run around in them but I dont click with any of the targets except for Alexa, a lot of the agents, sometimes Don and then Tamara. Hitman 3 also has less in depth NPC scripting than the first and second games, as well as having a scripted kill count on par with the DLCs for the second game. Not that those were bad levels it’s just scaled down. With more time and resources than before the game came out Bonus Missions could have more detailed routes for civilians and targets, could use the level design in more interesting ways and could redeem levels with nice visuals or geometry but aren’t super interesting to play in the main mission like Chongqing. Another thing is bonus missions in WoA3 locations won’t have the extra cinematic elements the main story has and because of that there’s less of that baggage of telling a story at the expense of something like more starting locations
This could also be used for Hitman 2 locations but I would just like those old locations to get some touch ups like bringing fast forward starts to Hawkes Bay or optional clues for Whittleton. I’d like any bonus missions but the only main mission I don’t really get into playing in the second game is Sgail so I’m not too bent out that we didnt get bonus missions other than it being a shame that the special assignments were bad
woah there, pickle: mumbai is literally the best hitman level ever (at least, imo). nothing to fix.
the level is entirely manageable. the targets can be brought together in a myriad of ways because many of the opportunities are tied into the kashmirian story; depending on your run, every area has a use of some kind; though the level is intentionally designed to seem overwhelming (because of the nature of the mission), the swiss cheese design and verticality connects all the main fortresses. it’s immaculate work.
Mumbai is fun when you learn all the obscure secrets & shortcuts but most other levels are also fun before that point 
That and you have to consider Mumbai is very well known for being a maze of slums and derelict architecture. The locations tend to reflect their real life selves in certains ways. Making Mumbai smaller would not do the level any service.
I came in to the WOA late (around 6 months before H3 launched), so for me, going from the expansive H2 to what seemed like a pretty rushed and lackluster H3 left me a little deflated to start with (that’s on me though; maybe my expectations were too high). As I play H3, I find myself going back to the H1 & H2 levels more than having the willingness to play the H3 levels. They don’t grab me in the same way, except Dartmoor.
My biggest gripes with H3 were:
The lack of mission stories. I know I’m in the minority here, but I loved doing mission stories in H1 & H2, so I felt a little hung out to dry when there was so few mission stories in H3 (and none at all in Berlin). I understand the reasoning for it, but I thought the game lost something when they went with fewer stories (and similarly, fewer challenges).
The lack of updates to contracts mode. I’m not big on replaying the main missions - for me, contracts mode is where the game excels, and is what will keep it going forward years after official support has ended. My only hope for the future of H3 is that they consider making improvements to contracts mode before we reach EOL.
Online only. Broken record time, but online only is a nightmare; mostly down to how bad the servers are. On Xbox I get constant disconnects, sometimes multiple per hour, and I often have to restart the game completely after getting stuck in an infinite connection loop.
The targets. My God they were boring. I only found 2 targets in H3 remotely interesting: Alexa & Tamara. In comparison, there were relatively few targets from H1 & H2 that I didn’t find interesting or unique.
In terms of DLC, I wouldn’t say I’m overly disappointed. Pride and Sloth were pretty good in my opinion, though Greed was awful. I do hope we get more fleshed out DLC going forward, but with the smaller team and less time to work on it, I think the reality is that we continue to get Escalations. Again, I came in late, so to me, the DLC from H2 was just part of the game I bought - H3 is my only experience with actual DLC releases in the Hitman series, so my perspective on it is different to those who have been there since the start.
I’ve put over 750 hours in the WOA trilogy, something which I have never done in a game franchise that isn’t called Halo or Overwatch. I’ve never found a game quite like Hitman and I don’t think I ever will again. My only hope going forward is that IOI give me a reason to keep enjoying the game as much as I have for the past 6 months.
