Hitman 3 was one of the best games of 2021, and thankfully, IO Interactive is not just letting Agent 47 slip away into the night in 2022. Today, they announced a full array of Year 2 content, including fresh ways to play and new maps. The game will also be getting some technical improvements on PC, including ray tracing and XeSS support, and yes, the whole darn Hitman Trilogy will soon be available on Xbox Game Pass. You can check out the full Hitman 3 Year 2 reveal stream below, provided you have around 15 minutes to spare. Otherwise, just scroll down for the details.
Arguably the biggest addition to Hitman 3 Year 2 is Freelancer mode, a new way that play that tasks players with completing a series of missions with randomized elements. The mode also gives you a new Safehouse base, where you can store favorite items and prepare for missions. In addition to Freelancer mode, IO is also making some changes to Elusive Targets – get the lowdown on all the new ways to play, below.
HITMAN Freelancer
Freelancer is a brand new, single-player mode coming to HITMAN 3 that introduces roguelike elements, strategic planning and a customisable safehouse.
Let’s start by exploring one of the new maps coming to HITMAN 3 in Year 2: Agent 47’s Safehouse. This playable space is an entirely different type of location and we’ve never built anything like it before. It’s customisable and allows you to choose exactly what type of Hitman you are (or want Agent 47 to be!). As you progress through Freelancer, more areas of the Safehouse can be unlocked and new customisation options will become available. You can configure and customise the safehouse to your exact specifications and spend as much time as you want there. Whether you want to pick out a new suit, browse and test your weapons at the firing range or make changes to your décor, it’s all possible. The Safehouse is also an important space because all of your pre-mission planning takes place there.
After exploring the safehouse, it’s time to work. 47 will have access to a ‘mission hub’ where he can view all of the currently available Freelancer campaigns, each one representing a criminal enterprise that is prominent across the World of Assassination. It’s entirely your choice which campaign you pick and each one will take you on a globetrotting campaign to a selection of locations. For each campaign, you need to choose the order you want to play the missions. After each mission, you’ll return to the safehouse to restock, resupply and strategically plan your next move. Whichever location you leave until last will be where you’ll corner the Leader of the enterprise. Blow their cover, eliminate them, and the campaign is complete. You get paid and return to your safehouse.
Campaign missions have been reworked to fit the Freelancer mode. For example, locations will have new NPC types, that can either help or hinder your progress. Suppliers will offer a selection of weapons and items that you can acquire to increase your chances of success, whereas other NPCs will alert Leaders and make your job more difficult. In addition to these NPCs, there are several other elements that will make the Freelancer campaigns unique. You’ll be able to find safes, hidden stashes and even other NPC Assassins.
Unlike the main Hitman campaign, your gear in Freelancer is not persistent. Anything you bring on a mission and don’t bring back to the safehouse, will be lost. (If you thought you were attached to your Silverballer before, wait until you’ve left it in Dartmoor and it’s gone. For good.) Looking for gear at a Supplier is one way to restock your inventory, or replace a lost treasure. Consumables, such as explosives or poison syringes, will also need to be restocked, since there’s no supply from the ICA in Freelancer.
Elusive Target Arcade
There are several significant chances to the mode here: Each Arcade Contract now tasks you with taking down consecutive Elusive Targets, one contract after the other. Each one must be completed to proceed to the next – and there are additional complications added to the contract as well. If you fail an Arcade Contract at any point, there will be a 12-hour lockout before you can retry the contract again from the start. This lockout enables us to keep the high-stakes gameplay that is a hallmark of Elusive Targets, whilst also giving players a clear indication of when they are able to play a particular Elusive Target again.
Crucially, Arcade Contracts are permanent additions to HITMAN 3. Once we add one to the game, they won’t go away. Our aims with this game mode are; to give players the chance to engage and play Elusive Target content more frequently, provide a new challenge for long-time players in the Elusive Target game mode, create a new type of recurring content that will reward players with desirable unlocks. When HITMAN 3 – Year 2 begins on January 20, the Arcade will also be open with a total of 3 Arcade Contracts, each one with Elusive Targets from a specific game in the World of Assassination trilogy.
IO is also teasing a full new map, codenamed “Rocky.” Not a lot of details have been revealed, but based on the following screenshot, it looks like a tropical island playground.
As mentioned, the PC version of is getting an array of technical improvements, including ray tracing, XeSS support, and Variable Rate Shading. For those wondering, Hitman 3 already features ray tracing on both the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The full Hitman Trilogy will also soon be playable in VR on PC (it was a PSVR exclusive previously).
Finally, you’ll soon have new ways to get your hands on Agent 47’s latest adventures. IO Interactive has announced a new Hitman Trilogy bundle, which will be available to purchase on all platforms (including Steam this time around) and will be available on Xbox Game Pass on Day 1.
Hitman 3 is available now on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, Stadia, and Switch (via the Cloud). The Hitman Trilogy bundle launches on all platforms and Game Pass on January 20, along with PC VR support and Elusive Target Arcade. Freelancer mode launches this spring, and the PC technical enhancements and Rocky map will arrive “later in 2022.”
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