Supported by his Agency handler, Diana Burnwood, Agent 47 joins forces with his long-lost friend Lucas Grey. Their ultimate mission is to eliminate the partners of Providence, but they are forced to adapt as their hunt intensifies. When the dust settles, 47 and the world he inhabits will never be the same again.

Featuring six meticulously detailed locations packed full of creative opportunities, Hitman III gives players the unrivaled freedom to complete their objectives in a game world that reacts to everything they do. All of this is made possible by IOI’s award-winning Glacier technology, which powers Hitman III’s immersive game world to offer unparalleled player choice and replayability.

Hitman III players can import locations from the previous games in the trilogy and have more than 20+ locations under one roof. All of the improvements to rendering, animation and AI introduced with Hitman III can be enjoyed across all three games, making Hitman III the ultimate place to play the entire World of Assassination trilogy.

Today, IO Interactive shed new light on upcoming Year 2 content for Hitman III, including the May Roadmap, details on the new Freelancer launch window, and news on the release of the upcoming map known as Ambrose Island.

Brief overview of the upcoming Hitman III content:

• Freelancer Update
  • Hitman III: Freelancer is the next evolution of Hitman and an entirely new way to engage with the world and characters that IO Interactive built into the World of Assassination over the last 7 years. The team is now aiming to release the Freelancer in the second half of 2022, to help support further development in this truly expansive and involving game mode.
• Spring Content
  • With the change to the release date of the Freelancer game mode from Spring to the second half of 2022, IO Interactive has adjusted its plans for the next few months. The biggest change will be several additional rounds of Featured Contracts than the team normally releases over the course of a month. You’ll find a detailed May Roadmap graphic below.
• A New Map - Ambrose Island
  • IO Interactive is bringing forward the release date of the ‘Rocky’ map that was  first revealed in January. This is now scheduled for a July 2022 release. This new map will have an intriguing narrative for Hitman fans, as it takes place before the events of Hitman III and fills in a few gaps from the World of Assassination storyline. You can see a sneak peek of the map in the key art above. Welcome to Ambrose Island, 47.
• Upcoming Patch - Raytracing
  • Patch 3.110 arrives on May 24 with PC RayTracing included in the update.

Freelancer

Let’s start with the most relevant piece of news first. We’re moving the release date to make the mode all it can be. Here’s more detail.

We see Hitman III: Freelancer as the next evolution of Hitman and an entirely new way to engage with the world and characters that we’ve built into the World of Assassination over the last 7 years. We’ve concluded the main campaign with Hitman III, but the world has so much more to offer and we didn’t feel as though we’d quite achieved everything we wanted to with Agent 47 in this trilogy.

In short, this mode is quite expansive and involving. It’s built for players that want to dive deeper into what a Hitman game can be and for that reason, we’ve decided to give it more time.

The truth is that it’s a luxurious decision for us to make. Hitman III has been a success and with that, we’re able to give our team that extra time to tighten the bolts and make sure that the mode is as close to our ambitions as possible. We want it to land well and be a platform for Hitman players to enjoy this game world for a long period of time.

In fact, we’ve had several rounds of internal testing, and we’ve even shared playable builds with some of our trusted and core community members to give feedback and share insights after lengthy playtests. This was all done on their own machines and in their own homes to truly replicate what it will be like when we launch the mode.

The feedback from the playtests was largely positive and the mode is in very good shape. As we’ve said, we’re taking some extra time to tighten the mode up and improve several elements that we think will greatly improve the gameplay experience. Whilst we work on those improvements, we’re also preparing to dive deeper into the mode and share more of what you can expect.

With all of that in mind, we’re now aiming to release the Freelancer game mode to Hitman III in the second half of 2022. We think it will be worth the wait.

Spring Content

With the change to the release of the Freelancer game mode from Spring to second half of 2022, we’ve needed to adjust some of our plans for the next few months. It’s a relatively complex and fluid situation where we’ve been moving things around behind the scenes, but we’ve landed in a good place.

