Nah dude. It’s mid February. I expect at least two months to go. Best exhale that held breath if you want to be around to play the new mode.
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Oh, I get that, but doesn’t it somehow feel like it’s taking longer than H3, which was a 2+ year wait?
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I don’t know… I pre-ordered the deluxe version of H3, so you know I was eager! I think H2 just had so much content, and there have been a series of sorta-disappointments with H3, so Freelancer is H Y P E.
I’d suggest everyone temper their expectations though. Right? No matter how involved or complex the mode is, I know some of youz guyz (and folk on Reddit and YouTube, etc) will have completed the entire mode in the first 24 hours and will have a mega sugar crash afterwards.
Not that I’m not anticipating this mode; I very much am. But no, the wait seems appropriate for what is essentially a whole new roguelite form of play, complete with customizable SIMS house with jukebox, interactive and changing objects, dance lessons with Diana, drum kits and pianos and asado pits and DJ booths and a lake behind the house for a fishing mini game……
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I feel like that might just be you, mate. 
The wait for H3 felt a looot longer than this, between June of 2020 and January of 2021.
I think the thing contributing to this sense of boredom or restlessness is the lack of a roadmap, especially when there’s still content coming out every week or so.
If we had a better idea of what was coming up, we’d know when to raise our hopes or not on when in this “Spring” window it’ll arrive.
But it’s not Spring yet! Wait a bit till Late March, then you can get hopes up
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Nah hitman 3 was terrible to wait the map that didnt showed off… espacially China when i saw in the Annocument trailer that was sick to wait for the trailer map, and Dubai and the fact you no have idea what the next map they will show you…
But yea Freelancer sound intersting but i disappointed alot since hitman 3 so i dont wanna aspect too much…
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Freelancer is arguably the most exciting change in the WOA formula. Having 3 entire games worth of maps with a progression system that caters to the feeling of being a freelance Assassin is very promising. I always like that Blood Money penalized you for leaving your suit and weapons and I was sorely missing that in the new games.
I’m wondering if Freelancer would benefit from a Notoriety system like in Blood Money, creating more enforcers in the map when you’re not in disguise, or security is so high that you can only smuggle in a pistol instead of starting with one. Then you can spend your money to lower it.
Many possibilities and I can’t wait.
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This mode sounds like what the trilogy should have been from the very beginning, specially considering that IOI decided to embrace the live service model. All we need from Hitman games is great level design, which for the most part we absolutely got from this trilogy. But on the other hand, this whole World of Assassination story arc to me feels like an after thought (but still miles better than the Absolution story).
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For all we know, that could be a possible complication or challenge within the mode.
(Though I’m just spit-balling. No use getting hopes up on something fabricated.)
It seems to me that a lot of elements we’ve seen in the 7 Deadly Sins DLC are going to make their way into the Freelancer mode.
Things like the coin-count of Greed saving between levels, weapon/targets choice system of Pride, the Rival from Envy. All these things look like they’ve been improved upon and used to fit the Freelancer mode. Weapons and items can be lost or kept between levels, there’s a choice of targets and locations, as well as item vendors, plus the “rival assassin” teased as a potential obstacle.
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Every hitman wait has been miserable. Remember Blood Money to Absolution?
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Oh lord, I hope not. That hadn’t even occurred to me! I figured that these would be just like normal missions but with just a few gimmicks changed up. I figured we’d be looking for intel on our targets to identify them, like the Maelstrom and the Fugitive, that we’d have to deal with “rival assassins” in the way we do in Berlin (them being bonus targets or obstacles to otherwise remove, not actually competing against to get to the real targets faster), and then have that whole losing your suit or equipment if you leave it behind and having to by it back again.
IO, please, do not put any escalation-style challenges or restrictions in Freelancer. It should be like regular playable missions crossed with a bit of contracts mode. If it ends up having escalation-style complications thrown in, I promise you, it is not going to be anywhere near as popular as you’re hoping it will be, if the response to 7 Deadly Sins and Elusive Target Arcade Mode is any indication.
I’ll be seriously disappointed if it turns out like that, I’m so looking forward to playing this mode as just a slightly tweaked continuation of the game; a fourth season if you will.
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I said this months ago. After seeing the initial trailer that IOI put out and the release video they did, I was positive that was going to be the case. The stuff that was tested out in 7 Deadly Sins is now going to be used in this new mode.
That’s a good thing, by the way. This new mode is clearly not going to be just more contracts. They are adding elements to the missions that will improve them. The idea of the Lust-type clue finding, the Envy-type rival assassins, and the Pride-type missions variance will all enhance the missions and make them more re-playable.
