Hitman 3 developer IO Interactive has revealed that the Knives Out-inspired level wasn’t actually inspired by the 2019 film. The second level in the acclaimed stealth game takes place in a massive mansion with a super dysfunctional family who are mourning the loss of one of their elders. By all accounts, this sounds like the acclaimed murder-mystery movie beat-for-beat, but it wasn’t meant to be.

The level, appropriately called Death in the Family, has been a highlight for many fans. It’s quite different from the usual Hitman level as it allows for much more than executing an assassination. Very early on in the level, players can find a private investigator who has been hired to solve the death of Zachary Carlisle, the brother of the target. Players can hijack the investigation and do their best to solve the mystery, using it falsely accuse characters or even assist others in helping to kill the actual target. It’s very layered and has a lot of variables to it.

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In an interview with Screen Rant, Hitman 3 director Mattias Engström revealed that the Dartmoor-based level was something the team had been wanting to do for quite a while, part of a long list of levels that they have shelved over the years. When they felt they were ready to finally tackle it, the development just happened to align with Rian Johnson’s cinematic whodunnit. “When the first trailers for that movie came out, we were like, ‘Huh, that’s interesting. We’re making that level right now.’ It was weird because I think there was also some Netflix murder mystery movie that came out. So, it’s like is there some sort of zeitgeist where everything is a murder mystery thing? So, it was cool.”

Despite the location and overall scenario being a total coincidence, Mattias noted that they did lean in to the parallels after they had seen the movie by adding small nods within Hitman 3. “Obviously, it became an inspiration for us when it came out, where we [thought] this is cool. This is going to inspire us for this mission, for sure. I think we have a baseball in there.” The baseball is a somewhat essential element of Knives Out as it ultimately leads to the undoing of a particular character by the end of the film.

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Given the time it took to develop Hitman 3 as well as when Knives Out released, it’s not surprising that there was an accidental cross-over in ideas. The concept for the mission was something IO Interactive wanted to do for a while, it just so happened that the level draws an incredible amount of similarities to the film.

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Cade Onder
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Cade Onder is a 20-year old video game, movie, and chicken tender enthusiast. He has been writing about games since he was 14 and is always trying to learn more about the gaming industry. You can follow him on Twitter @Cade_Onder for bad jokes, bad takes, and pictures of chicken tenders.

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