Hitman 3 is here, and it packs a whole lot of stealth goodness under the hood. I’ve been freaking obsessed with this game, honestly, and I doubt I’ll be putting it down anytime soon.
So it’s good to see that Hitman 3 is getting regular content updates. As promised by the February roadmap, the game received five new Featured Contracts on the Dubai map. These contracts were created by MinnMaxx, and they add some new challenges to the game. This content is available to anyone who owns Hitman 3, regardless of whether or not you ponied up for the Deluxe Edition or imported Hitman 1 and 2.
How to play the MinnMax Featured Contracts in Hitman 3
There are currently two ways to access this content. The new Featured Contracts are on the front page of the Hitman 3 main menu right now.
However, the contracts won’t always be listed here, as new content will arrive and bump these contracts off the front page. The other way to find this content is to go to the Game Modes section of the main menu, then select Contracts. On the contracts menu, select the Featured Contracts option. The MinnMax challenges are a part of this massive list (which includes featured challenges from the previous games as well).
Now here’s a complete breakdown of these challenges:
1 – Get a Load of This
The first contract is called Get a Load of This, which introduces you to the premise that you are to take out the MinnMaxers themselves (though you might not recognize them because they’re undercover).
The Mission Briefing reads:
MinnMax, once a humble YouTube channel focused on games, friends, and getting better, has gone global. They’ve expanded into a cabal of international camaraderie, wreaking havoc on the snarky games coverage that pays the bills of our organization. The Computer Loving Cohorts of MinnMax are now in deep cover, and need to be taken out. Let’s start with Jeff Marchiafava and the iconic redhead himself, Kyle Hilliard. And please avoid any unnecessary casualties, 47.
Your objectives:
- Target: Eliminate Aslam Wahba (Jeff Marchiafava) with a falling object.
- Target: Eliminate Lucy Phillips (Kyle Hilliard) with a falling object.
- Complication: If any non-targets are eliminated, you will immediately fail the mission.
Here’s a Silent Assassin, Suit Only walkthrough video:
For this challenge, I suggest the following loadout:
- ICA19 Silverballer
- Sieker 1
The Silverballer is the most accurate pistol in the game (and you’ll need to shoot a very thin wire), and the Sieker 1 shoots emetic poison, which makes people sick.
You can’t bring two pistols into your loadout at the same time without making some tweaks, and both of these items are pistols. To get around the limit, you can either hide the Sieker in a briefcase, which will allow you to place it in another loadout slot, or you can hide it in the Atrium Toilet, which is what I do in the video.
The Atrium Toilet stash is unlocked at Dubai Mastery Level 8, and the Sieker is unlocked at Haven Island Mastery Level 10. This means that in order to use this loadout, you’ll need to own Hitman 2 and its expansion pass, and have them imported into Hitman 3.
The reason I recommend the Sieker is that you need to eliminate Lucy Phillips without taking out Amelia Stuyvesant. If you want to go for the optional objectives and get both kills with falling objects, you’ll need Amelia to move from her seat (otherwise the falling light fixture will kill her too). There are other ways to move Amelia, but I find the Sieker to be the fastest and easiest.
Also, if you check out the video, you’ll notice that I run to Lucy Phillips first, then I go to Aslam Wahba, who I kill first. The reason I do this is that there’s a really lengthy conversation that doesn’t trigger until you are close enough to hear it. This entire conversation needs to finish before Lucy moves into place under the light fixture. You’ll notice that even when I did it in this order, I still had to wait a bit for Lucy to get into position.
Also note that you could cut some time by bringing down the light fixture early if you can time it when Lucy is walking underneath it. I didn’t bother with this (and I still managed to hit #95 on the global leaderboard), but if you want to improve upon this method, that’s a viable strategy.
2 – Crossblade
In Crossblade, you’ll continue wreaking carnage against the MinnMax crew, but this time you’ll not be able to change your starting suit.
The Mission Briefing reads:
We need you to take out the team behind MixxMax’s dueling album review show Crossfade. Producer Jason Dafnis has found employment as tech engineer Rocco Levitt, and Matt Helgeson has pursued his dream of living as ace helicopter pilot Tommy Maverick, although the accidentally misspelled it Marevick on the form. he also dropped his helicopter key at the bottom of the ladder. You shouldn’t need a disguise to deal with these clowns.
Your objectives:
- Target: Eliminate Rocco Levitt (Jason Dafnis) with a falling object.
- Target: Eliminate Tommy Marevick (Matt Helgeson) with the Ornate Scimitar.
- Complication: Only one exit is active for the mission (it’s the helecopter).
- Complication: If you change your starting disguise at any point you will immediately fail the mission.
Here’s a Silent Assassin, Suit Only walkthrough video:
I use the Krugermeier pistol instead of the Silverballer for this mission because it’s the quieter pistol (I’ll explain why that’s important in a bit).
