Why Every Future Hitman Game Should Stay in the World of Assassination Engine

(Please, with all your heart- do this IO. :folded_hands::folded_hands:)

After spending a lot of time in Freelancer recently, I honestly think IO should never completely leave the World of Assassination framework behind.

One of the coolest feelings in Freelancer is standing in front of the mission board and seeing years of Hitman content all connected together. Paris, Sapienza, Miami, Mendoza, Berlin, Hokkaido — they’re all there, all playable, all part of one giant sandbox. It’s something very few games manage to achieve.

Instead of releasing a brand new game every few years that starts from scratch, I think Hitman should evolve more like The Sims or Fortnite. Keep the same foundation and continuously add to it. New locations, new mechanics, new stories, new Freelancer content, and graphical upgrades could all be layered onto the existing platform.

The biggest advantage is that players never lose anything. Every challenge completed, every unlock earned, every suit collected, every weapon unlocked, and every DLC purchased remains relevant. Nothing feels left behind.

A lot of people worry that using the same engine forever would make the game feel stale, but I don’t think that’s true. World of Assassination itself already proves the opposite.

Hitman 3 doesn’t feel identical to Hitman 2016 despite sharing the same foundation. The visuals improved. Lighting improved. Animations improved. New mechanics were added. New map design philosophies emerged. Entire systems like Freelancer were introduced years after the original game launched.

Imagine continuing that process.

A future expansion could introduce elevators as fully interactive traversal systems. Another could overhaul crowds and NPC behavior. Another could improve destruction physics, AI routines, weather systems, or disguises. The technology can evolve while keeping the existing content alive.

One of the most impressive things about World of Assassination is that every improvement benefits old maps too. Better visuals don’t just help new locations—they make Paris, Sapienza, and Hokkaido look better as well. New mechanics don’t just work in the newest map—they suddenly create new possibilities across dozens of existing missions.

The result is a game that gets broader and deeper at the same time.

From a player perspective, it’s hard to beat the value of opening the game and seeing a decade’s worth of locations, missions, contracts, escalations, Freelancer campaigns, and unlocks all available in one place.

Rather than eventually abandoning that platform and starting over again, I’d much rather see IO continue expanding it indefinitely. Keep improving the graphics. Keep modernizing the technology. Keep adding mechanics. Keep releasing new locations.

But most importantly, let players keep everything they’ve earned and everything they’ve bought.

The mission board in Freelancer already feels like a celebration of the trilogy’s history. Imagine what it could look like after another five or ten years of new content added to the same living platform.

(Side Note: revamps, overhauls or new content for old maps and missions would also highly improve alot for the future.)

(Side Note 2: having missions and maps from the first 5 games would be so dope too!)

Once again: PLEASE DO THIS IO! I’M BEGGING YOU!

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I’d rather see the franchise die than that.

Why can’t game be just its own thing with maybe 1 DLC at most…

5 Likes

I mean, if they made a new map every year or so, even remakes from the older games, within WoA, I’d buy them. But lasting 10 years since the first release is already a massive achievement and eventually I want a new game. If only because I don’t think fundamental things like the AI, graphics etc. can be that easily updated.

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Why should your preferences affect everyone else ?

Yeah I get it. Whatever you say becomes fact, what others say becomes none related bias, right?

I think sometimes you need to switch your tech and not just upgrade - look at Starfield for example, how keeping one base engine over tim jusst makes it outdated, no matter how much you upgrade.

But also, I as well want to applaud the fact how great WoA evolved. Three games, all content integrated into the next one and overarching upgrades improving all previous content is such a special and awesome thing! Maybe there are other games that did this, but no matter whether Hotman is the only one or one of few: What an awesome franchise!

(I do not count live service slop that gets new paid skins and one raid boss every few months)

I hope not.
I wish more for the franchise.


First, the WoA engine has limitations, and there are some fundamental systems - like social and behaviour at the NPC levels - that I wish to see in a future game.
Famously you cannot create prisons, a place where NPCs have factions, restricted areas to some, potential reactions between each other…

I want you to imagine a modern play of the Codename 47 Kowloon Hong Kong missions. Two factions, and the goal to heighten tensions up to open conflict between them. Through systemic gameplay.

Second, the WoA structure is of grand self contained levels. They are great.
But it could be interesting to imagine a campaign with consequences between levels. Or with smaller ones in-between, maybe even optional ones born from your actions.

Third, the WoA formula ran its course.
There isn’t much more to to with it before repeating itself out of relevance.
Hitman 3 did gimmick missions, and defacto redevelopment of some H2016 ideas (Chongqing is a return of Marrakesh master-design).


Do I think WoA has one or two maps in it?
Yes, but not much more.

Do I think WoA has a few game modes in it?
Yes, Co-op is coming, and I’m excited for it.
I still dream of a Freelancer mode where you play as Victoria, completely reversing the social and disguise dynamic.
And then there is my old Lessons Learned campaign wishlist.

2 Likes

Okay guys- a compromise.

I’m up for a new game outside of the WoA Engine IF they add the maps from WOA, Freelancer and all progress to it.

Yeah- I’m the “attached” type

It was bad examples, but there isn’t many other games that do that. I only have Dead By Daylight or Minecraft as other examples.

But thanks for the rude answer instead of just accepting an opinion.