Combat & gear
Close-quarters prompts offer KILL, CHOKE and PICKPOCKET. Go in quiet, leave loud — the game is built to support both, not to punish one.
The gunfight layer of Intravenous 3 is not a fail state — it is a second full playstyle. Borderline's store page frames the whole game as a choice: "Strike from the shadows or tear through everyone standing in your way." Both are supported. Both have systems behind them.
Take people apart, three ways
Close-range encounters in the series are not binary. Official footage from the announcement trailer shows a takedown prompt with three options — KILL, CHOKE and PICKPOCKET — each bound to its own key prompt during play.
| Option | What it gives you | When to pick it |
|---|---|---|
| Kill | Fastest, permanently removes the threat | When the body will never be found, or the alarm is already dying down |
| Choke | Non-lethal, leaves the guard alive | When bodies being discovered is a risk you cannot afford |
| Pickpocket | Take what they are carrying | When you need keys, items or intel without touching the patrol pattern |
The practical rule from the developer's own framing: every maneuver should have a plan and an exit line. The reaction system is generous to careful players — guards who are calm react slowly — but it is merciless to half-committed actions, because reloads now run to completion once started.
Weapons and customization
"In extensive weapon customization" is an official bullet point for Borderline, and the full game's page doubles down: "meaningful builds, deep weapon customization, and tactical gear." The series tradition is specific and worth knowing even though the exact IV3 list is not public yet:
- Intravenous 2 shipped with 29 weapons and 17 gadget types, with suppressor, laser sight and ammo-type modification on every firearm.
- Borderline previews "new equipment and gadgets" on top of that lineage — the HSR-EMP, an electrical-disruption gadget, is already confirmed by name in the developer's own devlog.
- Weapon mods are about role, not raw numbers: a suppressed pistol and a loud shotgun solve different rooms.
How loud play is supposed to work
The stealth design and the combat design share one economy: sound. Because loud, distant noise now points enemies at a general area instead of your exact position, gunfire is a tool for moving the board, not just a way to end conversations.
Three habits separate a good loud run from a bad one:
- Position before you fire. The store description is blunt: "positioning, weapons, ammunition, and split-second decisions can mean the difference between walking away and bleeding out on the floor."
- Count your exits. The full game is built so that how you finish a mission shapes what happens on the way out. Blast through a floor plan and you may meet a hotter reception later.
- Remember the content warning. The developers describe "violence, implied drug use, swearing & crude language" — this is not a sanitized stealth game.