In order to access the route in the video, you’ll need to have the elevator shaft opened up and the Helipad Ladder shortcut activated. I won’t go into how to do those here (though here’s an elevator shaft guide, and here’s a guide to all the shortcuts in Dubai if you need them).
When you’re climbing the elevator shaft, you can make a quick stop to disable the security cameras if you’d like. There will be one camera on your path, but it’s easy enough to avoid if you know where it is. I deactivate the cameras in the guide video. Also note there’s a penthouse key card on that same desk. You won’t need it for this particular run, but it’s good to know where it is in case you need it for future challenges and Contracts.
I should point out here that you’re going to run into both of the main story mission targets on this path. If you skip the security room, you’ll have to wait for Marcus Stuyvesant to talk to your target before you drop the speaker on him. If you take a quick stop in the security room like I did, you’ll instead run into Carl Ingram and his security detail at the top of the elevator shaft. Make sure you wait until his guards have passed before you leave the shaft, and know that the last guard tends to linger a little bit close enough to the shaft to see you climb out if you try to do so prematurely.
Once you drop the speaker, press up against the wall so that the guard above you doesn’t spot you. The sound of the speaker crashing will alert him, so wait until the question mark over his head disappears and he turns his face away from your position before you move.
From here, it’s a pretty straight shot to the helipad (there’s a security camera in the hallway if you don’t disable it), and then you’re close to everything else you need to complete the mission. Remember that the helicopter key is at the bottom of a ladder beneath the helipad, and you’ll need that to exfiltrate via helicopter. You can grab that now, or you can go back for it after you snuff out the second target.
When you climb the Helipad Ladder shortcut, there is a maintenance worker that you’re going to need to knock out. You can use the crowbar (which you should have from when you drop the speaker), but I’ve found that this sometimes alerts the guards in the next room. I prefer the silent method. Also note that this maintenance worker seems to be in a different location every single time I play this Contract, so I don’t know if his movements are somewhat randomized or if my timing is just that imprecise. I’m leaning toward the former, because pretty much every other NPC I encounter is in the exact same location on every run I do.
Once the maintenance worker is taken care of, I open the door to the next area and use gunshot impacts to force Carl Ingram into lockdown. I fire the gun twice because sometimes a single bullet will only put guards into alert mode, while two shots more consistently triggers a full-on lockdown.
Now this is why I use the Krugermeier instead of the Silverballer. The SIlverballer is slightly louder, and because I fire the gun so close behind the guard, I’m pretty sure he would be able to hear the gunshot from the Silverballer. The Krugermeier, however, is out of earshot, so the guards will hear the bullet impacts but not the sound of the gun firing.
Once the guards clear the room (which they should do when the lockdown is activated) you have a clean path to getting the Ornate Scimitar. grab that, head back to the helipad, and finish up your job.
If you’ve done everything flawlessly, you should earn the Silent Assassin rating, and Suit Only is a given because it’s a Contract requirement.
Note that you can cut off a significant amount of time if you bring your own Ornate Scimitar instead of using the one provided by the stage. You’ll unlock the Ornate Scimitar at Dubai Mastery Level 13. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to equip a briefcase (or any container) if you want it in your starting inventory.
3 – Two Ends
At this point, you’re moving onto the YouTube-loving Leo Vader and Ana Diaz. Time is of the essence, as you have a minute and 20 seconds to complete this one.
The Mission Briefing reads:
47, we have some bad news. YouTube darling Leo Vader has been alerted to your presence in the Burj Al-Ghazi. The good news is he promised he’ll handle the situation later — after his third nap of the day. You’d better dispose of him before he wakes up. While you’re at it, Ana Diaz has been keeping busy showing everyone pictures of her new Electric Mouse pet. Maybe you should test if she’s built up some immunity to that electricity.
Your objectives:
- Target: Eliminate Lisa Thorn (Ana Diaz) by electrocution.
- Target: Eliminate Akbar Salam (Leo Vader) with an explosive device.
- Complication: If you take longer than 1:20 to complete the Contract, you will immediately fail the mission.
Here’s a video guide:
Really, the core challenge here is the time limit. That 1:20 goes by really fast, but everything you need is pretty much laid out for you if you know the best route (which is laid out in the video above).
You’ll definitely want to use the Art Installation as your starting location, because it starts you right next to a screwdriver (which you’ll need) and your first target. In fact, I don’t know that this challenge is even possible from any other starting point (which nulls your Suit Only challenge, since you start out wearing a disguise).
The Art Installation is unlocked as a starting area when you reach Dubai Mastery Level 7.
For loadouts, you’ll probably want some type of explosive so you won’t have to scavenge for one (personally, I like the rubber ducky you get for hitting Berlin Mastery Level 20).
