Hitman 3 - Year 2 Announced

The final pack in the “Seven Deadly Sins” DLC campaign for Hitman 3 was released last month. With that, the “Season of Wrath” content pack, and the announcement IO Interactive is working on a James Bond game, I’m not sure people were expecting more content for Hitman 3 aside from rotating contracts and the like.” Well, I suppose some of us are waiting for that one-year exclusivity with Epic to end to play the game on Steam, but really that’s it.

Of course, that just made IO Interactive’s announcement of the second year of content all the more pleasantly surprising. While the first year had plenty of support through the aforementioned DLC campaign as well as the elusive targets, escalations, and featured contracts that the previous games similarly had support with each month, the next year of content promises “new maps, new storylines, new modes and new ways to play.”

There wasn’t too much information given about the new maps and storylines, but there was a tiny bit revealed about new modes and what new ways to play means. One of the most exciting additions is the latter, as the previous VR mode/support that was exclusive with PS VR will now be available to PC users!

In terms of new modes, something called Elusive Target Arcade will be a permanent addition to the game. There isn’t much detail revealed about it yet, but it’s planned for full details to come out in early January 2022. My fingers are crossed this will work as a way to play Elusive Target content on my own time and maybe even more than once, but that’s pure hope for now.

For those with beefier PCs who want to make accidents happen in the most beautiful looking places, the second year will see the inclusion of Ray Tracing support on the PC platform. I’m sure that alone will warrant a playthrough in each location to see how different it looks.

There were additional teases of some highly-requested community features, along with what looks to be a hideout location. Hideout locations were mainly used in Hitman 2: Silent Assassin and expanded upon with Hitman: Blood Money, but there is a subset of fans who enjoyed having their weapons on display and having a shooting range for their guns. I feel like I’m still screaming that I want dual-wielding silver ballers, but I will admit that it was always satisfying to see each weapon on display in the hideouts. The hideout also looks fantastic and cozy, compared to the horrendously shabby hideouts from before.

Even though I have yet to play Hitman 3, I am excited to hear that it’s still going to be supported! I had a lot of fun with the previous titles in the “World of Assassination” trilogy and I’m looking forward to eventually replaying the first two parts along with the third. The second year of content for Hitman 3 is slated to begin on January 20th, 2022, exactly one year after the game launched. There was no mention of a Steam release just yet, so we’ll just have to patiently wait on that bit of news for now.