A rebuilt-for-Quest version of the celebrated stealth-action title Hitman 3 seemed almost too good to be true when we first heard about it earlier this summer. While that version technically exists now with the release of Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded, the Quest 3-native is unfortunately ambling out the gate as such a twitchy and ugly mess that you’re probably better off waiting to see whether developers XR Games can deliver the mechanical stability and visual appeal Hitman fans are most certainly accustomed to.

Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded Details:

Available On: Quest 3
Release Date: September 5th, 2024
Price: $30
Developer: XR Games

Gameplay

Before the initial gameplay trailer dropped last month, it seemed Hitman 3 was getting a stylized overhaul, maybe even offering up a cool comic book-style, cel shaded take on things as some images have suggested. Known for massive levels and tons NPCs, all of which have their own agendas, it seemed almost a forgone conclusion that something had to give in order to scrunch the game down to fit through Quest 3’s mobile chipset. Visuals would predictably need to be rejiggered as a way to make everything work. That’s cool. I’m ready for it.

But it seems a lot more than the game’s realism was sacrificed to port it over to Quest. While Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded is technically playable, much of the charm is sadly lost. Gone are a bulk of the game’s cinematic cutscenes, sumptuously detailed interiors, and the moody and expressive lighting. At least at launch, in its place are muddy textures, popping geometry, and blocky copy-paste NPCs—all of it smothered in flat and lifeless lighting that makes everything feel woefully under-baked. I would typically reserve that sort of critique for the Immersion section, but it’s so glaringly bad that it actively detracts from gameplay.

Nearly every mission suffers just as badly as the one seen above, which ought to have been a particularly epic reveal for the beginning of the game where you take on your first real mission in the Burj Khalifa-style skyscraper in Dubai.

One of the main issues (besides just plain looking bad) is the hindrance to object permanence. We’re constantly building mental maps of places and things within them, but if you can’t trust your own eyeballs in VR, what can you trust? Oftentimes I’d run up stairs in a panic, bolting from guards while searching for a hiding spot, only to be greeted with a sea of either blurry or popping textures, and a crowd of NPCs that hadn’t been there a moment before.

The studio says we’ll be getting a ‘Day 4’ update coming on September 9th which addresses the myriad of graphical issues identified by the studio itself, such as popping, texture quality, lighting, game stability when rendering large crowds—the works; not something you want to hear on launch day, or in a launch day review, no doubt.

Six of the same NPCs having a chat | Image captured by Road to VR

In all, it definitely feels like the glitchy and ugly visuals sours the underlying game, which I know from having played on flatscreen can be a thrilling and brain-scratching experience at the best of times, which easily entices the user to replay missions just so you can solve the big moving puzzle in fun and interesting ways.

That can be true with the VR version too, although the poor stability and general jitteriness of every interaction left me feeling more disassociated than wowed at the possibility of sneaking up behind an unsuspecting security guard and choking him out.

Image captured by Road to VR

You can technically do that by grabbing a dude with your own two hands (cool), although many actions are abstracted with ‘Press A to Interact’ instead of, you know, just interacting—a clear holdover from the flatscreen game that makes it feel more like a direct port than a game rebuilt from the ground up for VR. Climbing up a ladder, opening a door, picking up a body—all of them are ‘Press A to Interact’ moments.

I made it through multiple missions, but was so frustrated by the end of them that I never gravitated towards my usual tradition of replaying missions to get Silent Assassin. By the end, I just wanted to play something that wasn’t a blurry, muddy, unpredictable mess.

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Immersion

While I’ve played Hitman 3 on flatscreen before, I never jumped into previous VR versions, which are offered as free DLC to HITMAN World of Assassination on both Steam and PS5. Since Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded is a standalone game exclusive to Quest—and you don’t have the flatscreen counterpart to fall back on if for some reason you’re not vibing with VR—it has to stand on its own two legs if it hopes to appeal to Quest users.

In short, if this is your first experience with Hitman, please (please) wait until you hear No Man’s Sky levels of glowing praise before jumping in. Some of its VR-native design shines through, although not nearly enough to make me want to recommend this over the flatscreen game given the state of things.