I love that Mumbai is such a marmite level. Personally, the level does nothing for me; I find it overwhelming and claustrophobic and I avoid it at all costs. I can fully understand why people love it so much though.
wholeheartedly agree! that’s what i meant by the ‘nature of the mission’; the top level challenge is to find and identify your target in a labyrinthine location that they know and 47 (you) don’t.
it’s the opening that does most of the legwork, i think. when first booting up mumbai, the player starts in a corridor of traffic. we’re guided towards the open main street where we are presented with a hectic city full of people and an unprecedented number of potential routes:
the leftmost route takes you to the main entrance of the tower and a path around the back of it.
dead ahead seems like one route but closer inspection shows it is five separate ones: a side gate connecting to the main entrance; the entrance to the construction yard at the base of the tower; an alley between the yard and the slums that leads to the beach/dock area; a walkway that gives you access to the rooftops, the top of the crow’s hq and, eventually, the train yard and tailor’s; and finally, two entrances to the slums directly.
on the right, we have multiple entrances to the challs (main entrance, side stairs to the first floor, drain pipe); a guarded walkway that leads over the open air laundry and to the train yard; and an alley leading to an entrance to the laundry, an alley behind the challs, and to the open sewers.
that’s roughly 12 different ways to go from the very start by my reckoning. compare this to, say, paris:
the left most route takes you to a parking lot and the backstage area.
going straight ahead takes you inside to the palais lobby
the right most route takes you to the weird staff-infested buffer zone between the main gate and the party.
obviously, these eventually lead to additional paths through the level (the lobby has around 8ish ways to go), but paris has basically 3 paths directly from the start.
it’s dizzying!
i think it’s meant to feel like that. usually, a hitman level subtly guides the player, either through geographical markers, overheard conversations, hints from diana etc. mumbai drops you in it with little to no help.
i found that refreshing. 
Paris stomps Mumbai into the ground. It’s still the best level in the trilogy by far
Me reading this thread:-
easy there, tiger: i was just comparing the number of routes available at the start. it was to illustrate one of the reasons why people may find mumbai initially overwhelming and something like paris easier to get into.
also? mumbai is the best mission in the entire franchise.
imo, of course .
also also? love your work!
Oh i really like Mumbai, alltho a bit less for contracts. Simply has a lot of areas that aren’t that interesting with that in mind.
I knew someone would reply with that. 
Mumbai is one of my favorites too but it is a common criticism that a lot of people have is that the level is very, very big. And a criticism I have is it’s almost too quick and easy to just use the brick to take out two thirds of the level quickly, which makes watching speedruns of the map super boring since The Maelstrom is one of the most interesting routes and backstories and personalities for a target ever and he’s always taken out in a boring way imo. So more stuff within Mumbai that’s not based off CaG would be cool, I was looking forward to ETs there and a real bonus mission and I guess u could call it fool’s hope but I’m still holding out for it
I dont find the mission stories or challenges a big sticking point for enjoying or not enjoying a level. Like Blood Money had zero of either and was a great game, New York has about the same amount of mission stories as a Hitman 3 level* and that’s a lot of people’s favorite. I also find a lot of targets very engaging, Berlin especially even the boring targets can be made interesting since their AI is dynamic. I think it’s the first mission since Patient Zero where it could be a different outcome each time
But at the same time some design decisions hamper decent targets like Carl Ingram if you start in a different starting location won’t move for minutes at a time because his routine is forwarded by the Sheikh. Dubai in general is such a great level geometry wise but they fucked it up so bad. Hush isn’t all that bad, he’d probably be about as good as Athena if his guard wasn’t the worst. I don’t think he reacts to distractions or guns unless Hush does first. He’s also the wrong kind of target for this part of the level, such a big apartment should’ve had a roamer. I know Royce is more of a roamer but her route isn’t all that big and she’s in a base that’s really out of the way. Even Alexa who is a great target the level is just so easy to SASO because the detective story was forced into it
*For example, if New York was a WoA3 level the banker story and the heist story for example wouldnt be a marked story. My proof of this is the case files in Dartmoor are the same sort of thing and have no stories attached, and the Lawyer story in Mendoza has the same amount of effort put into it as the Banker in order to complete it and it wasn’t worked in as a story in The Farewell
I mean, he’s not a stationary target. He does down a floor, and has 2 triggers to get him out of the apartment.
That’s not really the problem in Dubai, the problem is where both targets start their routes, which hurts the main mission.
Yeah I just think he should’ve patrolled that whole massive area. I think this might be an unpopular opinion but I like those apartments and like the areas of this dingy kitchen so I would’ve liked if he also went around there. He’s got some pretty good lockdowns too for kills. I think that area will probably he used for an ET I think
Thats why China is a good map for contracts
