Hitman fans weren't happy about the decision to remove dual wielding in the most recent trilogy, now known as World of Assassination, but now it's finally coming back—as long as you have a Meta Quest 3 headset, that is. Virtual reality developer XR Games is bringing the feature to a new game in the series called Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded, a "rebuilt from the ground up" game that will be available exclusively on Meta's latest VR headset.
You may recall that Hitman: World of Assassination already supports VR play on Steam. You will also hopefully recall that it turned PC Gamer's own super-assassin Morgan Park into a bumbling doofus brutally (and loudly) beating the hell out of guards and potential witnesses after botching (again) a silent takedown strike.
This, apparently, is at least in part what Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded is intended to address. Along with dual wielding, it promises an overhauled UI "completely redesigned for VR, ensuring intuitive control and navigation," better movement options to enable quick, quiet navigation, and "a new level of realism with interactive environments that respond to every action."
Those are welcome changes. Morgan noted in his assessment of the original VR mode that his patience with all the jank and doofery was powered partly by the fact that it came as a free update to an already-excellent game. But he was also eager for a more immersive, non-clown-show take on Hitman VR, adding, "I hope IOI finds a way to increase the level of detail and clean up its most annoying quirks, because Hitman and VR are an excellent mix."
Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded aims to deliver that experience. "Our teams have worked tirelessly to bring this huge AAA franchise to VR," said Bobby Thandy, CEO of developer XR Games. "We knew the Hitman audience demanded the absolute best VR experience, and only the Meta Quest 3 could power such large environments, dense crowds and emergent sandbox gameplay. With dual-wielding, a stunning new art-style, new features and improvements, we believe Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded will set a new standard for bringing AAA franchises to Meta Quest."
But the announcement hasn't been universally well received. At the time of writing, the trailer on YouTube has received roughly 1,700 dislikes compared to 1,300 likes, with many commenters complaining that IOI is making (although it's actually just licensed it) a new Hitman VR game while the original remains a mess. There's also considerable irritation that it's exclusive to the Quest 3, leaving out a presumably large portion of current Hitman VR players.
Discussion in the Hitman subreddit seems somewhat more measured. There's still plenty of upset to go around, but there's also more of an acknowledgement that this is a licensed game being made by another studio, funded by Meta and completely separate from IOI's own version. "It's a brand new game developed from the ground up, not a mere port," redditor StrangerNo484 wrote. "This doesn't exist if not for Meta, you can be upset about it but [the] game very simply does not exist otherwise."
"This is not actually the same as Hitman: World of Assassination," FlyingBlueCarrot said. "It's a VR game built from [the] ground up by another studio ... It just shares assets with Hitman 3, but it's almost a whole other game." Reflecting Morgan's take on Hitman's original VR trappings they added, "I am too disappointed in [the] state of Hitman VR on PC, but on the other hand it was more of a free gift from IOI."
It's possible that IOI will bring at least some of the improvements in Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded to the original VR release, which should smooth the waters somewhat. Of course, it's also possible the new game will be a catastrophe just like its predecessor, wiping away concerns about it not coming to the existing VR game—or at the very least making everyone equally mad, which I reckon is functionally the same thing. We'll find out soon enough: Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded is set to come out this summer and will set you back $30 (although preorders are currently on sale for $27) on the Meta Store.
