Hitman 3: The Eminem vs. Slim Shady Pack Review — Will The Real Agent 47 Please Stand Up?
This might be the single weirdest thing I have installed on my hard drive this year, and that includes the Frostpunk dating sim mod.
I have to admit, when IO Interactive announced they were dragging Marshall Mathers into the World of Assassination, I checked my calendar to make sure it wasn't April 1st. But here we are in December 2025, and I am currently standing in a neon-lit, nightmare version of Hokkaido listening to "Houdini" blast over the PA system while holding a sentient chainsaw. The Eminem vs. Slim Shady Pack is a fever dream of a DLC that proves IOI has officially lost its mind in the best possible way, even if their business practices are starting to feel a little too "shady" for my liking.
A Fever Dream in Hokkaido
The centerpiece here is "The Reflection," an Elusive Target mission that completely remixes the Hokkaido map.
The Vibe Check
Forget the clean, sterile lines of the GAMA private hospital. This version of the map looks like Max Payne had a baby with a Halloween funhouse. There are mirrors everywhere that act as portals, red hues soaking the corridors, and a surreal dream-sequence house that you access through the looking glass. It is genuinely strong atmospheric work that feels like a "Halloween-themed remix" rather than just a lazy asset flip.
The premise is that Eminem (the actual guy, voicing himself) hires you to take out his alter ego, Slim Shady. The dialogue is surprisingly funny, with plenty of self-deprecating jabs and a narrative explanation for why everything is so ridiculous. Hearing actual voice lines from Em while navigating this lunacy won me over faster than I expected.
The Gameplay Loop
Here is the bad news: it is easy. Like, "I did it in five minutes with my eyes closed" easy. The mirrors make navigation a breeze, allowing you to teleport around, grab a silenced pistol, and whack Shady before he even finishes a bar. If you are looking for a hardcore stealth challenge, this ain't it. It is a narrative experience first, a puzzle second.
The Swag Bag
For your five bucks, you get a few permanent items to clutter up your inventory.
The MC Fit: A suit that looks decent but tragically lacks the beard.
The Prank Pistol: It looks like something the Joker would use, but practically, it's just a reskinned pistol.
Mr. Chainsaw Jr.: The MVP of the pack. It's an explosive that talks when you throw it. Yes, it literally speaks to you.
Jar of Mom's Spaghetti Sauce: A melee distraction item. I was hoping it would be a consumable poison (missed opportunity of the century), but instead, it just breaks on impact.
The Elephant in the Room: FOMO
We need to talk about the business model because it is getting ugly.
Just like the Bruce Lee pack before it, this content is time-gated. If you don't buy it this month, it is gone. Forever. This aggressive "buy it now or lose it" strategy sucks the fun out of a single-player game.
Worse, these items permanently take up slots on your Freelancer weapon wall. If you miss the DLC, those spots stay empty forever, staring at you like a gap in a collector's smile. It ruins the sense of completion that Freelancer is built around. IOI needs to stop this. Making me feel bad about my incomplete virtual wall isn't going to make me buy your next game; it's just going to make me annoyed.
There are also technical gremlins. Some players are reporting "Game configuration unavailable" errors that brick the game after installing the DLC, which is a fantastic feature for a paid add-on.
The Verdict
The Eminem vs. Slim Shady Pack is a hilarious, well-crafted, and completely surreal 30 minutes of entertainment that Hitman fans will get a kick out of. The map changes are creative, the voice acting is great, and Mr. Chainsaw Jr. is my new best friend. However, the short runtime, lack of difficulty, and the predatory time-limited nature of the release drag it down. If you love Em, grab it. If you hate FOMO, skip it out of principle.
Score: 7/10 — A fun, lyrical murder-fest held back by a short runtime and shady sales tactics.
We at NLM received a key for this game for free, this however didn't impact our review in any way.