Hitman 3’s Freelancer mode delayed, April 2022 roadmap shifted to May

IO Interactive has some excellent news and a few dangerous information for Hitman 3 followers. Let’s begin with the dangerous information: Freelancer, the solo mode that was set to supply an array of latest assassination campaigns for gamers and a customizable protected home for Agent 47, received’t make its beforehand introduced launch window of spring 2022. As a substitute, it’s now scheduled to reach “within the second half of 2022,” the studio introduced Thursday.

Hitman 3’s phenomenal gross sales — the sport generated record-breaking revenues and income for IO inside its first few months available on the market, making 2020-21 essentially the most profitable fiscal yr within the firm’s 23-year historical past — have given IO the posh of pushing again the Freelancer mode, in line with the studio. “We’re in a position to give our staff that further time to tighten the bolts and guarantee that the mode is as near our ambitions as doable,” IO mentioned in a weblog publish.

Describing the Freelancer mode as “fairly expansive and involving,” IO mentioned, “We see HITMAN 3: Freelancer as the subsequent evolution of Hitman and a completely new approach to interact with the world and characters that we’ve constructed into the World of Assassination during the last 7 years.” The studio introduced in January that the World of Assassination trilogy, which started in 2016 with the franchise reboot Hitman, has garnered greater than 50 million gamers.

Because of the Freelancer delay, IO has shuffled the timing of among the different gadgets on its 2022 calendar — and right here, the information is generally good. The primary new map since Hitman 3’s launch in January 2021 is now coming forward of schedule, in July. It’s referred to as Ambrose Island, and the island in query seems to be a tropical one, as you may see within the screenshot above. As common, IO is providing restricted particulars presently, however mentioned that the mission set there “takes place earlier than the occasions of HITMAN 3 and fills in a couple of gaps from the World of Assassination storyline.”

Hitman 3’s subsequent patch was beforehand scheduled for April and can now be launched on Might 24, so gamers must wait a bit longer for contemporary content material. However on the plus aspect, that v3.110 replace will deliver ray tracing assist to the Home windows PC model of the sport, along with including new content material akin to a contract and unlockable weapon within the Elusive Goal Arcade mode. For extra on what’s on the docket for Might, take a look at the schedule within the picture under.