In this guide I will go over the game's various DLCs, what they are, and what you should purchase. I'll also go over the various bundles and what they add. This will be riddled with opinions, but I do own everything myself, so I argue I'm at least a bit qualified to yap.

If you haven't bought the game yet. You'll be greeted with the following overwhelming list on the store page.



This entire thing, while mostly accurate, is not easy to read, and has some vague terminology. Let's start with that. Upgrading to a higher tier later is possible, and I will get into that as well.

Free Starter Pack is effectively the demo. Only gives you access to the first few missions of Hitman 1 and any seasonal content. I think this for example includes for example the Santa Claus mission in Paris, but it's hard to get any verification on what this is. Whatever though, you're probably in this guide because you're planning to spend, so let's move on to the actual editions.

Part One only gives access to all maps from Hitman 1, the Patient Zero campaign and '3 Deluxe Escalations'. So this isn't actually Hitman 3. It's just Hitman 1 on the Hitman 3 engine so you can play all three games in sequence. I do still recommend this one if you're fully new to the franchise anyways and want to try the first game first. The three deluxe escalations in question are: The Cheveyo Calibration, The Corky Commotion and The Dexter Discordance. Also Steam says this version has VR support, but in this list it specifies that this edition doesn't have the VR missions. So I don't know what's up with that, but if you were coming here specifically for the VR, I wouldn't get this edition.

Standard Edition is the first place you should check if you want to actually play Hitman 3. It comes with everything that Part One has, so Hitman 1 content, Patient Zero campaign and the 3 Deluxe Escalations. It gives access to all Hitman 2 and 3's maps, as well as access to the VR missions and the Freelancer gamemode. Standard Edition is the most straightforward edition and also is the one that has the 60 euro pricetag. If you're here to enjoy the full franchise, but are not planning on doing anything more than just playing the story missions, this is the edition for you.

Deluxe Edition is where things become messy. First off it gives you access to the two bonus maps New York and Haven Island. It gives access to the full 7 Deadly Sins campaign, which is very hit or miss for most people. The suits you get for it are really cool tho. Then there's 2 packs of special assignments, 6 more Deluxe Escalations and 4 items and suit packs. Those last three sound like a lot, but are just the contents of the Hitman 2 Access Pack and the Deluxe Pack (more on those in a later section). You can always get this content later through other ways if you initially get the Standard Edition like I did. If you expect to still be playing this game once you've fully played all maps and it story missions, and are looking for more challenges or possibly 100% this game, Deluxe Edition is what you're aiming for.

So TL;DR

• Free Starter Pack: Hitman Demo
  
• Part One: Hitman 1, Patient Zero
  
• Standard Edition: Hitman 1, 2, and 3 + Freelancer and VR, Patient Zero
  
• Deluxe Edition: Hitman 1, 2, and 3, + Freelancer and VR, Patient Zero, Deadly Sins, and a bunch of bonus missions and Suits.

Also you may have seen there's another buy option for the Deluxe bundle. We'll get into that later how that is not a neccesary way to upgrade.

Now this is where you should pay attention if you want to save some money. I'm going over how to upgrade between versions.

Free Starter pack to any other version is simple. It's the free demo, buying any other bundle will do.

Upgrading from Part One to Standard Edition (or higher) is a different story. This stuff has changed since I made this guide originally, so I hope the following info is now correct. To upgrade to the Standard Edition, you should buy it directly from the store page. (I think at this point you basically have to do it this way, and it might be cheaper if you own Part One, but who knows. They changed it and it's VAGUE.) PLEASE MIND TO NOT BUY THE HITMAN 2 ACCESS PASS EXPECTING TO GET HITMAN 2. That thing is something else completely, and also not part of Standard Edition by default.

To upgrade further beyond, you can just buy the Deluxe Pack bundle and you would have what the Deluxe Edition would have normally. However, you can just buy these individually if it so pleases you. If you want to know exactly what these three DLCs contain, like the super confusing Hitman 2 Access Pass, I'll go over it below as I disect each DLC. With the Deluxe upgrade you also still don't own all the DLC, because things like the Elusive Target DLCS are still sold seperately.

