It’s been a rough old time for the Hitman franchise, and its creator, IO Interactive.
They revamped and rebooted the Hitman series as an episodic adventure, which – critically, at least – was generally agreed to be a brilliant thing for the series. The dramatic environment changes, and the rhythm of working an area to death before the new one was released, in conjunction with timed events and other goodies, worked really well.
But IO were dropped by their publisher, and left floating on the breeze. As part of their exit negotiations IO were able to retain the Hitman IP, which proved a brilliant move, as they were picked up by Warner Bros. video games arm, WB Games, soon after.
Which brings us to today’s announcement from WB Games, following a tease earlier in the week: Hitman 2 is on the way.
The reveal trailer for Hitman 2 sees Agent 47 carrying out a hit on a racing driver which, with the series trademark sandbox gameplay, gives you all manner of options. You can, for example, go for the traditional sniper rifle route, but hitting a speeding racing driver will be tough. Perhaps dressing up as a mechanic and sabotaging the car might be a better route?
There will be some changes in Hitman 2, however. First of all, is the removal of the episodic format that fit the previous game so well. It’s not explicitly referred to in the press release, but as is the way now, it was confirmed by the official Hitman Twitter account (in response to a fan complaint):
Don't worry, Agent. No episodes this time around.
— HITMAN (@Hitman) June 7, 2018
Additionally, the game has a new mode: a standalone co-op mode called Sniper Assassin, that allows two players to take down targets working as a team. As an added bonus – if you’re planning on pre-ordering the game – the Sniper Assassin mode is available right now as a pre-order bonus on all platforms, PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Players will receive access to Sniper Assassin with pre-orders of the Standard, Gold and Collector’s editions of Hitman 2.
If you pre-order the Gold or Collector’s editions of Hitman 2, you’ll also get access to the full game proper four days before the official release date, currently set as 13th November, 2018. The Collector’s Edition isn’t available to pre-order yet, and the Gold edition is limited to certain retailers; that’s been confirmed as Game in the UK. The Standard edition of Hitman 2 is available to pre-order now.
