IOI deserves so much flack for what they did with hitman 3. hell, i’d go as far back as hitman 2 when they immediately cut support for the game despite it still being unpolished and having lots of bugs
but this rant makes no sense. if IOI wanted people to forget about hitman, they’d stop making content for it, and stop supporting it altogether.
you know what i think the problem is
i think IOI did not playtest their escalations. for example, they did not play this escalation to see if it was possible to hide the target’s body and get SA without it being incredibly difficult. if they did, they would have chosen a different escalation
https://twitter.com/IOInteractive/status/1485639877190463494?cxt=HHwWjMC9gZvmhp4pAAAA
We’re preparing an update for @HITMAN 3 tomorrow (Jan 25) to address an issue with Elusive Target Arcade timers. We have other teams working towards a fix for an Xbox console crash & we’re also investgating further PC VR improvements. Latest updates: https://ioisupport.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360019127718-HITMAN-3-Known-Issues…
Last night, I popped the target from The Deceit in the head with a silenced bullet from a distance after hours of trying to do it “right”. I mean, one pacification? Sort of highlights why I prefer the newer escalations to the old ones, like the food critic in Bangkok, where the target’s tiny loop is just moving from one heavily policed, plain-sight location to another.
I was disappointed to find out that the propane canister can’t be ignited by votive candle stands in the church.
I get that the added complications are more or less to placate people that really want ETs to be the “realistic” Hitman experience and that giving us losers who have dayjobs and social lives a “second chance” ruins the whole thing. But who’s really beating these super-hard ones without at least restarting? Just let me play the regular shits, c’mon, it’s been a year.
Given that the 3 ETA bundles have replaced the normal Escalations in the default main menu tab, ETA is probably going to replace the usual escalation content drops this year, more often than not.
I also played one of the ETA bundles last night (luckily I was at home and had access to the PS4), so I can sort of share my thoughts on one of them. I ended up looking up the other two bundles today and see how they’re structured, too…
I’m just not impressed by this. I played the Codices bundle, and it looks like it was the easier of the 3.
While there is a chance that Appraiser is included in a future batch with different complications, it’s not a guarantee that there’ll be enough freedom of choice in terms of options, and once those bundles are uploaded, I don’t think IOI is going to change them.
EDIT: Is the removal of Diana intros inconsistent? The Stowaway and the Appraiser had Diana intros when starting the level, but I didn’t get any for the Revolutionary? Was that always a thing? The other Arcade levels seem to have theirs intact, so it might just be that one level? It feels like an omission though.
While the Diana intros are kept in the level, which is nice since it can give a hint as to where to look, the removal of the video briefing further limits exploration and discovery of some of these ETs, when they’re so tied to their routes in these massive levels.
I get that the briefings were probably removed to streamline the “Arcade Level Progression” feel of the ETA mode (as if it’s a series of hard levels, one after the other, no fluff in-between) but it makes these missions feel even more barren.
I stand by my claim that how it is now limits creativity and freedom of choice with these ETs. They probably should have done a randomized 1-complication format as I’ve said before, just to keep some of the early ETs fresh and challenging, but the way it is now isn’t fun.
Maybe future bundles will be better, but the way it is now, if I want to play The Appraiser in a creative way, there’s both complications limiting that, and Level 1 Jimmy Chen to complete before getting to her, every single time…
I say all this as a mediocre player myself. I don’t have tons of knowledge of all the ETs. While I LIKE that there’s no locked off rewards or bonuses for Silent Assassin completions, the amount of insta-fail complications is a serious problem. Sometimes you don’t know what mistake you made until the game kicks you out for 12 hours.
The objectives should be optional, so that players can experiment a bit more, but it should only progress your Arcade level if you completed all those objectives. This probably means a tweaking of the Escalation progression system, but I’d say it’s more doable than reworking the entire concept of the ETA (which unfortunately I think it needs, but I understand why it won’t be getting)
they always disappointing since january 2021.
bugs, shrink maps, Dlc garbage, expensive Deluxe for 6 escalations. Ghost mode out, Sniper assassin multy out 
half year before hitman 3 out i played hitman 2 and very enjoyed maybe i was expected too much after good design and size of hitman 2 maps.
Was going for an SA run of the 5-level S1 arcade this morning before work. Pacified the black hat after already having pacified a guard to swipe his disguise. Instafail! I laughed out loud. My mistake! Was kinda frustrated but also, I kind of enjoyed it? Maybe I’m a masochist.
Also, how the hell do you kill the Angel of Death without cheesing it and getting her on the headmaster’s terrace at the start of the level? I tried all sorts of emetic displacement options and her bodyguards just follow her everywhere… this is one ET where the “hide all bodies” complication just does not fit.
I completed all of the released ET Arcade missions with an SA rating so far except the Protagonist (final level of the Deceits). I had to retry that one three times. They’re totally possible to SA.
