IO Interactive’s upcoming Hitman 3 is right around the corner, with players excited to jump into the new levels and track down every cinematic or simple way to eliminate Agent 47’s target. However, before getting too gung-ho about jumping into Hitman 3‘s Dubai level, players should think about how extensively perfect they want their initial run through each mission to play out.
One specific approach to consider is the practice of Save Scumming, something that plenty of players have already done in previous Hitman titles, or almost any stealth game. While it’s completely up to players how they want their experience to go, there’s a case for letting at least an initial run of Hitman 3‘s new missions move more organically and figure things out as they go.
To be clear from the start, the term “Save Scumming” isn’t inherently negative, even if the exact wording makes it sound more like an insult than a neutral description of gameplay. The reason for the name and any negativity associated with it actually comes from the roguelike fandom, because it was originally used to describe people who would reload save states to avoid the genre’s permadeath. However, now the term is often used to describe players who reload saves to compare every dialogue option in Skyrim, or guarantee making it through a mission with all characters surviving in XCOM.
In the cases of cheating, the practice itself is looked down upon by most players who regularly use it, but it’s really a game-by-game basis that determines if it undermines the intended experience. While repeatedly reloading in XCOM or creating save states in Binding of Isaac absolutely does defeat the purpose of the game’s systems, more narrative driven titles are a bit more nuanced. So, to see if Save Scumming is proper for the missions in Hitman 3, players may want to look at the type of experience that IO Interactive has crafted for players to push through.
When looking at this most recent Hitman series specifically, starting from the first in the World of Assassination trilogy, the goal of these games is to place players on large, open maps that move organically around the player. There are entire scenarios that play out whether Agent 47 interacts with the world around him or not, and others that only happen when the player starts messing around with characters and their schedules. Much of IO Interactive’s design is built around exploring the world, with games like the upcoming Hitman 3 rewarding curiosity over laying out a plan that players have to hit beat-for-beat.
This does mean that repeatedly reloading saves in order to try perfectly hitting every mark really isn’t the way to go on an initial run through each mission in any of these games. There’s a place for the practice at times, but heading into an assassination contract in Hitman 3 for the first time should really be done with minimal exploitation of the saving system. In fact, sometimes mistakes can be exactly what the player needs in order to arrive at the outcome that was best for them in the first place.
One important thing to remember about the Hitman series is that getting caught doesn’t automatically end the mission or restart the player at their last save or checkpoint. Players are given the option to evade capture through a number of methods, such as running out of trespassing zones, changing disguises, or fighting their way out in a hail of gunfire. There is a reason why Agent 47 is given a wide and sometimes comical array of weapons in Hitman, and those moments where the player gets to use them might be a better first experience.
It’s entirely possible that a botched sniper shot can lead to the guards getting put on high alert, so now players need to test whether or not they can think on their feet and get out of the situation they’ve stumbled into. The list of mistakes that can occur from misfires or improper timing is endless, which can help give players a completely unique experience with the game if they lean into poor decisions and execution. As a result, this becomes one of many ways that Hitman 3 can be so immersive, by making every attempt at an assassination feel completely different from player to player.
Of course, the decision to try going for perfect kills by manipulating the save system instead of rolling with mistakes and dealing with consequences is completely up to the player. Once a player has payed $60 for the game, it’s the player’s choice that determines how they will play, regardless of what the developer may have originally had in mind. So, if that means reloading saves until they land those perfect kills in order to see all of Hitman 3‘s content, then there’s no shame in a player knowing how they would best enjoy the game.
The conversation around the practice is still murky thanks to the tone of the term “Save Scumming” and its origins as an insult to players sidestepping the ordinary rules of roguelike titles. As for Hitman 3, the feature is there, and some special challenges and events that limit the function so that it can’t be exploited beyond the intention of the developer. In fact, as players continue to dive into the design concepts of the series, repeatedly reloading saves might actually be a necessity in order to hunt down achievements.
With Hitman 3 including a Platinum Trophy for the first time in the trilogy, on top of the unlockable equipment for completing challenges, the new game incentivizes replaying missions. In some of these cases, players are going to have to replay certain missions over and over again, with very specific goals in mind every time they jump into the game. For these situations, reloading saves might be the only way to get through hunting down achievements without hair tearing, or expecting players to be able to perfectly land every step of every convoluted assassination attempt.
While there are some missions that players won’t be able to use the saving feature with for some of these challenges, many of them almost incentivize players to keep a long list of previous saves to return to. So, there really is no reason to not use Hitman 3‘s own features to get the most out of the game, but players should maybe keep things reasonable on their first few attempts.
Hitman 3 is set to release on January 20th for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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