The clock is ticking… The first Elusive Target has been reactivated and The Forger will be in Paris for the next 10 days!
Elusive Target contracts are the only way to unlock some unique suits for Agent 47, ranging from suits specific to each location in Season One, to signature suits from previous games and the prestigious Winter Suit, which is only awarded to players who can complete 5 Elusive Targets with the Silent Assassin rating. All of the suit unlocks are back in play for both new and existing players to complete their collection.
If you missed any Elusive Targets the first time around, or if you are new to HITMAN, this is your chance to experience these intense time-limited targets. All of the suit unlocks are back in play for both new and existing players to complete their collection. If you’ve already completed or failed an Elusive Target, you won’t be able to play that specific contract again; your record for that contract will stand and cannot be altered. Re-activated ET’s will still be time-limited and released periodically.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es3nLGc4-Xs
HITMAN GOTY is OUT NOW
The HITMAN Game of the Year Edition has arrived and brings a new 4-mission campaign; Patient Zero, new weapons, new suits and new challenges.
There's also improvements to existing features, new lighting enhancements to all locations, quality of life changes, new Contracts Mode complications - and a lot more!
For the full release notes, go here: https://www.ioi.dk/hitman-goty-release-notes/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/725353/
HITMAN - Game of the Year Edition arrives November 7!
We are super excited to announce HITMAN – Game of the Year Edition!
This awesome package includes The Complete First Season, the brand new 'Patient Zero' campaign, new Escalation Contracts, new weapons, new suits, new challenges, improvements to existing features and new lighting enhancements to all locations that make the game look better than ever - plus we have a few more surprises!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODUIa831DXk
HITMAN - Game of the Year Edition will be released digitally on November 7th 2017 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Here's a full rundown of what's included:
HITMAN The Complete First Season
New: 'Patient Zero' Campaign
New: Clown Suit and themed weapon
New: Raven Suit and themed weapon
New: Cowboy Suit and themed weapon
New: 3 themed Escalation Contracts
The full details on all of this content can be found on our detailed blog post right here:
This is your October Content Schedule for HITMAN – and this month is going to be a very exciting one… read on!
We've already released 10 new Featured Contracts & a new Challenge Pack this month and a new batch of Curated Contracts will arrive on Friday 20th.
Looking Ahead: Save The Date!
Mark this date on your calendars: October 24th. That’s the date when we will reveal brand new content for the game. We’re going to let the announcement itself do all the talking, but there is one thing we want to clarify before then; this upcoming content is not “Season 2”. We’re saying that now to keep expectations in check.
So, save the date, let’s hope it doesn’t leak and we’ll see you there!
July Update Release Notes
The HITMAN July Update improves current loading times on Xbox One, introduces some changes to combat and invites more players to try Professional Difficulty.
July Update Release Timings
The HITMAN July Update releases worldwide across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC, Linux and Mac on July 13th 2017.
The update will arrive for all players between 11am and 1pm UTC. There will be a short period of server maintenance, starting at 10:30 UTC and expected to end before 14:00 UTC. We expect the download size for the July Update to be 550 MB (PS4), 950 MB (Xbox One) and 1.2GB (PC). We will post updates about the maintenance on the IOI Twitter account.
Here are the release notes for our July Update, also known as 1.12.1 as per the in-game menu.
July Update Release Notes
Xbox One Loading Times
After a recent update, Xbox One users reported to us that the game was taking longer to load than usual, especially when restarting a contract.
We've looked into this and now have the Xbox One loading times back to where they should be. Thanks to our Xbox One players who reported this.
Combat Changes
We've made some changes to combat across the game. The intended result of these changes is to make combat more satisfying and viable for all players.
Specifically, we have reduced the fire rate of NPC pistols, slightly increased how quickly 47 can 'snap' to the target NPC when 'aim assist' is toggled on, reduced the damage that 47 takes at mid to long distances and increased the speed that 47's health regenerates. We are continuing to monitor and adjust these values based on our own impressions and we're looking forward to feedback from our players when these changes go live. Please note that Professional Difficulty is not affected by these changes and still offers the 'Lethal Combat' that was promised.
Backstory: With an earlier update on June 23rd, the first iteration of our internal combat changes was unintentionally released. That first iteration simply reduced the damage output of NPC weapons and resulted in what some of our community have lovingly described as 'Tank 47'. The changes that we mention above (and will introduce with 1.12.1) are based on the combat values before the June 23rd update. This is important to mention because we want to be clear that we haven't made 47 more of a tank. Instead, we've looked at the combat experience that we've had in the game since launch and made the above changes to the long-standing values.