It’s a shame, because some fairly good VR stuff has made it through, such as a smartwatch with mission map and two hot slots for most-used inventory items for quick and easy holstering and re-holstering. Pulling out and tossing a coin to distract a guard is as effortless as taking it from your own pocket, which is basically ideal.

Image captured by Road to VR

Still, the game borrows a fair amount of stuff from the flatscreen version, including a bevy of 2D menu selection screens and 2D-style inventory selection, as well as automatic gun reload animations that just feels so out of sync with a game that’s meant to be a more immersive version. Shooting non-scoped weapons is mostly a natural experience, however I feel bullets fly very slowly.

And although understandable from a performance standpoint, sniper scopes don’t work as you’d expect. Raising a scoped rifle to your eye enters you into a gamey full-screen sniping mode that feels ripped straight from the flatscreen version.

But then, as I mentioned above, things popping in and out of view are a constant, with even very small levels suffering from this.

 

And yet, on the Horizon Store page you’ll find some rather smooth and snappy headlining images which were likely very carefully vetted to put the best foot forward. Still, the game simply does not consistently look this good right now.

Image courtesy XR Games

And the thing is, after playing on Quest 3, I’m not sure it ever will. Hitman 3 might have never been a good choice on current standalone hardware, as the massive simulation needs rock solid stability at its foundation, which it’s sorely lacking.

I wish the studio well in further refining the game and pushing visuals as far as they can, but it’s safe to say we’re still multiple updates away from reaching a minimum acceptable quality.

Comfort

Most of the standard comfort options are available on Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded, making it a very comfortable experience overall. As most levels are on single planes and don’t have an expectation of forced artificial locomotion, like with a minecart ride or something of that nature, VR novices and experts alike should be able to play without any issue.

‘Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded’ Comfort Settings – September 5th, 2024

Turning
Artificial turning
Snap-turn
Quick-turn
Smooth-turn
Movement
Artificial movement
Teleport-move
Dash-move
Smooth-move
Blinders
Head-based
Controller-based
Swappable movement hand
Posture
Standing mode
Seated mode
Artificial crouch
Real crouch
Accessibility
Subtitles
Languages
English, French, Italian, German, Spanish (Spain) Russian, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Traditional Chinese
Dialogue audio
Languages English
Adjustable difficulty
Two hands required
Real crouch required
Hearing required
Adjustable player height
REVIEW OVERVIEW
Overall
3
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Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Yeshaya

    Ouch. "if at first you don't succeed, fail 2 more times" is apparently the rule for Hitman in VR. Maybe they'll try for Blood Money next, seems to be more graphically reachable. Though this does make me a little nervous about Arkham Shadow if this big-name built for Quest 3 game can't produce a good-looking game. Apples and oranges to a large extent I know, but still waiting to see what Q3 can really do when not fettered to Q2-version builds as well.

    • ViRGiN

      This is a Quest 3 exclusive.

    • polysix

      Mate Quest 3 is total shit as well (check batman) and this is for Q3. Just accept that's what standalone, (also killing VR with CRAP LCD) is and let it die. Go to PSVR2 on PS5 for proper AAA VR with stunning graphics. Support Sony NOW before all we end up with is META churning out 20 year old looking games year after year to sell to fanboys who have no standards.

      • ViRGiN

        Grab Turismo and resident evil are 20 year old games, butthead

        • kakek

          Wich ones ? The first ones ? Yeah, but those are not the ones we played in VR.

      • NL_VR

        Lol do we have a Sony troll now

      • Andrey

        I understand that you are a troll and for some unknown reason you are trying to trigger people, but still – let's make a bet! There is a rumor (though a very solid one) that next week Sony will announce PS5 Pro and the week or two after there will be another State of Play or similar event where Sony will announce new games, especially for more powerful version of PS5. If it's not the time to announce some new juicy PSVR2 exclusives that will unleash the whole potential of both PSVR2 and PS5 Pro – then there won't be such time anymore.

