Easter Eggs You Missed In Hitman 3
Despite their grim subject matter, the Hitman games have always had a sense of humor. Since the series debuted in 2000 with Hitman Codename: 47, the developers have filled all eight full games in the series with absurdist gags, running jokes, and tons of Easter eggs. Knowing this, dedicated players scour every new game to find them and share their results in places like the official Hitman forum. Sometimes, Hitman Easter eggs are so well-hidden they take years to find.
And that Easter egg tradition continues in Hitman 3, the conclusion to IO Interactive's World of Assassination trilogy that released Jan. 20, 2021. Although Hitman 3 is practically brand new, players have already located several hidden treats that are otherwise easy to miss. No doubt more Easter eggs will be discovered in the coming days, months, and possibly even years. But for now, here are all the Easter eggs you missed in Hitman 3.
Beware of spoilers ahead for Hitman 3.
Potato Jesus
The Hitman series has been around long enough that even the Easter eggs have gotten sequels. Potato Jesus made his return to the Hitman franchise in Hitman 3's Berlin level. The Easter egg is located in a corner of the basement office of Rolf Hirschmüller, the seedy owner of the power-plant-turned-nightclub where the level takes place. Find Hirschmüller's desk and go through the door behind the chair to find a storage area. Turn right and Potato Jesus is in the corner.
Potato Jesus isn't a starchy version of the Son of God, but rather the alternate name for Ecce Homo, the 1930 fresco in a church in Spain that a well-meaning local woman tried to restore and instead destroyed. IO Interactive first hid Potato Jesus inside the "Sapienza" level of 2016's Hitman, and it took players two years to find it. This time, it was located before the game was even officially released.
Dartmoor Is One Big 'Knives Out' Reference
No doubt players who have seen the 2019 Rian Johnson whodunit Knives Out recognize many of the film's elements in Hitman 3's second level, Dartmoor. Both the movie and the game are set in a country mansion where a wealthy family who run a publishing empire. Both involve the suspicious death of a family member, and both follow an eccentric detective who arrives to investigate. Except in Hitman 3's case, the Carlisle family are also part of a shadowy clandestine organization called Providence. And 47 can overpower the detective, impersonate him, and murder the family matriarch. Or, optionally solve the first murder, and then murder Alexa Carlisle.
The level recreates details from Knives Out both big and small. The Carlisle family members are British analogues of the Twombly family from the film. The game also includes a ball on the lawn of Thornbridge Manor, mirroring the ball that plays a crucial plot point in the film.
Hopefully IO will keep making Hitman levels inspired by movies. Maybe Bridges of Madison County?
The "Countdown to 47" Secret Ending
This Easter egg can be unlocked in the game's final mission, right after the cutscene when Agent 47 confronts the Constant in his train car. The game concludes when 47 finishes off the Constant, but instead of killing him, wait exactly 47 seconds. The game will give you the option to pick up the nearby syringe and inject yourself.
The syringe contains a brainwashing serum, and taking it would return 47 to the state in which he began his career as an ICA assassin. By accepting the Constant's serum, 47 would return to his blank-slate self, giving up his freedom. After taking the serum, 47 wakes up on a hospital stretcher in an unknown medical facility, with the implication that his memory is wiped clean. The shot also mirrors one of the memorable final shots in Hitman: Blood Money with Agent 47 in a coffin, making the "Countdown to 47" ending the second of 47's known metaphorical deaths.
This bleak alternate ending is both an Easter egg and a redacted mission challenge, so completing it will help towards fulfilling the Carpathian Mountains Mastery Level.
Freedom Fighters Arcade Game
Hitman 3 contains a reference to Freedom Fighters, one of IO Interactive's rare games that didn't involve Agent 47. The Easter egg is in the third mission set in Berlin. It's inside the biker meth lab, which is to the rear of the power plant that's been turned into a rave club, because this is a Hitman game.
Inside the meth lab's break room is an arcade game for one of IO's classic titles: Freedom Fighters, which was released in 2003 on Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube, and PC — but not on any arcade machines. It was a squad-based third person guerilla warfare simulator about a group of Americans holding out against a fictional Soviet invasion.
