Hitman on PS4: Beta and Story Details Revealed

76 9
Hitman on PS4: Beta and Story Details Revealed

There is a world beyond yours, where economics and luxury collide with violence and power. Welcome to a world of assassination, a dangerous place of hidden violence where secret deals and bloody murder decides who holds power. It is a world where agencies such as the ICA work in the shadows to bring balance to the power struggle.

Hitman on PS4: Beta and Story Details Revealed

The world of assassination is an expression of the ongoing game world we have built over the last 15 years at Io-Interactive since the release of the very first Hitman game. It is the setting for past, present, and future Hitman games.

Episodic Storytelling and Narrative

Hitman will launch on March 11th as a truly episodic game experience with a major live component. The episodic nature of Hitman allows us to craft both individual stories centred on Agent 47’s targets as well as longer season stories involving 47, Diana Burnwood, the ICA, and an entirely new main cast.

The structure is inspired by contemporary TV series’ and will unfold over multiple seasons. To begin with, the overall story and the individual mission stories run in parallel but as the first season progresses, the tracks will merge and become one.

Before That, the Beta

The Hitman Beta will be available first on PS4 starting February 12th. You can guarantee your access right now by pre-ordering either the Full Experience or Intro Pack via PlayStation Store. The Hitman Collector’s Edition will also include access to the beta, and full details on that are up on the dedicated CE page. Whichever version you choose to pre-order, you’ll also get the Blood Money Requiem Pack.

Hitman on PS4Hitman on PS4

As well as being the first to play the Beta, PS4 players will also get exclusive access to The Sarejevo Six. These are six bonus contracts that tell a self-contained side-story revolving around former members of a paramilitary unit called CICADA. Agent 47 will travel the world in pursuit of his targets, with one contract available in each location from the game.

The first PS4 exclusive contract will be available when the game launches on March 11th. We’re calling it “The Director.” Your target is Scott Sarno, Director of European Operations for the CICADA private military corporation. He is a thirty-year veteran of clandestine operations and has been linked to a number of questionable operations in Europe and the Middle East as far back as the mid-nineties. He is highly trained and incredibly observant, you should expect him to be accompanied by several CICADA agents at all times.

Hitman on PS4

We’ll see you on February 12th for the Hitman Beta!

Comments are closed.

76 Comments

9 Author Replies

  • I preordered the collector’s edition from amazon does that mean I will be getting a Beta code?

  • I used to love the Hitman series (even the weaker entries), but this “episodic”/”seasons” stuff is a completely turn off for me. Anyway, maybe Ill get it at doscount price when the “season” is over.
    Oh man…I remember the times when you used to pay for a full game and get exactly that.

    • Completely agree with you; you used to purchase a game and get a game. Although I can understand finding new ways to market a game, this “buy before you try” is ridiculous.
      But like you mentioned, just wait for the inevitable “Complete” edition at a discounted price.

      As excited as I am to see what they do with this one, I can wait for the “Complete” game.

    • That’s fair enough. We are putting all locations on a disc and releasing that later in 2016 when the season has concluded.
      As we’ve said previously, the decision to go truly episodic wasn’t one that was taken lightly and we anticipated that it would frustrate some players. It’s worth noting that the ‘Full Experience’ is the price of a full game and we are delivering a full game episodically. There’s no additional costs in there.

  • Will definitely be getting this. Can’t wait to take some people out.

  • I love the Hitman games (except Absolution), but out of principle I can’t get behind this one because of this episodic/seasons nonsense. If it turns out great, it’s going to hurt, but I’ll pick up a preowned copy of the full game later in the year. That way I can play the game safe in the knowledge that Square Enix won’t make a penny from me. Taking these steps makes me feel bad for the developers who have worked hard to create the game, but publishers that force this kind of rubbish on us need to realise that we won’t put up with it.

    • And the developers won’t be making any money either, which is a big negative of buying pre owned. Fans should never buy preowned, because that is truly what hurts the game industry year after year. If you truly love Hitman, like alot of us do, you won’t buy preowned. And generally, it’s a development decision, not a publishing decision, to release episodic games. Also, in recent years, episodic games have much more involving and fleshed out storylines than any complete release. It’s a new age for the industry and they’re trying new things. You can’t hate them for that. HOWEVER, you can hate publishers that force their development teams to price gouge for dlc.

  • Yup, gonna be a Xmas 2016 present for me… or whenever the full game comes out. If I’m buying a game I want a full and finished game. I don’t want to have to buy DLC and end up spending over 100 quid for 1 game.

    This rubbish is going to kill console gaming. I have an ok computer, Steam, add loads to wishlist and buy them when the sales are on… I have 20 games in my Steam Library I’ve bought and not yet played. I’ll be working through those for the moment… spent about 40 quid and all 20 games are full and complete, one or two are even the GOTY editions with all the additional DLC.