        Looking forward to see you in the comments under some PSVR2 games enhancements specifically for PS5 Pro to discuss the fact that there won't be new first-party announcements for PSVR2 from Sony!

        • ViRGiN

          I'm betting he is not a troll – he is the kind of nerd to not know the game is running in high resolution and high frame rate until overlay/benchmarks tell him it does so. There is surplus of r-tarded PC/PCVR elitists, and he is one of them.

          Just look at Pimax reddit. These nerds think they are on the forefront of computing. Even this comment section had one nerd bringing up UEVR as superior option, when this Hitman port plays better than any UEVR game ever will.

          • Mateusz Jakubczyk

            He is not a troll, he is employed and paid by Meta to give meta-haters a bad name. I don't believe that a normal troll would write such bs, it must be set up :D

        • namekuseijin

          PS5 Pro is even more niche hardware that few will buy and mean an even smaller target for psvr 2. PS4 Pro meant nearly nothing for psvr 1. Quit delusions, take your history lessons and smell the coffee…

          • Andrey

            Yeah, right. So "few" will buy it that even in my local market (local in terms of a country) everyone is selling their standard (both "fat" and "slim" versions of) PS5 like RIGHT NOW with a considirable discount. A very "smart" selling decision, especially when the game of the decade – Grand Theft Auto 6 – will come out exclusively on consoles next year too. Surely noone will buy PS5 Pro! Hell, I bet everyone selling their Sony's consoles to buy an Xbox Series X! And why for the love of God Sony even plan to release it?! Couldn't they listen to namekuseijin wise advice, "learn history" after PS4 Pro's "failure" and stop this farce altogether?!

            Oh, also, I am sorry – did I hurt your PSVR2 fanboy's feelings? Too bad! I thought you got used to it after all those time your almighty master did this to you…

          • namekuseijin

            Lol psvr 2 fanboy… the savior of VR that needed old pcvr titles to save itself…

        • jbob4mall

          So, people who already own a ps5 are now going to have to buy a ps5 pro to get their peripheral to work properly?

      • jbob4mall

        Batman looks as good as a ps3 game. That’s good enough. Psvr2 is too expensive for no reason. Should’ve cost way less than quest 1 considering it’s just a piece of plastic with no gaming hardware inside.

  • ViRGiN

    This is what you get for dumbing down games to run on Kwest!!!1
    Oh wait. It was the exact same shit as PCVR exclusive.
    It does bring that famous Flat2VR quality, that according to devs themselves, millions of people enjoy.

    • NotMikeD

      A swing and a miss on this comment; I played some of the PCVR (and even PSVR) version of this game. Its faults are famous, but mostly boil down to unfortunate controls and UI decisions. At least those games LOOKED the part though (after some liberal increase in supersampling resolution). This port looks closer to that abstract low-poly 'Journey of the Gods' Quest game than it does to an actual Hitman title. That's concerning, seeing a Quest 3(!) exclusive look THIS bad this close to the release of Arkham Shadow.

      • ViRGiN

        The game looks shit due to lack of baked lighting. It's so bizarre how they could have skipped that. Almost like they only tried it in engine on a pc.

        but that was clearly visible already in the trailer, meanwhile Batman looks awesome and I'm not worried about it at all.

        • kool

          Hitman has crowds they cut corners to still make it fill populated…

        • namekuseijin

          I mean, all cell-shaded games look washed out with shadows notably absent.

          but tbh, lighting in Hitman IS dynamic. There are no shadows, but I think most lights are not baked and really affect characters going under. Early on you can even swing a few light sources and see the effect…

          that's a very rare sight on Quest

          • ViRGiN

            This game looks like a bad build. It just looks wrong on so many level. The exact same assets with baked lighting would look infinietly better.

      • NL_VR

        You think it looks like this because its quest 3 excklusive? no man the game looks worse than Quest 1 games.

      • namekuseijin

        Journey of the Gods is pretty great btw. But no, Hitman is not abstract lowpoly and Quest 1 would never run it

      • david vincent

        Wasn't Hitman 3 PCVR more or less fixed with mods ?

