'Hitman' Will Be 'Fully Episodic' Says Square Enix And Io Interactive
The next game in the "Hitman" series of video games is coming this March 2016. Initially, the game was going to be released as a full game when it arrives for PS4, Xbox One and PC on March 11, but the game's publisher Square Enix and developer Io Interactive recently announced that the game will instead be "fully episodic," according to a report in GameSpot.
Instead of getting all the missions in one drop, only the prologue and the first mission will be released on launch. The other missions, Io Interactive promised, will be available in the upcoming content which will come later in the year.
The Italy and Morocco missions that were supposed to be included at launch will now come much later. The Italy mission is scheduled for April while the Morocco mission is said to be scheduled in May. According to Io Interactive, they will be providing what they call "regular monthly content updates" throughout the whole year. These monthly updates will include new settings such as Thailand, the United States and Japan. There will also conduct weekly live events and other content in between the regular monthly updates.
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Part of the reason why the game became episodic was for the developer to have more time to perfect each and every location before it is released. According to Io Interactive's Hannes Seifert, the main reason is "that this will allow us to create a living game that will expand and evolve over time and establish a foundation for the future--this is the first game in a storyline which will continue and expand with future Hitman games."
The game first comes as a digital version only while the physical disc will be made available by the end of the year. The full version, which includes all the missions and all upcoming content, will sell for $60. If gamers want to try out the game first, they can purchase the Intro Pack for $15 which includes the prologue and the Paris mission. As other locations are released, they can be purchased for $10 each.
For PS4 players, they will get exclusive content called The Sarajevo Six, which includes six additional missions, one for each location in the game. The storyline for this exclusive content is different as it brings Agent 47 to go after six former members of a paramilitary unit called CICADA.
The game is still scheduled to have a beta sometime in February with PS4 players getting access on February 12, while PC players will have access on February 19. Those who preordered the full game or just the Intro Pack will be able to get beta access.