    I like the trailers, I’ll keep an eye on this… (I like the free-roam and rag doll effects, just going around with a silenced shotgun shooting people off ledges) I waited for the Mad Max and BTTF episode games to come out as one item and saved 20 quid… why should this be any different?

    • No Mad Max, I mean Sam and Max.

    • About the price, if you were to go for the Full Experience, that’s one price up-front with nothing else added on and you get all of the episodes included, plus the live content that we’re releasing in between the episodes. The live content includes things like time-limited targets and Escalation Mode – a new gameplay mode that we’ll be detailing very soon.

      It’s obviously your choice to wait and we are putting all locations on a disc later in the year. We’re also offering an Intro Pack, to give you the launch content at a fair price to try out the game. If you’re interested in the game, there are a few options there for you.

  • Any plans to release a full version of the game on disc in 2017?

  • Thanks the new Hitman game IO but i don’t buy because of the episodic formula….. I hope there will be a disc version of the full in end of 2016….

  • Can we just dispense with the facade, and come right out and say that the “game of the year” edition or whatever self-contained retail disc version will include all episodes and all (timed) “exclusive” contracts?

    It should be pretty clear that the Hitman audience is not interested in episodic content and pre-order bonuses. Let us know when we can buy the full game on disc from Amazon.

  • I’ll wait for the physical release, thanks.

  • @Travis Barbour

    Despite having beaten only one Hitman game (Silent Assassin) I own all the Hitman games on both Xbox 360 and (thanks to Plus) PS3, and I consider myself a dedicated fan. I even pre-ordered the latest Hitman game the same week it was announced at E3. Unlike some of the people here I was happy to plunk down the $69.99 CAD for the full game because I was confident in Square Enix and I/O Interactive to not disappoint. However, the recent problems I have been having with my pre-order and a complete lack of support from @Hitman, @SquareEnix and @AskPlaystation have given me much reason to doubt anything you say now. A month ago, @Hitman announced on Twitter that all PSN pre-orders were being cancelled due to the retooling of the game’s episodic roll out, and that those pre-orders would be refunded. Mine was not. In fact, two weeks went by and my pre-order still remained active, and on my PS4 the countdown to the game’s release was consistently 330+ days away (almost an entire year).

    • That’s ridiculous, man. Sorry you had to deal with that. This “customer service” is inexcusable nowadays.

  • (Continued) @Travis Barbour

    Meanwhile on the PlayStation store, Hitman remained unpurchased. In otherwords, my pre-order and my $69.99 was floating somewhere in pre-order limbo. I called in to PSN Customer Support and they confirmed my pre-order was still active and they knew nothing of the pre-order cancellation. I sent tweets to @SquareEnix, @AskPlaystation and @Hitman for clarification and received NO RESPONSE WHATSOEVER. Finally, last week, I called in once again to PSN Support and politely demanded that they cancel my pre-order, as it was clear that whatever I had paid for was not coming out anytime soon and I had not been issued a license for the game, and they put in a ticket to cancel it and issue me a refund. I STILL have not received my refund. What is most annoying about this is that I still want the full game, I want my beta access, but I am having to go through all this NONSENSE to cancel and then pre-order a game that is THE EXACT SAME PRICE, so why wasn’t my pre-order just changed to the new one, rather than just being left in limbo? Honestly, I wonder IF AND WHEN I get my refund if I will even bother pre-ordering again, as this experience has shaken my trust in all parties concerned…

  • (Continued) @Travis Barbour

    …This is not how fans that have committed top dollar to your product from Day One should be treated.

    I understand that I/O and Square-Enix are trying to go for something evolutionary here with the Hitman franchise. I am on board with what you are going for, I was on board from the start. But I’ve lost a lot of respect for the franchise and I/O in general because of the slipshod way that this rollout is being handled, with SquareEnix hemming and hawing over what this game is supposed to be, and inconveniencing fans like myself who are trying to support them. Seriously, get your heads straight and stop messing around.

    • What do you know, it appears that on January 28th, @AskPlaystation responded to my tweet THREE DAYS later by giving me a link to a generic PSN page on how to request a refund. Not even a “we’re sorry” or an explanation as to what the heck is going on. Thanks for nothing.

    • I’m 100% sure that the people you talk to at Playstation Support are outsourced and dont work directly for Sony. So those people have poor training, low wages and have to work at times when the real Playstation employess dont have to like night and holidays.

