The Astonishing Berlin Level in 'Hitman 3' Is a Landmark in the Series

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#1

I found Hitman 3 to be an uneven experience, but I cannot lie to you: there’s one level that’s got me excited enough to dive back into it over and over again. Club Hölle is a dance club that’s tucked into the forest outside Berlin in the remains of a nuclear facility, and it’s an aberration of a map. But it’s this singularity, this weirdness among its cohort, that makes it something worth traveling back to over and over again.

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/88aekv/the-astonishing-berlin-level-in-hitman-3-is-a-landmark-in-the-series
#2

This is something I need to explore a bit more, but Berlin feels like a fixed version of Colorado?

(what a weird sentence out of context)

I don’t know if I have the game-design understanding and language to explain my intuition on the matter, but Colorado was a map that felt like it was trying to do a lot of the same things that Berlin is. But navigating it without a disguise is really frustrating, you have very little breathing room. And at least for me, the theming was really unappealing. Being in a hostile environment at all times and just very little in terms of interesting stories made the level a bit of a chore if you aren’t just sniping at the water tower and checking the boxes.

Berlin though feels like it’s doing some similar things, but because you aren’t in an immediate hostile environment at all times, and the theming is “you’re in a john wick club scene” it’s so much more approachable to me. Excited to keep picking away at it, and ESPECIALLY for escalations.

#3

This level is literally the Collateral club scene.

Which is funny, because IOI tried to do the Collateral club scene in Kane & Lynch, but this feels more in tone with it.

Kane & Lynch just used the scene as set dressing, but now the confusion and desperation you hear from the cops/gangsters is used so well in Hitman 3. The best part is hearing the radio check ins being like, “FUCK, where’s Grant? This is bad…”

This whole levels makes you feel like a predator in a way the other levels don’t.

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#4

I loved this level so much. All these guys showing up arrogantly thinking they have the advantage because they have numbers when in reality they’re being stalked by an apex predator is pretty rad. Typing that sentence just made me realize that this level is basically Predator with 47 acting in the title role.

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