Many a fan might’ve wondered aloud how IO Interactive’s Hitman would work since its head-scratching announcement. Just what fans would be getting for their money’s worth’s been a mystery nearly two months later, but now the studio’s Hannes Seifert weighed in at this year’s Gamescom.
“When we compare just the single-player missions, the overall scope will be bigger than Hitman: Blood Money,” Seifert claimed. “Over the course of 2016, we’ll also add new locations. to travel to. All of that is included in one price.”
According to Seifert, the plan is to release new missions, contracts, and whole cities for Hitman incrementally after its release this winter. Nevertheless, players will still be looking at the standard $60 price-tag for stepping into Agent 47’s shoes again and that means no micro-transactions.
“There’s no option in the game to spend any money–and that’s very dear to us,” Seifert claims. “The game is going to cost $60, and anything that comes afterwards is included in that. There is no way in the game to spend more money than that.”
There are, however, just as many ways to kill unsuspecting strangers. Though 2012’s Hitman: Absolution boasted 50 active AI, this year’s Hitman will bulk that number up to 300 AI to poison, strangle, and disappear in. But don’t expect those AI to be dragging down your game time with too much talk and not enough action.
Instead, Hitman‘s missions will be structured around a narrative framework, but it won’t be bogged down by Absolution‘s heavy-handed storytelling, Seifert says.
“The story takes a bit of a backseat in the game, but there is a plot that connects all the missions you play,” Seifert said.
Seifert said further that IO Interactive intends for Hitman to be a platform that players can expect new content from for at least the next 3-4 years.
This episodic model will reportedly be comparable to Absolution‘s Contracts mode in which players could create limited-time assassination targets for other players online. The mode found surprise success and was one that “almost 40 percent of all Absolution players tried” at launch.
Hitman, as it’s being titled, will release digitally this Dec. 8th for PlayStation 4, PC, and apparently Xbox One only on PSN, Steam, and Xbox Live. The studio says that you can expect a hard copy of Hitman sometime next year.
In the meantime, IO Interactive plans for more news to come on the game in the weeks following Gamescom. Stick around for that and more right here at BagoGames.
Via Game Informer & Gamespot