Io Interactive continued to take advantage of its newfound independence on Tuesday, along with its claim to the Hitman IP, by publishing the long-awaited OS X port of its assassination-focused PC and console release. And that’s just the start of the good news for the Hitman community, particularly if you’re one of the millions who’ve yet to see Io Interactive’s World of Assassination.
If you missed the news, Io Interactive went independent last week, buying itself from Square Enix after the publisher announced plans to divest itself of the studio as part of an earnings report last month. The news stunned gamers around the globe, many of whom viewed Hitman as one of the best games to emerge in 2016, and left a great deal of uncertainty about the future of the series. There were plenty of calls for one of gaming industry’s Big Three to step in and make Hitman a console exclusive. Others assumed Io would join the ranks of a AAA publisher like EA or Ubisoft. Instead, Io Interactive negotiated a deal to go independent and took the Hitman IP with it. And the studio’s first act, now that it had complete control over its future, was to open the floodgates.
First up was news that gamers could now get their first taste of Hitman without spending a dime. The first chapter of the game, set in an ICA Facility, can be downloaded on PC, PS4 and Xbox One for free. There isn’t much narrative information in the game’s prologue, which prepares Agent 47 for his life as a jet-setting murderer, but the two scenarios featured in Hitman ’s opening chapter offer a great idea of what to expect from the rest of the episodic title. Players also get all the content associated with the ICA Facility, an assortment that includes two Escalation contracts, 17 achievements/trophies, 40-plus challenges and the thousands of player-created contracts uploaded since Hitman debuted last year. All you have to do is head over the a new sub-section of the Hitman website, and choose your preferred platform, to claim your free chapter.
And the good news doesn’t stop there. Hitman is now available on OS X. The current build only works with AMD graphics cards; however, Feral Interactive, the team behind the port, says it's working hard to get Hitman running on Nvidia and Intel-powered devices too.
Here are the full system requirements, via Feral:
OS: macOS 10.12.5
Processor: 2.0Ghz Intel Core i5
Memory: 8GB RAM
Storage: 68GB
Graphics: 2GB AMD M290 or better (see below for more details)
The game is supported on the following Macs:
• All 27" iMacs released since Late 2014
• All 15" MacBook Pros released since 2016
• All Mac Pros released since Late 2013
The following Macs are capable of running the game but do not consistently meet the standards required for official support:
• All 15" MacBook Pros with an AMD graphics card released in 2015
Hitman is currently available on PS4, Xbox One, Windows and OS X.
Be sure to check back with Player.One and follow Scott on Twitter for more Hitman news in 2017 and however long Io Interactive supports Hitman in the years ahead.
