Aww what a let down!
Another feature removed for no reason from the game…
Now there’s even less reasons to play on Master Mode. Sad 
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Maybe IOI get some insights about players habits on Hitman games (because the game is online, they can perform stats on them and discover the tendancies).
I guess that they discover that master mode isn’t played as much as we think. Ultimately, they don’t want to create a kind of separation between casual and regular players.
Between H1 and H2, there was a first modification of the master mode. Instead of having its own mastery track with specific unlocks, the professional and master mastery tracks were merged into one. That was personally a good thing: playing the same challenges all over again with increased difficulty can be repulsive. In H2, only classics challenges are transferred (with SA, SA/SO or sniper asssassin).
It gives a challenge, I did them but only because there were challenges and unlocks tied to them. Interesting point: unlocks were only reskin of items with no specific mechanics.
In H3, all master challenges are removed. Personally, I don’t care. To be honest, I’m not a fan of master mode. I play Hitman for replay and find different ways to approach my targets and find different assassination methods.
I’ve the impression that master mode reduces the opportunities. Moreover, the one-save only is repulsive for me. I like Hitman, but re-starting again and again the same mission to achieve what I want is kindy repulsive.
Due to work and family, I don’t have a limitless freetime. The unlimited-save feature on Professional mode allows me to achieve my goals without taking too much time, because I don’t need to reproduce all over again.
By removing the difficulty-tied challenges, I think IOI wants to make Hitman accessible to everyone and not blocking items due to difficulty.
Master mode is still in the game, so if a player wants some challenge, (s)he’s free to play it.
I understand the arguments in favor of difficulty-related challenges, but personally, I prefer the situation in H3. I enjoy much Master mode when there is nothing tied to it.
Have a good day
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Yeah it’s nice to be rewarded for taking the harder path but if you think about it in terms of “what makes the game more fun” it makes sense to just let everyone play in their comfort zone & give out items for actual gameplay challenges like SASO
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I liked those master challenges as well. Its like a test of level knowledge. And at the end theres a nice little reskin unlock. Thats satisfying.
I know i can still do that without the unlock, but anything with an unlock is nicer. 
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Really? That’s bad man, doing SA/SO in master mode was proof that you mastered the map.
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I think having mission guides and challenge descriptions in is a lot more “easy mode” than playing on professional.
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Joined the forums to find a thread like this. I hope they add a reason to do the master modes. Like others, I used the sa/so challenges and unlocks as my yard stick that I had mastered the levels and game.
It’s less rewarding to me to complete all the challenges and never play on the hardest difficulty.
Maybe like hitman 1, and update can introduce a master like challenge back into the game, with an achievement.
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Dude we just disagree. If every challenge was removed from the game I would not care. All they do is A) give you a hint about something you can do in the game B) reward you for completing a level a certain way. Removing the challenges would not make the game any less fun in my opinion. It actually might make it more fun bc you’d have to stumble into all the complicated stuff on your own.
Take the fireworks kill in Paris for example. How awesome would it have felt to do that all on your own without a challenge prompt telling you it’s possible?
I also play on pro when I want and master when I want. Even if I already got the challenge pop for master sa/so. I’ll still play that way again from time to time.
To be fair you can remove the challenge descriptions I’m the menu and then all you have to go on is the very subtle titles. Makes you have to really think and experiment for a lot of them.
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I did that. I don’t even look at them until a couple weeks after the level comes out.
or that you gave up and followed a mr. freeze guide 
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Only in Colorado, Sa/So on that map sucked so much.
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I do love a good challenge. I just SASO’d Dartmoor on master. Might be the easiest SASO I’ve done in the trilogy so far.
Could be due to the lack of security cameras, as I think it the map has none at all.
If we don’t have achievements/unlocks tied to Master difficulty, then I wouldn’t mind if they crank up master mode even more. I really enjoy those headscratching moments trying to figure out the puzzle. Maybe they can add more snipers and exchange shortcuts for doors that require a crowbar
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you can still do that though.
I always start off on Professional difficulty at first just for the sake of being able to do the missions because some of them are broken on Master difficulty and you just can’t do them the at all but after that I play on Master difficulty. I usually to my Sniper Assassin, Silent Assassin, Suit Only runs in Master.
But to be honest the Master difficulty isn’t much of a hike over professional…a few extra cameras and a few extra guards in the levels that you may not even run into or have to deal with depending on how you approach the mission are not much of a problem so I usually don’t see much reason not to play Master once I have the designed quests out of the way.
To be honest this was a deliberate design choice by iOi and now that the game is out and people have earned these challenge unlocks I don’t see them being able to change them any more if they wanted…maybe they can add them separately later on but I wouldn’t expect it to be honest. Might as well enjoy the game for what it is.
Personally I disagree with them giving the Leviathan Sniper Rifle for Chingqing Mastery Level 20 instead of it being the ultimate unlock for getting Sniper Assassin in 17 different missions because it is by far the best sniper rifle in the game…better than the Sieger 300 Ghost and better than the ICA Woodsman Rifle Covert…but the what works as intended in the game right now is likely final so might as well enjoy it.
The classics are still technically difficulty-limited (just all set to casual), so it’s not like they took the whole system out. They could probably add pro/master versions later if they change their minds.
I am so glad that those Master challenges were removed. I love the game, it’s really one of my two favourite games of the last 5 years. However - the only things I did not like were elusive targets, some special missions like Holiday Hoarders and Master Mode. For one simple reason: Lack of free save abilty. Saving is maybe (one of) the most important feature(s) of the series and the sole reason why I love it so much instead of having stopped playing it. Without it just becomes “work” instead of fun. Endless waiting for loops, hard punishment for slight mistakes or even glitches.
Everyone has a different taste!
Some may love the save restrictons!
But others don’t. And because it was such a pain for me to grind the SASO Master challenges, I am more than happy that I don’t have to endure them in H3 anymore. For me, the lack of free saving made me like the game less and now it feels actively more fun for me. So, a welcome change!
Also: If you want the challenge, you can still do it! If you want to play without save scumming, you can still do it! But now, both sides can get 100% without falling into frustration. And as a last thing - if you need an achievement to pop up for completing a mission on Master mode, you are playing for weird reasons. The game itself should be the priority, not the badges.
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Hello,
I find your reasoning strange, you say to yourself that you are happy to be able to have 100% of the challenges without dificulting and you finish your text with "if you need an achievement to pop up for completing a mission on Master mode, you are playing for weird reasons. "
The fact of having a reward for having achieved a difficult challenge seems totally legitimate to me. see even indispensable in this game model.
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I think that rewarding a player for preforming a difficult task in game is always a reasonable thing.
If players don’t want to go through the trials and tribulations of Mastery on their own accord there is no shame in looking up a tutorial video if need be.
It’s just a little disappointing seeing how you can easily pull off a SA/SO/Sniper which is the classic challenges all in one go on the lowest difficulty, I know people can argue then don’t choose that difficulty, but the original challenges in HITMAN 2 forced you into a difficulty these don’t.
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