There is a difference between restrictions like we’ve been seeing in Elusive Target Arcade and mission enhancements like a rival or clues to find. I think that if the Freelancer missions stick to that type of added stuff, it’ll be a good thing.
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Well, that sounds a little better, but I’m still hoping not. Other than the parts I already mentioned that deviate from the usual formula, I was hoping for something closer to the usual, unrestricted gameplay of a normal level mission. I don’t want to feel like I’m on a timer trying to get the target before the rival does, or that my choice of methods can cost me in my final score and earnings. Hopefully, so long as you can get the highest ranking you can, with Silent Assassin being the highest, how you achieve it won’t affect you, unlike how it was presented in Pride.
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I think the way the optional objectives are currently designed, they aren’t supposed to affect Silent Assassin, nor are there supposed to be complications. The win conditions very much still seem to be “don’t let your target escape, don’t die”. The 7DS thing is just about the experimentation with new ideas; Eg. Lust-style target investigation/revealing.
I think the Pride idea of a rival assassin is probably not going to be used 1:1 for the following reasons:
- Unlike the Pride escalation there’s no reason why you couldn’t just KO your rival thus making the concept pointless
- Unlike the Pride escalation there’s no reason why 47 wouldn’t be fine with letting someone else make the kill, it’s rarely been about the money for him
- It seems to me a proper rival pathfinding system that accounts for Freelancer’s RNG elements would be very hard, both for actual functionality and fairness to the player
IMO the rival assassin will be repurposed as a direct hazard to 47, not as the soft timer it is in Pride.
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The rival was Envy, not Pride, but I take your point. From what the preview showed, there will be other NPCs that will be trying to hamper your progress. In the announcement video, they said that in the last mission of each campaign there will be “other NPCs that will be trying to alert the leader or spook the leader and make them try to escape”. That makes it sound like the rival won’t be trying to actually kill the target, but might make them try to flee the level or go to lockdown. I don’t know why the player wouldn’t be able to just knock out those NPCs though.
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It seems to me that Freelancer will be a way for you to push your luck in earning more money, instead of the game forcing it upon you.
This list of challenges suggests to me that you’ll get a series of complications you can add to your mission before it begins. Completing them nets you more money (or maybe a multiplier?), but they’re all optional. (If that’s the case, I’d hope IOI would change them to the blue ‘secondary objective’ icon)
However, the mode is described as a Rogue-like/Rogue-lite, so the idea of randomization will probably be a key factor. Whether that means there are some complications you’ll come across that are forced on you (“Target has more bodyguards!”, “They will flee if alerted!”, etc.), but it’s meant to provide a bit of a challenge compared to a normal mission.
Whether that means each Freelancer contract has the potential to be cut short if your target escapes or you die, or you have to leave to the safehouse with no extra money, we shall see…
I think that given the complaints about the Deluxe/7DS complications and the new ones in Arcade, this has got to be the time when IOI finally tones down the amount of insta-fail restrictions.
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I don’t doubt what you’re saying at all, and I’m too lazy to look for myself, but I don’t remember a lot of complaining about the actual complications in the Deluxe and 7 Deadly Sins content. I remember a lot of complaints about the fact that all of that content was escalations, and was not seen as replayable, but I don’t remember a lot of complaint about the complications they used.
The community has a definite bias against escalations, which is unfortunate because most of the content that IOI has put out after the main game’s core maps have been escalation-based content. The only thing I can think of that wasn’t escalations since the initial release of Hitman 3 was the featured contracts and that was hardly “new” content.
I do remember a LOT of complaints (from me included) about insta-fail complications, but most of them have been taken in stride as I recall. Once the Elusive Target Arcade came out the complication complaints started in earnest though.
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Here’s hoping that’s the case.
Honestly, the whole concept of Escalations sucked. They should’ve just made them single level “special assignments” only using the final level of the escalation.
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I do not actively dislike escalations and I actually quite like many of them.
That being said I was very sour on Greed at the time for a few different reasons, one of which was the insta-fail condition. (I have since softened on Greed a bit, especially once unlocking the 60 coin challenge which was annoying as fuck with all the coin bugs.)
Hide All Bodies for the ETs is shit, but I understand why the devs wanted to use it. To me, it’s not that I want to just cheese an accident kill and run away, it’s that for some ETs (The Ascentionist in particular), you have to wait a longass time before having a good opportunity, and if you screw that up, you lose SA or start again and wait around. Or, with Granny Whatshername in Morocco, you do it one way real quick at the start of the mission, or you’re screwed. The complication is meant to strengthen the puzzle but in implementation it just makes things boring.
I didn’t mind pretty much any of the other complications with previous escalations, such as restricted load out or no disguise changes. Those make for good puzzles.
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or the VIP doesn’t die.