Professional Difficulty
We've changed the unlock criteria for Professional Difficulty from Mastery level 20 to Mastery level 5. All players that currently have Mastery level 5-19 on each location will automatically unlock Professional Difficulty after updating their game to 1.12.1 (July Update). There are no changes to Professional Difficulty other than the unlock criteria.
Excuse me, I found a weapon
We've fixed an issue that could cause guards to repeatedly drop weapons that they discovered on the ground. This issue was prominent on The Icon mission.
Bathroom Break
We've fixed an issue that could cause the toilet in the Marrakesh school to behave erratically after 47 kicks it onto Zaydan. This could occasionally result in 47's death. Seriously.
Cancelling Connecting
We've fixed an issue that could cause players to inadvertently cancel the 'connecting' prompt and enter 'Offline Mode'.
Opportunity Lost After Loading
We've fixed an issue that could cause the Opportunity Marker (the little light bulb) to disappear after a save/load cycle.
Trespassing vs Hostile Area
We've implemented a fix for a Known Issue from our June Update. The 'Trespassing' and 'Hostile Area' status messages on the mini-map now display correctly.
Maximum Mastery
We heard that some players have had issues unlocking the trophies/achievements associated with reaching Mastery level 20 in various locations. We've implemented a change so that the game will re-check whether you have reached level 20 when you launch the game and award the appropriate trophies/achievements.
Trophy Typography
We've made some necessary updates to the trophy descriptions on PS4; corrected a few typos and mistakes.
Unconscious Witness
We've also implemented a fix for the other Known Issue from our June Update. The 'Unconscious Witness' status on the mini-map is know displayed correctly.
Miscellaneous Fixes
We've fixed other minor issues across the board to keep the game in fantastic shape.
What's Next?
the Final Elusive Target will arrive in-game on Friday 14th July. Looking further ahead, we'll have an August Content Schedule set and ready with new challenges for the first week in August.
[Note that these are the full release notes, including updates and improvements for other platforms.]
Try HITMAN for FREE
This is big news: We’re making the first location in HITMAN free to download for everyone!
“I’m proud to announce that our first hello as an independent studio is to invite all gamers to play the beginning of HITMAN for free. There is a lot of love out there for HITMAN and with this offering we hope that many more will fall in love with the game. We believe that this is Hitman at its best. So jump in and give a try.” – Hakan Abrak, CEO Io-Interactive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI87Kq3nhf0
The ICA Facility will be available as a free download on PS4, Xbox One and PC starting today – and we’re extremely excited to see more players try the game. The download includes absolutely everything that we’ve released for that location; two story missions (including all cut-scenes), two Escalation Contracts, more than 40 challenges, 17 achievements and trophies, plus thousands of player-created missions in Contracts Mode – all of that is now available completely free of charge.
Players who download the ICA Facility for free will be able to keep all of their progress when they upgrade to the full game – plus we’ve lined up some discounts on the full game to make this a great time to buy. We’re talking up to 60% off on some platforms!
If you’ve already played HITMAN, thank you for supporting us! If you want to help us spread the word, Hitman.com/free is the link to share with friends and family. There are also discounts on the Bonus Episode and Requiem Pack, so take a look at the store to see if there’s more Hitman content waiting for you there.
(Quick edit: The Requiem Pack isn't discounted on Steam. Sorry for any confusion.)
/ Travis
The Future of IOI
We’re very excited to share this message from the Io-Interactive CEO, Hakan Abrak:
In its 19 years of history, Io-Interactive has brought you original and exciting entertainment; from Mini Ninjas and Freedom Fighters to gaming’s most notorious criminals Kane & Lynch and of course our beloved Agent 47. With our latest game, we have not only transformed Hitman, but also moved our entire studio into the AAA digital era. Our live product has disrupted the video game business and has received recognition and praise from press, community and our fans.
There are many tales of hope, dreams, hardship and joy within these walls. We have never strived for the expected or predictable. Instead, we are always in pursuit for what feels original and real. Our passion and determination has never been greater and so that is why we have decided it is not the time to stop as we have many more exciting and original tales to tell.
Therefore I am proud to announce today that IOI is now officially an independent studio. We have successfully concluded our negotiations with Square Enix and have agreed to a management buyout. Crucially, we will keep all of the rights to the Hitman IP.
This is a watershed moment for IOI. As of today, we have complete control over the direction for our studio and the Hitman IP – we’re about to forge our own future and it’s incredibly exciting. We are now open to opportunities with future collaborators and partners to help strengthen us as a studio and ensure that we can produce the best games possible for our community.
