hitman 3 Coming into its second year, today, IO Interactive provided information on what to expect.
One of the more interesting parts of Year 2 is a new mode with Roguelike elements called Freelancer It introduces strategic planning and customizable safe houses.
Coming this spring, the mode features Agent 47’s safe house. This playable space is customizable as it allows you to choose exactly what type of killer you are. As you progress in Freelancer, more safehouse areas can be unlocked, and new customization options will be available. The area can be decorated, there is a place for you to change your suit, you can have a shooting range inside, etc. This is also an important area because it’s where all your pre-mission planning goes.
Here, Agent 47 will have access to a “mission center” where he can view all currently available freelance activities, each representing a criminal enterprise in the assassination world. You will be able to choose the campaign of your choice. For each campaign, you need to choose the order in which you want to perform the missions. After each mission, you’ll return to the safehouse to restock, replenish and strategically plan your next move. No matter where you end up leaving, you’re driving the leaders of your business into a corner. You will then get paid and return to your safe house.
Campaign missions have been reworked to accommodate freelancer mode. For example, locations will have new NPC types that may help or hinder your progress. Vendors will provide various weapons and items, and some NPCs will alert the leader and make your job more difficult. In addition to these NPCs, there are other elements that will make the Freelancer campaign unique. You’ll be able to find safes, hidden hideouts and even other NPC assassins.
Unlike the main Killer campaign, gear in this mode doesn’t last forever, so any items you bring back while you’re on a mission and don’t bring back to the safehouse will be lost. Finding gear at vendors is a way to replenish your inventory and even replace lost items. In Freelancer, replenishment of consumables is required, as ICA will not be supplied in this mode.
With the freelancer mode, players will have a new map to traverse.It is called Rocky, while IO has promised to reveal more about it later this year.
The new game mode launched on January 20 is called Elusive Target Arcade. This all-new game mode takes the concept of elusive goals to the next level by combining the formula with new challenges and unlockable rewards. Don’t worry though: it still retains the essence of what makes elusive targets interesting.
What’s interesting about it is that each arcade contract asks you to shoot down elusive targets in a row. Each one must be completed before the next one can proceed, and additional complexity is added to the contract. If at any point you fail to reach an arcade contract, there will be a 12 hour lock-in period before you can try again.
When Year 2 begins on January 20, Arcade will offer three arcade contracts, each containing an elusive target from a specific game in the Assassination World trilogy. For example, the Ellipses Arcade Contract contains three targets from Hitman 3, and two more Arcade Contracts will also be launched on January 20, with targets from Hitman 1 and Hitman 2. More arcade contracts will be added throughout the year.
It was also announced during the unveiling that Killer VR Coming to PC on January 20. It will be available to all Hitman 3 owners. Full details on supported hardware will be announced prior to launch.
Speaking of PCs, the option to enable ray tracing on PCs is coming later this year. With better reflections and better shadows, locations will be better than ever, IO says, and the technology will be enabled for all locations in the Assassination World trilogy. Additionally, the game will feature Intel’s XeSS technology, which uses machine learning to deliver higher performance and very good image quality. The development team will also implement VRS (Variable Rate Shading) to improve PC performance by shading at different frequencies.
the last one Killer Trilogy Will launch on January 20th. With all the games in one package, it will be available digitally to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and the Epic Games Store – as well as Steam, Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass.
On Steam, Hitman 3 will have full support for PC VR and all the technical improvements mentioned above, such as ray tracing, XeSS and variable rate shading. The team is currently working on Steam achievements and trading cards, and will also be offering the Trinity Pack (Hitman 3 pre-order bonus) for all versions of Hitman 3 for free for the first 30 days.
