Hitman: Game of the Year Edition is out this week and brings a new mini-campaign, more Escalation contracts, new weapons and new costumes for IO Interactive’s phenomenal third-person stealth action title. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, according to patch notes for Hitman v1.13.
All of the new Hitman content is available in two forms. Those who’ve yet to check out one of the best games of 2016 can pick up Hitman: Game of the Year Edition to receive the base game, new mini-campaign and all the other content created this year. Players who already own the game have the option to buy a GOTY Upgrade featuring all the aforementioned additions to Hitman: The Complete First Season. There’s also a new patch out this week, featuring a plethora of bug fixes, quality of life improvements and other gameplay tweaks. The latest build of the game even includes Xbox One X enhancements and support for Tobii eye tracking products.
A blog post celebrating today’s Game of the Year Edition release also notes that IO Interactive is already working on Hitman: Season Two. However, chief executive officer Hakan Abrak says we won’t hear anything else about the second season until 2018.
In the interim, here are the patch notes for Hitman v1.13, via IO Interactive:
A redesigned UI with a new colour scheme and visual style
A fresh new look across the board and re-organised menus to make it easier to find what you’re looking for.
Default Loadout
For each mission, choose the loadout that you want to use on the Planning page and save it. Next time you load that mission, your default loadout will be ready and waiting.
Bullet Distractions
As part of an ongoing review into core gameplay mechanics, we’ve increased the range that NPC’s will hear bullet impacts from 1.9 metres to 5 metres. We feel that this is a more believable distance and will allow for more creative gameplay scenarios.
Major lighting improvements to all missions
New colour grading, readjusted HDR adaptation rules and re-designed skyboxes mean that all of our locations look more vivid, vibrant and lifelike. The image below shows the ‘Club 27’ mission in Bangkok with these new improvements. Click on it to open a higher-res version.
Sniper Rifle Audio
Our Audio Team have been looking at improving the weapon sounds and have started with the Sniper Rifle, specifically the Sieger 300. Their goals were to make this Sniper feel more powerful and to achieve that, they’ve reworked the sound from the ground up with new source assets, new audio processing and a new implementation. The Sieger 300 Advanced and the Sieger 300 Ghost will also benefit from these improvements.
Speaker Configuration
We’ve added an option in the Settings Menu to configure your speaker set-up. There are three options and the game audio will mix accordingly; Surround (Default), Headphones and Stereo.
Elusive Target Re-activation
Starting in November, we will re-activate Elusive Targets. If you missed any Elusive Targets the first time around, or if you are new to HITMAN, this is your chance to experience these intense time-limited targets. All of the suit unlocks are back in play for both new and existing players to complete their collection. If you’ve already completed or failed an Elusive Target, you won’t be able to play that specific contract again; your record for that contract will stand and cannot be altered. Re-activated ET’s will still be time-limited and the first one will be re-activated shortly after the release of our Game of the Year Edition on November 7th.
Commemorative Elusive Target Unlock
If you played any of the Elusive Targets we released during Season One, we have created a small in-game reward that will only be available to a limited number of players. You’ll be awarded one of three coins, depending on your progress with Elusive Targets during their first activation. Progress is measured against simply playing an Elusive Target contract, successfully completing any Elusive Target contract and earning the Silent Assassin rating on an ET contract. The item will be granted when launching the game for the first time with the GOTY Update/Patch.
Store Tab
We’ve added a ‘Store’ tab to the menu to make it easier to; check which content you have installed, purchase episodes or upgrade to the new GOTY content directly through the game.
Contracts Discoverability
– ‘Trending’ helps you find the most popular contracts, making sure you can easily find a new challenge.
– ‘Most Played Last Week’ tracks the Contracts with the most plays in the last 7 days.
Contracts Text Search Operators
Use search operators to find titles or descriptions of created contracts.
Contract Complications
We’re adding “Complications” to Contracts Mode, such as restricting disguise changes or requiring players to use a specific exit. Anyone who creates a contract will be able to toggle these conditions to set a more defined challenge for their contract.
The complications can either be set as an ‘optional’ or ‘required’ and the Contract creator will need to make sure that they ‘achieve’ each condition when creating their contract. If any ‘required’ objectives are failed, you will immediately fail the mission.
Here’s the full list of Complications:
Time Limit
Required Exit (Cannot be used as an optional objective)
Targets Only
Do Not Get Spotted
No Bodies Found
Hide all Bodies
No Disguise Changes
Headshots Only
No Missed Shots
No Pacifications
No Recordings
Red Targets
The mini map and full map will now highlight targets in red. Previously, they were white.
Death Screen
To savour the moment of failing a contract or mission by dying, the ‘Mission Failed’ screen will no longer fade to black and will instead show 47’s last moment (before replaying).
Xbox One X Enhancements
HITMAN – Game of the Year Edition is enhanced for Xbox One X. Featuring beautiful native 4K, a smooth as butter 60 FPS high frame rate mode and HDR support for vivid and stunning colors.
Watch the glorious new trailer that shows all of these enhancements, plus a few early looks at the Patient Zero missions right here:
Tobii Eye Tracking support [PC Only]
Enhance your killer instincts with Dynamic Light Adaptation, Extended View, Clean UI and a new special feature added specifically for HITMAN. Find more details here.
IOI presents…
We’ve made changes to the bootflow of the game on consoles to include fewer logos. This change was made on PC with update 1.12.2.
Patient Zero Support
We’ve added many features that will support the Patient Zero campaign. We are being purposefully vague because detailing them would spoil the experience. This includes the new HUD elements, gameplay mechanics and AI behaviour that we mentioned when we announced the GOTY Edition.
Fixed Issues
Global Issues
Fixed an issue that could cause NPC’s to hear silenced gunshots through walls.
Fixed an issue that could cause the ‘compromised’ state to trigger when using a syringe on a guard whilst remaining unseen.
Fixed an issue where the Winter Suit would not cast the proper shadows in some locations.
Fixed an issue that could cause NPC’s to get stuck in the ground when ‘dumped’ from height.
Fixed an issue where the Fast Target option would occasionally place the crosshair above the intended target.
Paris
Fixed a few minor issues on the Holiday Hoarders mission.
Fixed a few minor issues with character animation during opportunities.
Sapienza
Fixed an issue that could make it impossible for 47 to interact with the Robot Arm, depending on what items are equipped.
Fixed an issue that could cause the sun to show incorrect textures when in focus.
Fixed an issue that could cause the church bell to respawn.
Fixed a handful of issues with Abbiatti’s routine in the Landslide mission.
Bangkok
Fixed an issue where all NPC’s could be lured to room 207 using a clock radio.
Fixed an issue where the ‘Sticky Hatchet’ complication in the Arthin Occulation Escalation might not function properly.
Fixed an issue that could cause Jordan Cross to suspend his routine or repeat conversations, depending on 47’s actions.
Colorado
Fixed an issue where the map would show incorrect information about level geometry.
Hokkaido
Fixed an issue that could cause items to fall ‘out of world’ in specific circumstances.
Fixed an issue where Ninja 47 could get stuck on the roof. Not so ninja-like.
Hitman: Game of the Year Edition is currently available on PS4, Xbox One and PC.
Be sure to check back with Player.One and follow Scott on Twitter for additional Hitman news in 2017 and however long Io Interactive supports Hitman in the years ahead.