That's simply it for upgrading editions. It's time to get into the real meat of this guide and look at what the DLCs have to offer in detail. This won't go over any DLC containing just the maps for any of the three Hitman. That's just content, I'm focussing on everything else.

The Hitman 2 Expansion Pass is the most confusing of the DLCs and it's the one people have misbought the most.

This DLC does NOT add the missions from Hitman 2, these need to be bought together with the Hitman 3 missions in the Upgrade Pack. You cannot buy 2 and 3 seperate, those you buy in one go.

Then what is this DLC? This DLC is the original expansion pass for Hitman 2 and adds that content to this version of Hitman 3. This DLC contains:

• Two DLC maps from Hitman 2 and their respective missions: New York and Haven Island
  
• Two Sniper Assassin Maps: Hantu Port and Siberia
  
• Special Assignments Packs 1 & 2, containing the following missions: Embrace of the Serpent (Santa Fortuna), Illusions of Grandeur (Mumbai), A Silver Tongue (Miami), and A Bitter Pill (Whittleton Creek).
  
• Tools: ICA19 Black Lilly, ICA Executive Briefcase, Remote Concussion Collectors Rubber Duck. Quickdraw, Snowball, Piton, Arctic Tool Box, ICA Flash Phone, and IO Elite S2VP Earphones.
  
• Suits: Midnight Black Suit, Winter Sports Suit, and Smart Casual Suit.

The Deluxe pack is pretty straightforward and as cookie cutter as deluxe packs for games go. This DLC contains.

• Deluxe Escalation Contracts: The Asmodeus Waltz, The Percival Passage, The Satu Mare Delirium, The Lee Hong Derivation, The Gauchito Antiquity, and The Proloff Parable.
  
• Deluxe Suits and Items, which all need to be unlocked by playing their respective Escalation Contracts.
  
• Digital Soundtrack
  
• Digital “World of HITMAN” Book
  
• Director Commentary (Mission Introduction)

The soundtrack and book need to be claimed somewhere through IOI login services, and I don't have the slightest clue at where the director commentary is hidden. I personally never bothered to look for it.

7 Deadly Sins are seven escalations that chronologically take place between the last and second to last mission of Hitman 3. It has a collection of six cool suits, and one cool suit with a stupid cape. Every escalation also reward some cool themed tools to use in future missions.

The real downer of the DLC are the escalations themselves. The only positive thing I can call them is experimental. They're very different from the rest of the game, each with their own gimmick. I think they're worse cause they're all quite lengthy and are escalations, they would've probably been loads better if they were regular missions instead and you could save.

Personally, I think Greed and Pride are decent missions. Sloth, Lust, and Gluttony are weird, and probably hit or miss depending on your playstyle. Envy is very gimmicky, and is basically just Hitman 2's Ghost Mode with a bot, and Wrath is just weird and maybe Hitman's worst mission to date. But hey, cool suits.

Also, I don't know if you can get this with just the Part One edition of the game, as it takes place on Hitman 3 maps. Verification would be nice.

Sarajevo Six is just missions tied together by the same story. It's neat. The missions are fine. It's nothing as wild as the Patient Zero campaign was, but I had a good time with it. Get it if you're hungry for more content. They all take place on Hitman 1 maps, so you should be able to get this with the Part One edition of the game. (Don't have verification of that though, but it seems likely to me.)

The Undying, The Disruptor, The Drop, and The Splitter are four Elusive Targets made permanent Arcade options, plus a bunch of cosmetics and each with a new look for your Freelancer base. I'll be honest, I've yet to play them. From what I can tell is that they're just Elusive Targets with a bigger budget, and that seems like a fine deal to me.

Cosmetics are just cosmetics, if you want them, you'll know by looking at them. I think they're fine.

