Year 2 - March Roadmap

Since no one else made the topic, the first roadmap of Year 2 is here, the month of March

Blog Post

HITMAN 3. Year 2. March Roadmap. 2022.

With the SEO taken care of, let’s jump into what’s coming up this month in HITMAN 3. Elusive Target Arcade has been reworked, new Arcade contracts are arriving, an Elusive Target returns and enhanced support for Contracts Mode is on the horizon. Let’s break it all down.

March 3: Elusive Target Arcade

We’re starting March with a new batch of three Arcade Contracts, one for each game in the Trilogy. Look out for The Nebulae, the Genera and The Vitae. Complete any one of them and you’ll unlock the Sieger AR552 Tactical.

Alongside the release of this new batch of Arcade Contracts, we want to talk you through some changes that will also be arriving on March 3rd that will impact on the Arcade Contracts we have already released, as well as those still to come.

Changes to already-released Arcade Contracts (March 3)

  • We’ve removed the following complications from The Deceits : “Hide All Bodies” and “Camera Countdown”. The only remaining complication is “One Pacification”.

  • We’ve removed the following complications from The Codices : “One Disguise Change” and “Headshots Only”. The only remaining complication is “No Civilian Casualties”.

  • We’ve removed the following complications from The Ellipses : “No Ballistics” and “Camera Countdown”. The only remaining complication is “Hide All Bodies”.

    • We’ve chosen to preserve the “Hide All Bodies” complication in The Ellipses to stay in line with the choice of retaining the first complication from each Contract and to avoid issues with the leaderboards. It won’t be coming back in future Arcade Contracts.

Changes to future Arcade Contracts (March 3)

  • All ET Arcade Contracts will feature 3 targets per Arcade Contract
  • There will be one single complication that is persistent throughout the entire Arcade Contract.
  • We will avoid complications that are considered to be creatively restrictive or can result in instant failure, this includes the ‘Hide All Bodies’ complication.
  • We will reintroduce the mission briefing for each individual mission within an Arcade Contract. This also applies to the Arcade Contracts we have already released.

Further ET Arcade Changes (Soon)

Our next steps for Elusive Target Arcade changes include an investigation into making all complications optional. If we don’t encounter any unexpected issues, we expect to implement this additional change with our next patch. Updates to come.

March 11th: Elusive Target – The Collector (Year 2)

Following on from The Heartbreaker in Mendoza and The Broker in Paris, we turn our attention to Dartmoor where The Collector is the third Elusive Target to be featured in HITMAN 3 – Year 2.

You’ll have 10 days to eliminate him, starting on March 11. As with all Year 2 Editions of Elusive Targets, all HITMAN 3 owners will be able to take on the contract, whether or not they have previously played the contract. Either way, a successful completion will count towards unlocking ET suits via challenges.

March 17th: Patient Zero Contracts Mode Support

We’re looking back to HITMAN 1 this month to enable support for more maps in Contracts Mode. Out of the four missions from the HITMAN 1 GOTY ‘Patient Zero campaign’, The Source (Bangkok) is already supported and The Vector (Colorado) won’t be supported in future due to it’s dynamic nature and unique Sniper set-up.

We’ve revisited the other two maps from the Patient Zero campaign and added Contracts Mode support for them this month. The Author (Sapienza) and Patient Zero (Hokkaido) will be added on March 17th. You will need to own the HITMAN 1 GOTY Access Pass DLC to play or create contracts on these missions.

Of particular note here, we’ve removed the virus contamination gameplay elements in the Hokkaido mission to keep creative options high in the spirit of the mode. Whilst it is a defining aspect of the campaign mission, we felt it was too overbearing for Contracts Mode.

Patient Zero: Featured Contracts

To mark the update for these maps, we’re creating a batch of Featured Contracts. There’ll be one for each Patient Zero mission and together they will form a sort of ‘mini-campaign’ if you pay attention to the written briefings.

March 24th: Elusive Target Arcade

Just as we started, we are ending March with a batch of Arcade Contracts for Elusive Target Arcade. This batch will also include an Arcade Contract consisting of Elusive Targets from each game in the trilogy. Once you’ve successfully completed any of the three, the HWK21 Covert will be yours.

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I really respect the change to the ET arcade. They really took our feedback seriously. Kudos to IOI

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Also @Urben and @Kevin_Rudd are you going to recreate “The Trolley Situation” in Hitman 3 now?

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And thank them for still paying attention to the previous map.It’s great that patient zero can have new content!

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It can be done now! I’ll leave that to Urben

Can’t remake The Great Escape though :weary:

Could remake Swords and Shotguns but that was a mediocre contract. It’s main appeal was the fact it was just on PZ, and in the time of no Contract Extension tool you had to use the shotgun on the map

I imagine there’ll be a few hostile disguise (aka suit) contracts on Patient Zero, some cool things could be made

I’m less impressed with the Author but that’s nice for people too

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You beated me by two seconds on the post.

One complication by Elusive Arcade !

That was @TheChicken and mine returns since the first day of release in the ET Arcade topic. So nice to see it.

Thank you @Travis_IOI, @Clemens_IOI and the rest of the team for looking into the situation and being close and understanding of the community. The last few weeks might not have always been great and pleasant for it, but the game carries on better than ever.

jeremiah-johnson-robert-redford

One complication, but one big narrative and feel to all three ETs. I can be on board with that.

(If I may give a proposition : if possible one complication for Sniper elimination mandatory but retaining SA/counting as an accident. )

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no vr on all missions
:smiling_face_with_tear:
Oh well. Still a solid roadmap.

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“Of particular note here, we’ve removed the virus contamination gameplay elements in the Hokkaido mission to keep creative options high in the spirit of the mode. Whilst it is a defining aspect of the campaign mission, we felt it was too overbearing for Contracts Mode.”
They are very considerate. :+1:

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Interesting changes to the Elusive Target arcade and good call adding Contracts Mode on Patient Zero :+1:

Looking foward to the next improvements and fixes!

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Patient Zero contract support? Interesting.
But no streams and game update. Again

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HWK21 Covert as an unlock from ETA? But that can be unlocked from Paris, right? And what does this mean: “With the SEO taken care of…”

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Search engine optimization, just makes it more likely to show up in a web search.

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Delighted to hear that the plans are for all ETA complications to be made optional in a future version of the game if they can get the technical stuff to work. A great decision and kudos to IOI for making it.

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Much appreciated roadmap @Travis_IOI ! Thanks for reacting to player feedback regarding the ETA contracts. And double thanks for enabling contracts on the remaining Patient Zero maps. :sunglasses: Aces.

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HWK21 Covert might be my new favourite pistol, but can I bear to let go of the Black Lily?

Really good to see they’ve listened to feedback on the ETA as well. It has great potential, now just to fully realise it.

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A little regret: they didn’t update the map of H3. For example, some upgrade contracts. Of course, it’s also a good thing to focus on previous maps. :smile:

The changes to ETA are much appreciated :+1: Contract support for PZ missions is also neat for the invested ones.
I wish they´d remove the fixed starting suit for the Patient Zero campaign mission though. Would like to use the winter suits we have there :frowning:
The AR552 unlock is also nice, very cool gun.

I am however disappointed that there´s no patch :cry:

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I like silver baller best. Although I hope it can be held by both sides as before. The symbol of Agent 47.

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Seeing the implementation of patient zero for contracts atleast for me looks like they are covering all bases before the inevitable end of support happens.

Side note: this is all a step in the right direction.

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Forcing SA is never a good idea. It should be a challenge to get it, not mandatory.

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