Since 2003, IO Interactive has focused on the Hitman series, plus two Kane & Lynch titles. However, fans who want more from the Danish developer and publisher may be looking forward to IO's first non-Hitman title since 2010, Project 007.
Multiple References to the Lee Hong Assassination
The Chongqing level has two homages to the assassination of Lee Hong, which are both visible as blue neon signs above the streets. The first reads, "Lee Hong Pawn Shop." The second says, "Blue Lotus Jewelry."
The pawn shop's name references a sequence of four assassination missions set in Kowloon that culminated with the killing of Lee Hong, leader of the Red Dragon Triad. Meanwhile, the "Blue Lotus" title is reference to the Blue Lotus Triad, the Red Dragons' rival whom 47 manipulated into a war with each other.
There are several elements in Hitman 3 which pay tributes to past games in the series. For instance, the Dartmoor level is both a Knives Out homage as well as an echo of the Beldingford Manor mission in Hitman: Contracts. These two Easter eggs are another way that Hitman 3 calls back to the franchise's history.
Allan Please Add Details
One sign of a great sense of humor is the ability to laugh at yourself, and IO Interactive definitely does that. This Easter egg is a true deep cut for IO Interactive fans, and it's another one that has made multiple appearances in Hitman games. In the game's first mission, Dubai, there's a white board inside a break room with multiple post-it note reminders to "Talk to Allan for details!"
This is a reference to a mistake first made in 2008's Hitman: Blood Money, when a designer forgot to replace temporary copy left in the game, leaving the item description for one of 47's holsters that read, "Allan please add details." IO Interactive later made fun of that mistake by intentionally including it as an Easter egg in 2012's Hitman: Absolution. This is such a favorite Easter egg that fans were already asking for it to be in Hitman 3 months before it came out.
Type "47" Into Any Keypad
This Easter Egg is short and sweet. Simply type the number "47" into any of the game's keypads exactly as shown, then hit "Enter." It won't unlock the keypad, but it will prompt 47 to say "Perfect." And that's all there is to it.
Hitman 3 is littered with doors and safes that can be unlocked with keypads. The Dubai level has two safes containing Evacuation keycards that 47 can use to lure his targets into one spot for a dual assassination. The Dartmoor level has another safe inside Alexa Carlisle's office on the 3rd floor, which can be opened by pushing a button on her armchair. Another safe can be found inside Hirschmuller's basement office in the Berlin level. But this Easter egg should work on any keypad in the game, and it can be repeated as many times as necessary.
Clearly 47 is easily amused, but when your name is just a number, you'll probably take amusement wherever you can get it.
Make Britain Great Again
This Easter egg can be found in the game's second level, and it shows exactly how deep the parallels with Knives Out truly go. Locate Gregory Carlisle sitting in front of the fire reading a newspaper. Use the camera to zoom in on the newspaper's headline, which reads, "Making Britain Great Again! Tudor Festival is a roaring success!"
In Knives Out, eldest son Richard Twombly openly supports President Donald Trump. In the game level, eldest son Gregory Carlisle is holding the newspaper. The Dartmoor level takes place in England, so it would be odd for him to support an American president. But the newspaper's headline gives an idea of Gregory's political leanings and how they may line up with Richard's.
In this case, the "Tudor festival" is a reference to the Tudor period of English history, which was ruled at its height by Henry VIII. This could be the game's way of comparing Henry VIII to the 45th President. Then again, maybe Gregory Carlisle just likes to read conservative newspapers.
No Admittance Except on Party Business
This Easter egg is located in the Mendoza level, at the entrance to Don Archibald Yates's palatial winery and estate, where a party is underway. 47's task is to infiltrate the party and murder Archibald. Near a guard is a sign that says "No Admittance Except on Party Business." This seems like a logical sign to have at a party, but it's actually a word-for-word quote of a similar sign from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. At the beginning of both the novel and the Peter Jackson film, Frodo Baggins hangs that very sign while preparations for Bilbo's 111th birthday party are underway.
The Hitman series is full of pop culture Easter eggs that reference movies, books, and video games. Hitman alone mentions everything from Home Alone to Super Mario Bros. to Breaking Bad. This would seem to be yet another case where Hitman nodded at a popular film. On the other hand, Bilbo Baggins and Don Archibald Yates do wind up disappearing from their own parties, so it kind of fits.