Hitman: Hitting Men

I couldn't see that anywhere when I looked yesterday, but hooray!

Main page, scroll down a page or so, it's on the right-hand side under the heading "A World of Assassination".

Basically I'm expecting to be able to carry on fairly seamlessly from where I left off in Hitman 2.

God, Bangkok is just no fun at all. Haven't managed Silent Assassin or Suit Only, let alone combined. I remember Sniper Assassin being fairly straightforward, though, now that I've unlocked the penthouse stash.

I can't remember how to kill Cross SASO on Bangkok at all. If you have lethal poison, the lawyer isn't too bad; just spike one of the dishes laid out at the front of the kitchen, and he'll try them all eventually.

I think Cross probably involves a lot of slow work, or that's my memory.

You can get him in the booth, but distracting the two guys standing next to it has been a nightmare. Maybe I need to try something more persistent than coins…

what seems to be a fuckload of ray tracing.

Apparently, this isn't even raytraced. They're still working on raytracing, and it won't feature at launch.

Not entirely sure how I feel about this: Hitman 3 is going to have "persistent shortcuts" – doors, ladders and other access points that are only accessible from one side. There might be a ladder leading to a balcony, but you can only use it if you get to the balcony first and unlock it. After that, it'll be available on all your subsequent playthroughs.

For speedrunning, this opens up a bunch of interesting approaches and it's supposed to encourage exploration of an entire map, but I'm curious if it could shift the difficulty curve too far on early runs. Also going to be interesting to see if you can unlock them on Casual for use on Professional or Master.

Sounds interesting, if a bit Dark Souls-y.

Not really too different to having to unlock starting positions, stashes and unlockable items, I guess, and adds another thing to do in the initial fumbling around for each map - I think it will probably work OK.

Sniper Assassin, Mission stories and SASO down on Bangkok, just a couple of Mastery levels to go.

SASO was a pain, accomplished on a wing and a prayer; those roadies behind the booth are really tricky to get rid of. I'd brought the ICA Remote Distraction device, but it wasn't getting them into the bathroom and if I dropped it outside they'd panic and notify security as soon as they saw it. I ended up using a combination pool ball and wrench to draw them behind the amps and knock 'em out one at a time. I got Cross in the recording booth, but the gunshots were heard so I had to drag him out and into the bathroom next door before the security made it up to search, which was a stressful time of it.

I forgot it had to be a headshot for the "Look Ma, No Head" Challenge, so I'll probably try that next time through, unless I still have a save game I can hop back to.

I got my last couple of Mastery levels in Bangkok by playing its Patient Zero level - it's very slight but has a bunch of unique challenges on a level you probably know inside out by now.

The one challenge I really want to do on Bangkok is the one where you have to kill both targets with coconuts. As far as I can see, the only way of doing it is to

Spoiler - click to showuse the exterminator mission story to get Cross into the lobby, then gas everyone, then drag him under the tree, then knock out Morgan when he comes stumbling in, then drag him on top of Cross, then shoot the coconuts from the tree

but I can't see any possible way of it not turning into a massive firefight as soon as any other guard wanders in, which happens almost immediately in my experience. It's just such an exposed area.

Spoiler - click to showIf you get the recording studio evacuated so Cross is in the lobby, you can then use a hotel employee disguise to draw Morgan into the lobby as well. Lure him under some coconuts, wait for Cross to spot him and come over for an argument, then you can shoot a bundle down on both of 'em.

Ohhhhh. I hadn't figured they would interact, but of course they would. That's a lot less bloodthirsty than my approach, I'm going to have to give it a go.

Well, this sounds intriguing.

https://twitter.com/GenePark/status/1347580022165565441?s=20

If I pre-order this on Xbox before February, I get 6,000 reward points.

Hmm. Sorely tempted, as I'd likely get it anyway.

That’s infuriating, given I pre ordered it weeks ago and now can’t claim that bonus.

