Hitman 3 is a fairly realistic game; so much so, that certain aspects of it would appear to mimic reality – including suicides. A recent discovery by multiple netizens has only stirred up a fair bit of controversy, especially regarding the depiction of self-harming behaviour in the game.
While somewhat unfortunate, it highlights an unsettling trend amongst game developers to push forward realism – at the cost of keeping things in a game, well, fictional. Overall, while this isn’t exactly a deal breaker, it does put into question the ethical and moral consequences of such a move.
NPC commits suicide in Hitman 3, over a job loss
As depicted in an Instagram video, players can very easily find a rather depressed NPC during the events of an in-game event. Spying on the NPC, one can clearly notice the chatter – he has been recently fired from his job, and speaks over the phone to his mother.
Clearly having developed a liking to his job, he is reluctant to leave and goes on to meet his only friend, Vincent. They exchange numbers, and Agent 47 proceeds to kill Vincent from the shadows.
This causes the NPC to spiral into depression, which culminates in their jumping to their death from the roof. This isn’t exactly the first depiction of suicide in Hitman 3, which is quite alarming. For the uninitiated, Hitman 3 features a bunch of suicidal characters, with over 6 variants currently.
The sudden increase in suicide depictions is not merely a coincidence, and is very likely an intended feature – which is in quite poor taste. The scene is bound to leave players in shock, as they try to process the sudden change of events,
Hitman 3, is, after all, a video game based on fantasy (however dark that may be), and having such a visceral depiction no doubt is a reason for such controversy.
A game is based on fantasy, but that doesn’t mean things could go awry
IO Interactive’s games have always been based on fictional settings and characters, but this is a rather strange change of pace for the developer. After all, suicidal depictions are no joke – especially when we take into consideration that those depicted here are quite serious in their nature.
This begs the question – did IO Interactive go too far with Hitman 3? After all, depiction of harmful behaviour is no laughing matter, and these additions seem to take things a bit too far, and are a bit tasteless in nature.
One could say that gamers might find these depictions to be quite graphic in their nature, especially when we take into consideration that gaming is generally viewed as a pastime of sorts, where players jump in to escape reality – one where such a serious depiction has no place, especially in a game such as Hitman.
One could also argue that suicides in Hitman 3 could have been framed better, giving a bit more backstory instead of a one-off line. IO Interactive could at the very least frame a warning and/or disclaimer during the boot of the game, which could help players better mentally prepare themselves.
If anything, this would help avoid any legal complications, while keeping everyone happy. The situation is admittedly a bit of a nothing burger though, but games really should depict certain interactions with more finesse.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