Again, I don't know if this is accessible for any people that only have the Part One version of this game, due to the Freelancer cosmetics and the fact that all these take place on maps outside of Hitman 1. Verification appreciated.

A quick list of the cosmetics of each pack, as indicated by the store for easy googling:

The Undying:

• The Ephemeral Suit with Eye Patch
  
• Kronstadt Mini Flash Robo XOI-2900
  
• Kronstadt IOI-1998X Surround Earphones
  
• Kronstadt Explosive Pen (Gen 2)
  
• The Oroborous - A three-level Arcade contract featuring The Undying Elusive Target.
  
• Freelancer base cosmetics

The Disruptor:

• The Disruptor Fur Coat
  
• The Disruptor Cane
  
• The Disruptor Kettlebell
  
• The Disruptor Resistance Band
  
• The Ostentatious - A two-level Arcade contract featuring The Disruptor Elusive Target.
  
• Freelancer base cosmetics

The Disruptor is no longer available on the Steam store due to McGregor, to put it very lightly, being a PR disaster. If you wish to obtain this content somehow, try Project Peacock (not sure if they have it now, but maybe in the future), try key resellers now that we're still early, or use "third party options" *wink wink*.

The Drop:

• The Club Boom DJ Suit
  
• The Club Boom 12" Vinyl Sampler
  
• The Club Boom 12" Flight Case
  
• The Red Light Flash Grenade
  
• The Base - A two-level Arcade contract featuring The Drop Elusive Target.
  
• Freelancer base cosmetics

The Splitter

• The Splitter Boxer Suit
  
• The Splitter SMG
  
• The Splitter Kukri Knife
  
• The “Good Quark Vol. 3” VHS Tape
  
• The Replication - A two-level Arcade contract featuring The Splitter Elusive Target
  
• Freelancer base cosmetics

Also, if you dislike the timed lock-out whenever you fail an Elusive Target, you should look into Project Peacock for Hitman 3. Give it a google.

Some suits, pistols and suitcases in Black, White, and Red. That's it. Pistols are just reskins of the original silenced pistol that you get. Here's the full list as displayed in the store page as well:

• Premiere White Suit
  
• Crimson Red Suit
  
• Ultimate Black Suit
  
• ICA19 White Trinity
  
• ICA19 Red Trinity
  
• ICA19 Black Trinity
  
• Premiere White Briefcase
  
• Crimson Red Briefcase
  
• Ultimate Black Briefcase

Despite these packs being called Freelancer packs, any suits and tools can be used in any other mission as well. Also gives a few aestethic options for you base in Freelancer. Mostly does nothing in terms of balance, apart from the Sniper Rifle that comes with the Street Art Pack. It's a reskin of the Sieger, a surpressed Sniper Rifle, which you'd normally have to unlock. It gives a lot more options to some missions having it early. Apart from that, it's fully a cosmetic DLC. I personally like them a lot, but I just like playing "Bald Man Dress-Up and Assassination" simulator.

Just to list what these packs come with for easy googling:

Makeshift Pack:

• The Scrap Poncho Suit
  
• The Makeshift Katana
  
• The Scrap Gun
  
• The Makeshift Scrap Shotgun
  
• The Scrap SMG
  
• The Makeshift Scrap Assault Rifle
  
• The Scrappy Sniper Rifle
  
• Cosmetics for the Freelancer base

Street Art Pack:

• The Graffiti Hoodie Suit
  
• The Concrete Bat
  
• The Concrete Bunny Pistol
  
• The Concrete Shotgun
  
• The Shark SMG
  
• The Concrete Assault Rifle
  
• The Concrete Sniper Rifle
  
• Cosmetics for the Freelancer base

I am also not certain if you can get this with just the Part One edition of this game, as you don't have access to Freelancer mode. But I don't see why you shouldn't have access to the cosmetics in normal missions. Verification would be nice.

Those were many words, me done now, you go be Hitman now.