  • spirr9986

    We all knew it would be a total flop. Its a total shame.

  • polysix

    Y'see the devs are SO desperate to get their VR game on the best selling VR system that they literally give NO F's about the quality or lack of power, it shows a lack of respect to the VR world in general to keep targeting/dumbing down for the quest (I get that this one is even bad for the quest and could look better) but that's the nature of shovelware.

    Now those who focus on PSVR2 exclusives put massive amounts of polish, gameplay and often AAA sheen to the VR games. Not even Batman feels properly AAA on standalone, cos standalone is ridiculously underpowered and holding VR back.

    The sooner Sony become the VR leader (on PC and PS5) the sooner VR will stop making novelty games that hurt VR's image more than the short-lived gold rush helps it.

    • ViRGiN

      Okay Butt-Head

    • NL_VR

      pls god no, not Sony

    • Rob

      Based on what we saw over the last years I dont think Sony will be a VR leader ever. Not in a million years. It looks like sony has given up on making vr games altogether.

      • VR5

        I can see them announcing a port with new content, or a port and a sequel of Astrobot at the next SoP. Use the hype and assets from the flat Astrobot for another VR game.

      • namekuseijin

        everyone has given up on VR

        who wants to deal with these kind of zealots?

        VR will die and we won't even notice it. We're just gonna keep walking with headsets on the face, zombies from a bygone era… probably already happened

    • namekuseijin

      you should go play Stabby. Its true VR nature and infinite gameplay makes it so much better than Hitman… /s

      • ViRGiN

        Candy Smash VR was in top 10 pcvr games yesterday. Pack it up boys.

      • Rjdoesvr

        at least it's actually made for vr

  • Rob

    Oh my God have we ever had a score as bad as 3 from a large software company? I own it at pcvr and psvr1 and happy with it. Altough the controls are suboptimal. The gameplay, gameworld and graphics make it still a good game on pcvr.

    • namekuseijin

      Hahaha I knew this would happen. The enshrining of pcvr Hitman. Maybe it was their plan all along.

      anyway, to people without a beefy PC for that, Quest port is perfectly fine

  • Octogod

    Rumor has it that Meta has stopped QA on games before release with the store change.

    Attack on Titan is near unplayable on Quest 2 (low fps). Burst had pink materials, alongside numerous big gamebreaking glitches. Fracked has numerous bugs in the first level or two. And now this.

    If true, I'd say any consumer confidence for Quest is about to go out the window.

    • NL_VR

      if its true, really bad. vote with you wallet.

      • ViRGiN

        For it to have value, people really need to play the game themselves.
        That means buying the game, and having their own opinion.

        This Hitman game would be nowhere as badly received if it sponsored a bunch of YouTubers to say that it is fun, or possibly the best game ever.

    • Rob

      We all know the quest 3 computIng power cant compete with a game pc. BUT…. If games run poorly on quest 3 that may also say something of the quality of the software. I am not an expert but good optimalization and good computer programming make a lot of difference. Some pc games run bad on a PC no matter what pc you got. I can tell yoh that even my high end game PC of 2300 euros struggles with poor software. Even with sofrware 10 years old. I can tell you that because I experienced it several times. On the other hand many games work great on Nintendo consoles despite Ninttendo consoles usually having poor specs.

      • namekuseijin

        AC Nexus is the kind of miracle you won't see on Quest again. It took a good funding from Meta and 3 years of some legit work to get it up and running as good as it does on Quest 2.

        VR has no budget for this especially as the ROI is basically null after so much effort and so bad receptions and an audience that simply is not there for such broad and impulse buy device.

        So instead we get minimal effort ports by pretty inexperienced indies, like with Grid Legends and Hitman…

      • Gonzax

        If AC Nexus or Batman VR can look as gorgeous as they do, same as other indie games like Red Matter, then there is no excuse for any game to look like that, even less for a known IP like HItman.

        • Octogod

          AC Nexus and Batman VR will lose tens of millions of dollars.

          They're big tentpole releases designed to lure in a dedicated mainstream consumer at a loss. To expect every title to match that quality is to ensure you'll be disappointed, as most don't have Zuck money to burn.

