'Hitman 3' players on Stadia can share playable custom setups

Hitman III arrives next week, and those who check it out on Stadia will be able to share playable chunks of the game with others. Google is bringing state share to the entire World of Assassination trilogy when the latest entry hits Stadia on January 20th.

The feature allows you to share a game state from any campaign or custom mission without having to send anyone a save file. When you capture an image or video from your playthrough, you can generate a URL that others can click and hop into the game at the same point.

You'll be able to challenge other players to take on a mission from the same point and under the same circumstances as you, including an identical starting location, objectives, difficulty level and loadout. If someone shares a state that's far ahead of where you are, you'll be able to leap in and use weapons and items that you might not have unlocked without impacting your own progression.

Given that the Hitman games encourage players to be creative in carrying out their missions, they seem like a great showcase for the state share feature, as you might get to see how other players take on the same scenario. It's not hard to imagine streamers encouraging their viewers to try and copy them or take a different approach to an assassination.

The first title to use state share was Crayta, which allows you to build and share your own games. However, the feature was only in beta when the game debuted in June. Google says it will add state share to more Stadia titles in the future.