Oh, and you’ll need the elevator shaft unlocked as well. I posted a link to a guide for that earlier, but here’s a fresh link in case you need it.
When you start out, grab the screwdriver (it’s on some stairs next to where you start), then race to your first target. Sabotage the power strip on the ground and the water cooler with the screwdriver (the power strip has to be first or you will shock yourself). Then climb the scaffold to get to the security room where the second guard is.
This last part is a little tricky, because there are some guards watching the elevator shaft. Use the explosion (which will kill the second target) to put them on high alert, and hide behind a corner where they can’t see you. They’ll eventually race off to check out the explosion, leaving the exit unguarded.
4 – MinnSnaps
And now it’s time to bring your murderous rampage to the MinnSnax crew.
The Mission Briefing reads:
Great work taking care of the other cohorts, but we’re not out of the woods yet. We’re going to need you to infiltrate the first floor kitchen, where MinnSnax Chef Grant is preparing a Salsa con Queso grilled cheese sandwich for his boss Suriel Vazquez. Take out Grant — but be clean about it, as we need you to take his outfit with you and go up to deliver Suriel the the final ingredient he’s been missing from his meal… a dose of lethal poison.
Your objectives:
- Target: Eliminate Mobeen Dar (Chef Grant) while unarmed.
- Target: Eliminate Roberto Franculitta (Suriel Vazquez) with consumed poison (optional) while disguised as kitchen staff.
This one is a bit tricky — especially if you’re going for Silent Assassin — but the route in this video should make it doable.
A few things to point out here.
You’ll need a lockpick to make this work, but the rest of your loadout is up to you. You can throw some poison in your loadout to make this easier, but there’s an assassin who’s carrying a complete loadout on him, and taking him out lets you take all of it. This includes a folding knife, a silenced pistol, and some lethal poison pills.
When you take out the assassin, you can hide him in the bushes and no one should find him as long as you remember to turn off the radio. If you leave the radio on, a woman standing nearby will eventually come over to check it out and discover the body.
If leaving the body in the bushes makes you nervous, the alternate option is to use the Sieker 1 to poison him, then follow him into the bathroom. He’ll go into a private stall to puke, and you can knock him out there. No one should find him as long as he’s in a stall with the door closed (and you don’t use emetic poison on anyone else in that general area).
Note that this route is filled with danger, and you’re running a really risky gauntlet in some cases, often just half a second from getting caught if you’re too slow. However, as you can see in the video above, this is very much possible if you want to go this route.
Also, the kitchen where you poison the chef is the hardest part of this entire run. You have the chef and two guards, all of whom practically have superhuman peripheral vision. I found a way to isolate all three of them in a short amount of time, so check out the later portion of the video to see what I did.
And really, good luck. This one’s brutal.
Oh, I should point out that one of the optional conditions is to kill the chef wearing a kitchen staff outfit, which will void a Suit Only run. This means you can’t meet all the optional conditions in a Suit Only run, unfortunately. Either skip the costume condition or skip the personal satisfaction of getting a perfect SASO run.
5 – The Deepest Dive
And finally, you’re tasked with infiltrating the Burj Al-Ghazi penthouse and bringing down the mastermind Carl Ingram, ahem, Ben Hanson.
The Mission Briefing reads:
This is it, 47: the deepest, most thorough contract that you’ve ever carried out. Your first target is self-betterment aficionado Jeff Cork, MinnMax’s outside man. his love language is words of affirmation, you need to remind him that yours is physical touch. Your final target is Ben Hanson, the mastermind behind the MinnMax dynasty. I think it’s time you topple him from his penthouse throne, literally. Finish it, and wipe this empire of positive gaming entertainment off the map.
Your objectives:
- Target: Eliminate Muayid Sofran (Jeff Cork) with a letter opener.
- Target: Eliminate Carl Ingram (Ben Hanson) in a fall.
- Complication: Only one exit is active for the mission.
If you want to see a really great Silent Assassin run, check out this video:
To replicate this run, you’ll need the ICA Flash Phone and the Krugermeier. The Flash Phone is part of the Hitman 2 Expansion Pass, and the Krugermeier can be unlocked by reaching Mendoza Mastery Level 10. Your starting area should be the Penthouse.
Aside from those details, I think the video pretty much speaks for itself. This run was legendary.
I should point out that a good chunk of what I pulled off in this run was unnecessary. I didn’t need to flash the guards, because they wouldn’t have been aggressive anyway. And people are completing this without clearing out Carl Ingram’s room. For me, though, the woman making the bed seems to spot me when I try to go for the Muayid Sofran kill without taking her out first. I’ve seen videos of people clearing this without pacifying the bed-making woman, so I know it’s possible, but for me, this was safer (and more time-consuming).