          And I'd wager Batman is the last big loss exclusive we'll see funded by Meta…

    • namekuseijin

      it's a sign that VR market is shrinking and imploding

      a few bigger indies shutting down, there's only monkeboy mini indies now and they bark and bite not only at AAA but also at these sightly bigger VR indies…

      clock is ticking and as you throw crap at all the bigger games that ever dared coming over to VR, flatlanders see how worthless it when not even "VR fans" enjoy it

      VR is dead, killed by hatemen disguised as effusive VR fans…

      • Octogod

        I'm an optimistic VR supporter and have been for a decade. I adore the Quest.

        But I think we're about to watch an implosion of VR studios and all but the smallest solo indies because of these terrible store decisions. Meta is not remembering their lesson from the Gear or Go stores.

        I do not believe this has anything to do with worthless games. There is consistently interesting software releasing, and the 30m+ consoles align with that.

        But if players can't trust those games not to be unplayable, glitch filled messes then they won't buy them, especially now that free apps are everywhere and curation is garbage. And the one place that VR titles made their money was on launch.

        If you're Survios you'll get your game pre-order promoted four months out from launch up top, even when there is less than 90 seconds of gameplay. But if you released this week you won't even be in a banner. Insane. Devs who invested years making content for the ecosystem are being sent to die.

        • namekuseijin

          the 30m+ consoles

          this is a myth. most of that was during covid and metaverse/GTA claims – mostly casual fitness, monkebois, cryptobros got one. probably long broken, sold, buried under tons of dust or sand…

          as for gamers, there's now on Quest a pool of around 10 to 20k regulars buying these games, 100k at best for bigger releases (bit more for those casually buying and then either refunding or dropping)

          the rest are people in free bratverses and some workers or other uses

          I don't think it ever really grew out of 2016 numbers…

          • Octogod

            A Reality Labs employee leaked over 20m headsets in early 2023 for Quest 1, 2, and Pro. Other leaks from Qualcomm place these sales at 25m. You can also view public data, like Meta Horizon app on Google Play with 10m+ downloads.

            That said, you're right on about the audience. How many of these are used weekly or even monthly? 5% maybe. The regulars who spend money are a dedicated minority.

    • VRDeveloper – The real sigma

      Don't give up on Meta Quest, I'm preparing something that will be very impactful for the market, I can't talk at the moment, and I know others who are also working on very cool things, wait until the end of the year.

      • Octogod

        Please share what you're working on when it launches!

  • Rudl Za Vedno

    Another day another wasted VR opportunity. Thank god for UEVR. It's saving grace for us VR enthusiasts in these dark ages.

    • namekuseijin

      yeah, thank praygod for UEVR to give us a small half-baked hint of what VR could be if only it didn't have the most bitching users ever

  • What an absolute disgrace ….
    How tf this even get into the Shoppe …??
    Oh yeah.
    []^ (

    • namekuseijin

      same way as that PS1 ape escaped to fund its own monkeverse

  • xyzs

    And… this is why I don't play standalone VR.
    What the heck is that, are we back in 2001 ?

    • ViRGiN

      Most popular PCVR game is $20 Gorilla Tag. What the heck is that, are we back in 1991?

    • shadow9d9

      Oh, you don't play peak vr then… weird that is because of one bad review of one game.

    • Anonymous

      Are you stupid? Bad games are bad because the dev didn't know what they are doing and has nothing to do with platform.

      Was the Hitman on Steam good because it was PCVR?

    • namekuseijin

      I'd be back in 2001 if I was still living in the basement playing games on a big hot box doubling as heater

  • FullMetal3000

    I'm convinced the majority of vr games will always suck

  • kakek

    Bruh, I swear, the quest 3 has so much untapped potential. I swear it's almost as good as PCVR, barely less powerfull than a 960 based PC, that is barely less powerfull than a 970. Without the ram or CPU.
    But when they make quest 3 exclusive they'll optimise it, so it will be the same. I swear bro.