I would like to say a big and sincere thank you to all of our players, community, friends in the media and everyone else connected to the studio for the messages of support that we have received in the last few weeks. I would also like to thank Square Enix; it has been a great family to be a part of and we are proud of what we have achieved together in the last eight years. IOI started as an independent studio and we will now return to those roots with an extremely passionate and talented team.
We are counting on the continued support of all our players; simply by having fun with everything we’ve released so far for HITMAN – and we want to encourage more of you to try our game. We have more details to come on our plans for that next week.
Thank you.
Hakan,
Io-Independent
Store Changes for HITMAN
In the coming weeks, we will be making changes to the options for purchasing HITMAN digitally. These changes have been planned since early March and will make it easier and simpler to buy the game. Our intention is to make ‘The Complete First Season’ the default option for new players to buy the game, now that all of the episodes have been released. Additionally, these changes will help us to lay the foundations for our future plans for HITMAN.
We are announcing these changes today, to make sure that existing players are fully aware of their options and to give a fair amount of time before these changes come into effect.
Here’s the core of the changes: In approximately 2 weeks time, The ‘Intro Pack’ and ‘Upgrade Pack’ will be removed from digital stores and will no longer be available for purchase.
Steam: After the changes, Intro Pack owners will be able to purchase ‘The Complete First Season’ and only pay for the episodes that they do not already own. Essentially, Steam will detect which episodes you have already purchased and only charge you for the ones you do not own. Individual episodes will no longer be available for purchase.
These changes do not affect anyone who purchased the Complete First Season on disc, nor do they affect any existing digital purchases. If you already own either ‘The Complete First Season’ or the ‘Upgrade Pack’, these changes will not affect you.
We’ve set-up a dedicated thread on the Hitman Subreddit about these changes, specifically so that our Community Team can reply to questions or any edge-cases.
/ Travis
Read the full blog post (with details for other platforms) here:
http://www.ioi.dk/store-changes-hitman/
HITMAN - June Content Schedule
We’re very excited to welcome a new month and move into June, where another boatload of HITMAN content will be released. The HITMAN June Content Schedule includes Escalation Contracts, Featured Contracts, a new Elusive Target and also a game update for all platforms.
The first content to arrive on 2nd June will be two Escalation Contracts, one in Sapienza (Landslide) and another in Bangkok;
– The Spaggiari Subversion is the first Escalation Contract on the ‘Landslide’ Bonus Mission and challenges you with 5 different stages. Expect three different targets, some weapon and disguise restrictions and a few other surprises.
– The Asya Attunement is the fourth Escalation Contract to be added for Bangkok and the five stages include complications involving shotguns, laser tripwires, exterminators, enforcers and kill streaks. Have fun!
Alongside the two Escalation Contracts, 10 new Featured Contracts will be added to the game. Each one has been created by the Hitman Community and has been hand-picked for inclusion in the game. This month, we tip our contract-creating hats in the direction of ILikeGAMESish, DangerDogGuy, Mr Freeze, Ed ll3, The1AndOnlyLegoAlex, theWizard, Euler 13, Urben, SpeedsterRunner14 and Silverballer550.
Our June content will be released over a few different dates. That means later in June, there’s more content to come. Elusive Target #25 is the penultimate ET, and will arrive in Hokkaido before the month is out. The White YukataSpecific timings and the first visuals will be released later this month.
Finally, we are planning a game update for this month. This update will be mandatory for all players and we’re very excited to talk about what it includes. Again, we’ll have details to share and full release notes for this update later this month.
/ Travis
New Elusive Target now LIVE!
The BadBoy is the next Elusive Target to arrive in HITMAN and will be the 24th Elusive Target to appear in the game in the previous 12 months!
This target will be in Sapienza for 11 days and is one of the final three Elusive Targets to be released for the first season of HITMAN. The BadBoy is also the first ET to arrive in one of our Bonus Missions. You'll need access to the 'Bonus Episode' to access this ET, as your next target will arrive in Sapienza at night, during filming of Dino Bosco's 'The Icon'.
At 14:00 CEST / 05:00 PT on Friday 5th May, we’ll update the Elusive Target tile on the Featured Hub in-game and the contract will be live. Elusive Target #24 will be in Sapienza (The Icon) for 11 days (264 hours) and there won’t be any second chances. Remember that an Elusive Target cannot be restarted once any targets have been eliminated or any objectives have been completed.
Elusive Target #24 has one objective: (1) Eliminate Bartholomew Argus.
Read the full blog post about Elusive Target 24 here: https://hitman.com/news/elusive-target-24
