IO Interactive is still developing Hitman 3‘s second year of content and now the developer has provided an update on a few of its biggest features and revealed the title’s roadmap for the month of May. The Freelancer mode has been delayed, but the new map is coming in July.
According to IO’s post, the Freelancer mode is being pushed into the second half of 2022 in order to “help support further development in this truly expansive and involving game mode.” The team said it was a luxury to be able to push the update down the road and has been giving it extra time in order to “tighten the bolts and make sure that the mode is as close to [its] ambitions as possible.” Select players have even been playtesting it, further helping IO in its quest to fully realize this new mode. IO is also preparing to share more about Freelancer and what players can expect from it sometime down the road.
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The developer had previously said Freelancer was coming in the spring. This mode will bring back Agent 47’s safehouse hub (which will now be customizable) and function similarly to a roguelike, as players can choose their loadout and mission order before heading out. While the full extent of them has yet to be revealed, these missions are somewhat dynamic, too, as the well-guarded leaders at the top of every chain change every time.
However, IO also spoke more about the upcoming map called Ambrose Island (which was previously referred to as “Rocky”) and released a screen shot of it. The team didn’t say exactly when in July the map is coming out, nor did it confirm a price. But its story will take place before Hitman 3 and fill in “a few gaps” from the trilogy’s storyline.
Information about these bigger modes was supplemented by its May roadmap that looks into the title’s short-term future. IO has adjusted its schedule to compensate for Freelancer’s delay by adding more featured contracts. These will come alongside three returning elusive targets: The Fugitive, The Bookkeeper, and The Iconoclast. The Fugitive stands out as they have a randomly selected path and a face (that is chosen from a pool of three) that changes every time the missions starts.
A new close-range Ducky Gun with “alternate firing audio,” Duck Hunt challenge, Yellow Rabbit Suit, and a patch will also fill out the rest of May. IO’s newly changed plans will ripple out over the new few months, too, but those details are still under wraps.
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Lastly, the PC version will get ray tracing in the patch that’s planned to release on May 24. Not much else is known about that update, but patch notes will be made available later in the month.