All six locations revealed (spoilers, obviously):

https://www.ioi.dk/hitman-3-all-locations-revealed/

(The last of these apparently only has 5 mastery levels rather than the usual 20, so it looks like we've got the same balance as with Hitman 2 - one small level and five full ones, albeit with the smaller level as the epilogue this time).

The trophy list is out, too. I haven't looked at all of it, but the trophies for the training missions and contact creation tutorial are back; hope everyone remembers how to play Hitman!

With regard to that achievement list, the main list is a little spoilery (as it lists specific assassinations for specific targets) so I haven't read it in detail, but there are also three separate subsidiary lists covering Hitman 1, Hitman 2 and the Hitman 2 DLC, so it looks like you will be able to earn/re-earn achievements for those levels in Hitman 3.

They're not as comprehensive as the H2 achievements - typically you'll get one achievement for finishing a legacy level, and another for achieving mastery level 20. I wonder what will happen for those of us importing a ton of progress?

Any we have Mastery for will hopefully pop when the game (or level?) loads? Wonder if the tutorial ones will track, too…

Additionally, fuck the sniper trophies - complete every challenge!?

Holy shit, that's surely impossible? I'm lucky to even finish those levels.

There's an odd one in there for SASO on the H1 GOTY content too. Other than that, they look doable. Hopefully they'll pop when you load the game, as you say, but at worst I'd expect you'd just need to do a single playthrough of each level to reacquire the mastery achievements.

It's the only trophy for those bonus levels, too. Weird choice.

Ah well. We all know that unlocking suits, not achievements, is the real point of playing Hitman.

Preach.

On that subject… which suit do you go for? Do you always use the same one, switch it up, pick something that suits (ha) the mission (or deliberately incongruous, like Santa 47 in tropical locations?

As much as I like the classic suit, the all-black ones are real nice, and I'm a big fan of the Undying Look.

It varies; it's usually the most ridiculous-looking thing I can manage. Corky the Clown gets a fair few outings. On the PS4 I unlocked a rather fetching dressing gown, too, that I was very fond of: I haven't got that one on the Xbox yet but have a feeling it was one of the mission packs in Hokkaido that gave it to me so I need to get onto that.

I'm not sure I've ever bothered with changing the suit from whatever the mission default is…

Burn the heretic!

If I pre-order this on Xbox before February, I get 6,000 reward points.

Hmm. Sorely tempted, as I'd likely get it anyway.

Well, now I'm annoyed.

Clicked the button in the Reward app, which took me to the store showing Hitman 3: Standard Edition. Changed it to Deluxe because of course, pre-ordered. Reward didn't pop. Clicking the button again just goes to the Standard Edition page, which I don't own.

So, I got fucked out of 6k because I chose a better version of the game? Fuck that. Time to send an email.

Ah, that might explain why I didn't get my 6000 points either (assuming it's retrospective, which it might be). I also got the Deluxe version. Let me know if you get any kind of response.

I sent a Support request through the Rewards homepage, so we'll see. Not going to hold my breath. But who knows?

As for retroactive, the start date of the promotion was Jan 9th. If you pre-ordered before that, I think you might be out of luck.

I've been trying a last-ditch/half-hearted effort for some of the unlocks I missed, and how did I only just find out there's a pirate suit!?

Unfortunately, it's tied to an Escalation contract, but I think it might be worth the effort…

That's awesome. An escalation on Haven Island though? Eeesh. I struggle with that level a bit. Apparently the sightlines for the NPCs are far longer on that level than anywhere else in the game, which might explain it.

I found out that my favourite outfit (the White Yukata) was a reward for an Elusive Target, so I'm not getting that one back :( Hopefully they'll bring back some of the old targets again in Hitman 3, they've got a lot now and I never did kill Sean Bean, the bastard.

They re-ran all* the Hitman Elusive Targets in Hitman 2, so they may well repeat them again in 3. I hope so, I missed loads of the Hitman 2 ones.

If nothing else, it's extra content they already have that'll keep people coming back.

*except Gary Busey

Just realised this is out on the same day as Biden's inauguration. Oh. Oh no.

Patch notes are up on the official site.