    But seriously, that's disapointing. I knew quest 3 was never gonna produce even early PCVR graphics, but I still expected better than this. PCVR titles are gonna be limited by their quest 3 root for a while after all, so the XR2Gen2 proving me wrong was my best hope for good VR titles.

    That is, until I renew my rig and can tap into UEVR with decent performances.

    • ViRGiN

      PCVR titles are gonna be limited by their quest 3

      What titles? Noone is developing for PCVR.
      Did Oculus Go stopped PCVR exclusive Onward into a pile of poop?

      • kakek

        What titles ? Here are ones I'm interrested in :

        Alien, metro, escaping wonderland, metal hellsinger VR, behemot, wanderer remake, and arken age.
        All those I will play on PC.

        Batman is the one title I would have been interrested in if it had not been quest exclusive. But on the other hand arken age is PCVR / PSVR2 only. So … I'm fine.

        But yeah, as I said, those will be PCVR titles, but with quest 3 roots. Even if they are ported well, they will not be radically different from the quest base.

        I don't understand your last sentence. And I don't care for onward anyway. I'm not really into military shooters.

      • Rob

        There arent so many new pcvr titles anymore. Thats true. But flight simulator 2024 with vr support releases this fall and is for me personally probably enough to justify buying a gaming pc for.

    • namekuseijin

      barely less powerfull than a 960 based PC

      show us Hitman Master Race VR edition running on that gear to compare

    • jbob4mall

      It’s one game. There are bad looking games on all consoles and pc. Hardware doesn’t magically make a game look good. You need talent and time.

  • ApocalypseShadow

    I knew it the first day they showed gameplay for that split second and commented on it. Downgraded and terrible looking.

    Even the Quest Game Optimizer can't save this. Lol.

  • VR5

    It's unfortunate that out of all the big titles slated for these remaining months of '24 this releases first. Hopefully the other titles can pick up steam again after this downer.

    At least Bulletstorm delayed to the next year/until after the holiday season when the dev understood that their port wasn't up to par.

  • namekuseijin

    seemed almost too good to be true

    don't lie, you hated it at first sight years ago with much better graphics and now your hatred is… RELOADED.

    miraculous PC graphics on a mobile chip would do exactly nothing

    had they actually rebuilt VR interactions maybe would make it score higher, but it's clearly the very same mechanics as before, maybe a bit less as I do seem to remember that blending in as waiter I would be wiping the table, but didn't see this here…

    cellshading looks are fine, they're the same kind used in BotW too, for the same reason: performance on mobile chip

  • FrankB

    Sheesh…people saying Quest 3 is better than a PSVR2 and this game can’t even compete with the PSVR1 version.

    • ViRGiN

      Sheesh… people saying high-end PCVR is a thing and yet it's dominated by $20 Gorilla Tag! Game that would run on Android 4.4.2 10 years ago.

    • Leisure Suit Barry

      Quest 3 is a better headset than PSVR2, obviously stand alone cannot runs games like a PS5, but in terms of the headset, Quest 3 is better.

      • The Rain in Spain’s Therapist

        Absurd. The PSVR2 version of Hitman 3 looks stunning compared to the Quest version, which looks like it was created in Roblox. Quest 3 will never be able to run an open world game worth playing, period.

        • Leisure Suit Barry

          That’s what I said, the Quest 3 cannot run games like PS5

          But it’s a better headset still. If you were choosing between PSVR2 and Quest 3 to play on PC then Quest 3 is the answer.

  • Gonzax

    Well, with some luck Batman VR will save the day

  • Peter vasseur

    This is the garbage you tend to get with standalone. The newest had from meta can’t even push the game as good as a psvr1. If you’re not hooking the hmd up to pc, you better stick to games like beat saber. Because real aaa games won’t run on it without a Real power center.

  • JB1968

    And this is my friends where the standalone Meta Quest route will lead VR gaming. Meta is killing VR gaming industry – thats fact. But I know all the Quest3 worshippers here will have always "bulletproof" arguments their couple of hundreds bucks was smartly spent for Mr. Zuck visions.

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