Agent 47 is not the deadliest force of nature in Hitman 3. Covid-19 is. Yes, IO Interactive’s deadly sandbox is the latest video game acknowledging the pandemic is infected nearly 100 million people, more than 2 million people killed and life as we know it strengthened.
In the first level of the game, the Dubai series was “On top of the world, ”Says one of your targets, Carl Ingram, perhaps a line indicating that he is clearly not happy to be there. “I bet coronavirus people get more peace of mind than that,” he says.
Okay, for one thing, what a flip, rude remark.
But let’s also take a moment to acknowledge the wide implications of this remark. The people in Hitman 3 should not follow exactly the guidelines that basically every official public health expert on the planet recommends. “On Top of the World” takes place during a function held in a lavish super language with several bars, a sea of high tables and an entire freakin ‘art exhibition. A later level, ‘Apex Predator’, sends Agent 47 to a rave on the outskirts of Berlin.
In both stages you will not see a single mask. No one practices social distance. People gather in tight circles and shuffle to the bars without caring in the world. They plug in tight spaces, shoulder-to-shoulder. Do these people not read the news? Are they all vaccinated? Given how the deployment is going—or not—In the real world, it seems unlikely.
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Hitman 3 is not the only game in which covid-19 exists in the universe. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla contains a series of emails between the meta-character, Layla Hassan, and a concerned family member. “I do not have Covid, no,” Layla wrote. “And I’m well isolated.” You can see this correspondence by communicating with the laptop in the game if you are outside the animus.
Last fall’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 does not explicitly mention covid-19, but a series of environmental instructions in the “School” phase mention working on a ‘new normal’ march for frontline workers and the problems associated with working from home. There is also a wish for good health and safety. Again, no explicit depiction, but the messages sound a lot like the messages around covid-19.
Hitman 3 is not the first game that covid-19 recognizes. I doubt it will be the last.