When it comes to modern video game icons, any list will almost always have Agent 47. The bald killer clone of the Hitman series has been a poster boy for the ideal silent assassin for almost two decades now. It seems inevitable, then, that its developers IO Interactive announced that a third and final title is in the works for the modern Hitman series, a journey that began with the release of 2016’s episodic Hitman.
The announcement comes from a very insightful documentary from Noclip, which is centered around the series and its developers as a whole, tackling subjects like its earlier titles and IO Interactive’s rather public split from parent company Square Enix. Check out the documentary from Noclip below.
The part mentioning the third Hitman game starts at 34:32. “We released Hitman 2 back when we went independent and on cash flow, it was so far away but getting there was an amazing feeling,” IO Interactive CEO and co-founder Hakan Abrak said in the video. “And Hitman is a trilogy, there’s a bright future—there’s this full realization of the whole World of Assassination that we are looking towards as well, of doing that journey since 2013, to complete that and overarching spy story, to complete that. And the World of Assassination, when that’s complete, it’s gonna be one game with all the locations starting from Paris in Hitman 1 to the last location in Hitman 3, where it’s 20-plus locations. So the ultimate globetrotting experience that we wanted to achieve.”
Of course, that’s not the only thing worth noting, as in addition to bringing this trilogy to a close IO Interactive is also working on something new, mentioned at 36:54 by host Danny O’Dwyer. “Earlier this year, IO Interactive opened up a new studio across the bridge in Malmo, Sweden. And while much of the team is working on new Hitman content, and looking ahead to the third Hitman game, one that Hakan says may once-again go episodic, the majority of the studio at least here in Copenhagen is working on something secret, and rather excitingly, something new.”
The documentary itself is well worth the full watch as it also revealed a lot of things about the minds behind the Hitman series. For instance, it appears that the decision to cut IO Interactive loose from Square Enix can also be attributed to the ongoing deals (at the time) between Crystal Dynamics to create what is ultimately going to become Marvel’s Avengers. It’s amazing to see how IO Interactive managed to live on despite the management buyout and relatively lower initial sales of Hitman, and I for one can’t wait to see how they will conclude this trilogy.
Hitman 2 is now available to play on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