In our original plans, we had a patch scheduled for April that would have included fresh new content for that month and throughout May. Now, we’ll be introducing that content with our next patch, planned for May 24th.

As you can see above, the biggest change will be a few more rounds of Featured Contracts than we normally release over the course of a month – although we are brewing on some exciting ideas for how to make the most of them… When we hit May 24th, it’ll be business as usual with ET Arcade unlocks and Hitman III ET’s back on the menu.

We hope that sharing more insights and going more ‘in-depth’ about the choices that we’ve made along the way will keep you informed about what’s to come in Hitman III. We waited longer than anticipated to share these plans with you to make sure that we could share them concretely and accurately. Thank you for your patience.

Further Ahead

It’s not just Freelancer that’s got a new release date. We’re actually bringing forward the release date of the ‘Rocky’ map that we first revealed in January. We’ve now got that scheduled in for a July 2022 release.

This new map will have an intriguing narrative for Hitman fans, as it takes place before the events of Hitman III and fills in a few gaps from the World of Assassination storyline. We’re excited to share more details in the run-up to release, and we’re even more excited to show you another look at the location in all it’s glory right now.

What’s next?

As we said above, the next milestone for Hitman III will be the game patch that is scheduled to arrive on May 24th. As always, we’ll have detailed patch notes of what has been changed and improved.

We’ve tried to boil down the complexities and moving parts of our game into a comprehensible post, but you’ll be forgiven for wanting to scroll back up and makes sense of exactly what’s happening and when. To make it a bit easier for you, here’s what Hitman III Year 2 looks like from here on out:

Today: May Roadmap
May 24: Patch 3.110 arrives with PC RayTracing
July: Ambrose Island map (aka Codename Rocky)
Second half of 2022: Freelancer game mode coming to Hitman III.

Hitman III’s sandbox locations give you complete freedom to approach your objectives in any way you want. As well as the new multi-function camera, you’ll also be able to interact with the game world in new ways to access new opportunities and paths through each level. Want to organize a meeting with your target? Check. How about opening elevator doors to access a new route? You can do that too and so much more.

As you explore each mission and complete challenges, you’ll rise through 20 Mastery tracks that will unlock new tools, weapons and even Starting Locations that will let you begin your next playthrough with a big advantage – possibly even in a disguise. All of the items and weapons that you unlock in a Mastery track are added to your permanent inventory, so you’ll be able to pick and choose from them no matter what mission you want to take on next.

Hitman III has been made with replayability front and center. You simply cannot see and do everything that a mission has to offer in a single playthrough, and the Mastery tracks keep things fresh as you take new approaches, use new items and discover previously unexplored areas.

Depending on how you choose to complete your objectives, you’ll be awarded with a Playstyle at the end of each mission. From the coveted Silent Assassin to a Hired Gun and everything in between, there’s a Hitman style for every player. Maybe you’re a Marksman?

Hitman III will have full PS VR support. Yes, that means you can traverse the outside of the tallest building in the (Hitman) world in PS VR! If you own the previous games from the trilogy on PS4, you can also access locations from them within Hitman III. That’s more than 20 Hitman locations from the World of Assassination trilogy to enjoy in PS VR.

You can either play Hitman III in PS VR natively on your PS4 or via backward compatibility on PS5. To make sure all PS VR owners can experience the game in VR, we’re including a free digital copy of the PS4 version of Hitman III with all PS5 copies, whether you choose to buy it via disc or digital.

Hitman III will look, sound and play better than ever with improvements to lighting, reflections, animation and AI. Chongqing also features full water effects, with details such as rain drops hitting Agent 47 and his clothes getting wet, all adding to the immersion of experiencing Hitman III.

On next-gen consoles, Hitman III will run in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second with HDR support.

Hitman III is currently available for Nintendo Switch (through Cloud Technology), PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Google Stadia and PC (Epic Games Store).