The Hitman trilogy is a complete package that is worth a buy for new purchasers, based on the amount of content and how bug free the game is for the average player.
Now – I know that the visitors to the Hitmanforum are those who are more expert and play the game more regularly, and have reasons to feel disenchanted with less inspiring, released content compared to post-launch of Hitman 1 and Hitman 2.
There are diminishing returns for IOI to just serve the more expert players, who are hard to please, as evidence of the release of new content, and there are lots of complaints. It is almost as if it is more offensive to have the released content than not have it, even though IOI are investing in Hitman 3 post-launch, just not at a level meeting the expectations of some.
Consumer marketing is all about setting and meeting expectations.
IOI has probably under-delivered for what they had suggested that they were offering as post-launch content, but they are still making an investment and effort into a second year of released content for a game that will not receive an extension beyond the Trilogy, any time soon.
Because of the always online nature of the Hitman Trilogy, IOI know exactly how many players are using each of the new content. They know exactly how long the average player falls off of hitman, and the fraction that will play new content, including feature contracts and elusive contracts, and multiplayer Hitman that disappeared before Hitman 3 release. Only IOI knows how many copies of the Hitman Trilogy they are likely to increase in sales in offering more than the 20 mission locations that they have uploaded already…
I understand what you"re saying.
For new, inexperienced, casual players there IS a lot of content if you buy all 3 games + all the DLC at once.
And I agree that those type of players won’t notice ANY of the flaws that we do (another reason why ioi hates speedrunners).
So if that"s the strategy ioi is going for i.e. using the hardcore fans to stay afloat and then dumping them once that casual gamer money rolls in, cool.
But decisions like that have consequences. Right?
Like I said, the criticism this franchise and ioi gets is 100% deserved.
Okay this will be an unpopular opinion here, but I don’t have any problem with the arcade. Well, the only one being the bug that randomly locks you out from it. But I think it’s a nice little implement as a gamemode. And I get the challenges too. They are there in order not to get boring after playing it for a time. So I don’t really have any problem with it.
Just literally give players the freedom of approach which Hitman is famous for as opposed to restrictions that even hardcore players despise…
We are not Doom Eternal community, we are not looking for the ultimate challenge, we are looking for creative applications of in-game mechanics. That’s it. Nothing more.
Found on Reddit that poor Clemens is now a meme despite being a face of IOI for the community, not a dev 
This one is really easy once you know how to. I mean… you’ll need a sieker, the right starting point and move quickly but other than that it’s super doable.
I am sorry, but that is just nonsense
yeah I saw this on Reddit yesterday, it doesn’t seem very nice to make him a straw man.
setting aside one’s stance on this situation, he’s a real person… must not feel great to see this
We’ve just rolled out a server-side fix for
3 Elusive Target Arcade timers. No patch needed for this one; the timers will now work as intended and only change state based on player activity. More updates to come from us.
It seems IOI listened to fans and provide us some sort of ET restarts with few limitation timer and tricky escalations this is good and in general ETA feature thank you very much for it.
Hopefully when IOI fix quickly the timers (‘failed’) issue. which is very strange how QA wasn’t able to reproduce such an issue… I’ve just loaded the new patch and all new ETA were marked as ‘failed’ - thankfully to the forum members we found quick workarounds such as go back and forth from menu or open it from the main menu via the “Featured” uncompleted tasks. sometimes is work sometime doesn’t but i’m sure IO will solve this minor and annoying issue. again strange QA didn’t see that bug…
As for the future if ETA is already here I would really like to see IOI provide us the option to restart each escalation separately if the entire ETA completed. what I mean is if I want to try other ways to eliminate “Angel of Death” level 3 out of 5 - i need restart everything… let us enjoy and choose which level to play - it’s Arcade after all right? (and again only after you complete all levels…the idea keep the content with access to enjoy the fun as much as possible - simple) I’m all in already for the HITMAN series and basically purchased any paid content ever released since Blood Money.
Isn’t the exact opposite the case? Because of those challenges (complications), you have to play in a very specific way, so replays get boring without the freedom to chose different approaches…
…just as he describes: The comlications make it nothing but an escalation, nothing but a puzzle for the one specific solution instead of the ETs’ freedom of choice.
I think the “all bodies hidden” complication is the worst. It makes targets like Ms Davis or The Ascentionist really boring. Slows down gameplay and forces you into one or two puzzle solutions.
I do however love “don’t kill civilians”. I went into Colombia in my lust suit, packing El Matador, the Shashka Beast, and a couple explosives, and did a “kill all the bad guys” run. The added pressure of not accidentally killing a civilian was an enjoyable, high-stakes gameplay twist. And with the arcade, I can play the mission not caring so much about SA.
So there’s ways to make this mode work for new and exciting player experiences.
Edit: Shaksa to Shashka. I’ll never get that right.