Game Update 0.00.0: Known Issues - Game Unavailable - We are currently aware of an issue where HITMAN 3 players are not yet able to play the game. This is caused by the calendar not yet displaying 20 January 2021. We are working towards a solution, which involves waiting until that date. We will share our progress before then, but we’re confident of steady progress.

Typical lazy dev excuses… 🙄

On another note, how come I'm only learning about Hitman Roulette now? Randomly-generated mission challenges, including kill method, disguise restrictions, and weird alternative rules like not killing or subduing non-targets, or no throwing objects as distractions.

Obviously it's not tracked in-game, but it potentially adds an interesting optional challenge if you somehow run out of official content.

Yes, because running out of content is obviously a problem we're all likely to face.

Sometimes it's nice to mix things up, is all.

This is what you all wanted.

https://twitter.com/IOInteractive/status/1350072933310455808?s=19

New blog post detailing a bunch of pre-launch info, including when the game unlocks, install size (60-70 GB, including the Hitman & Hitman 2 content!), and how the progress carryover works:

After completing the carryover process, HITMAN 2 players will be able to start HITMAN 3 with their existing player profile, XP rank, location mastery levels, location mastery unlocks, challenge progress, challenge unlocks and Elusive Target suits/unlocks. All of those things are what we call ‘progression’. It’s not possible to pick and choose elements to carryover. It’s all or nothing.

The carryover process requires an IOI Account and can only be done through a web browser, it’s not possible to do it in-game. We will have the website ready to go before launch, but it is not live yet. Once it is ready, we will share the news via ioi.dk and update this post.

As expected, progression can only move forward within the same console family.

Copycat.

That Access Pass stuff is complicated but I think all it means is that you load up Hitman 3 and then the in-game store will show what you're entitled to as "free". I hope it works. There are a lot of references to Hitman 2 Gold Edition, which I don't have (I have the base game, and the expansion pass) but surely they won't mess that up.

Almost guaranteed though that the servers will shit the bed day one, they've been flaky at best on Hitman 2 for its entire duration.

47's wardrobe is filling out nicely now. I've done the pirate and blue flamingo suits this evening, but there are two more that rely on Escalations in Santa Fortuna and Mumbai, plus a really swish masked & hooded tux for a set of challenges on Isle of Sgàil. Fortunately, I'm not so much of a completionist that if feel a desperate need for all the gear, too.

Yet.

I have H1&2 on PS4, but H2 and all the content from H1 on Xbone. Now I have H3 on XX. It reads like that'll only get my H2 content into H3. I hope that's not the case. I've spent enough on this damn series.

If you’ve got access to the H1 and H2 levels on Xbone then they should be available on H3. Make sure it’s all installed before you load up the new game.

That's how I understand it. As long as you have the Legacy Pack for Hitman 2, it'll import the Hitman locations into Hitman 3, regardless of whether you actually own Hitman (2016) separately.

The irony is that the progression import is useless to me: all my progress is on PS4. Starting fresh seems to be the way to go anyway…

I've certainly got more progress on the PS4 - it's a shame, given that it's all done via the IOI account, that they couldn't have got cross-platform progress transfer working, even if the level purchases have to be tied to a particular platform. But I've been steadily making progress on the Xbox, starting fresh hasn't been any sort of problem, so I'll be bringing that over with me.

4 days to go!

I've got the lethal and emetic poison vials, a lockpick and the disposable scammer all unlocked; kicking off the third game with my basic toolkit ready to go will be sufficient – although it's unlikely that I'll be picking it up on launch day. I'm still working my way through the Hitman 1 levels on Series X (almost to Mastery 20 on Colorado), so I'm not in any massive rush to get more levels yet.

I still know some of these levels so poorly. I'm not super-confident in Colorado (though that's more down to disguise limitations), but challenges on Isle of Sgàil are still a hugely intimidating prospect.

EDIT: I'm trying to decide how to deal with the new levels - when Hitman 2 launched, I wouldn't let myself move on until I'd hit Mastery 20, but even that doesn't seem to have given me enough time to learn them properly. It's one of the main reasons I miss the episodic release.