    • @JesteR1701one That may be the case (outsourcing), but it so happens that the PSN rep I spoke with last week was actually a fan of the Hitman franchise as well and he faithfully processed a refund ticket for me. Today I called in to verify since I hadn’t received the refund yet and I was reminded it would likely take a day or two more and I would get an e-mail confirming that it was coming. Both reps were helpful and to the point. I received both the e-mail and the refund this evening. Who I’m ticked off with right now are Squeenix/I/O for creating this mess in the first place by leaving my pre-order in limbo and not responding to my inquiries about what would be done about it. @Playstation was also very slow to respond.

    • First up, thank you for the support of the game and trying to support what we’re doing. I’m sorry that it’s been unnecessarily difficult.

      From our part, it’s especially frustrating to hear that you haven’t had a response from the @Hitman Twitter account. I try to reply to as many questions there as possible. Yours must have slipped through, it wasn’t purposefully ignored.

      I can see from your other comments that the folks at PSN managed to sort you out with the refund. From here on out, with the updated store pages, I expect a smoother ride regarding the ordering process and a focus back onto the game itself.

      I genuinely appreciate you taking the time to feedback in detail about your experiences.

  • I’ve never played a Hitman game, but when I first heard about this one, I kept it on my radar. After the recent decision to release it in installments, it seems I will go a bit longer without the Hitman experience.

  • Multiple seasons, multiple episodes, individual missions, season story arc, live component… Damn. Talk about confusing.
    I still have no idea what’s going on, but since I’m not the kind of person to constantly switch between games and prefer stories as a whole, I guess I’ll just wait for the end of Season 1 and buy it then.

    • A lot of users in this comment section seem to have difficulty comprehending the mentioned distribution method, which is disappointing, but more telling about the community than the game itself. The ‘seasons’ should function no differently than any other full-game, and the story being broken into episodes does not mean it will, at completion, be any more expensive than any other 60$ game.

    • @WingerNu1 Is it any surprise that people are confused? Yes, from the beginning there has always been an “episodic” component to Hitman, and the price of the full game has not changed, but the means by which the product was intended to roll out and how much content will be available at launch has literally changed THREE TIMES since the game was announced last summer, the last change being so significant that Square-Enix actually cancelled pre-orders and issued refunds (though you can see from my rant they weren’t even able to do that correctly). While die-hard Hitman fans and internet-savvy gamers like you and I can follow the bread crumbs back to the source and see that for those of us who were willing to pay for the full experience that nothing has really changed, I can totally understand why casuals and those who were turned off from the outset by the word “episodic” would be confused. That’s on Square-Enix and I/O Interactive to fix, and so far they’ve done a terrible job with their messaging.

  • Will be interesting to see how much total gaming you get and the total cost once the first season is over. I’m not buying any part of this game but I’m curious to see how it all plays out.

  • I guess I will wait for a while if it is released in March I will be too busy with Division.

  • Already pre ordered

  • Even the flattest pancake has two sides…

    I can see how this episodic format can help a developer and therefore I can understand mindset for doing so, but that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t like it. As a rule of thumb, I play the poop out of a game (platinuming the game if I really enjoy it), and then I move onto another game. This release format suggests that I want to revisit a game over and over again to play new content, when in reality I don’t; and it would seem I am not alone. By the time the last piece of content releases for this game, I will have long forgotten about it.

    Your only hope to garner me as a customer is that the game is so well received and reviewed that I end up purchasing the complete package at the end and likely on sale. However, it is more likely that I will have another “newer” game(s) on my radar and will ultimately decide to pass.

    Thwip

    • We know that people have different tastes and ways of playing. If you, or anyone else prefers to play the poop out of a game and then move on, it’s up to us to make a game that you can’t ignore when it comes out. Either at launch, any point throughout the season or ultimately when the disc release comes.

  • I miss the days of a Demo being released weeks/months before the game is out to give some sort of taste on how the Game will be. Why should I have to pre-order to be able to play the beta? I’ve played a few of the Hitman games in the past, and they were fun, but Absolution wasn’t so great.

    • I miss those days too but I’d rather have a developer focus on making the final product rather than developing a free slice of the game that has to go through its own cert process and draw important resources away from the full game. They still release demos and trials you know. But nowadays they come out after the main product has already launched. Betas are usually meant to iron out final bugs and test online performance among other things, so it makes sense to focus them on the segment of the community that is the most invested in the game being a good product. That said, there are plenty of open betas and even many of the closed ones go public in the final days.

  • Anyone know the price of the upgrade pack in Canada?

    • The full game is $70 CAD, the intro pack should be $15-$20 so the upgrade pack should be the difference between those prices, give or take $5? I can’t tell anymore because the store doesn’t display the price once you’ve already pre-ordered.

    • I can see the price of the intro pack in the store. It’s $17.99 CAD, but the price of the Upgrade doesn’t show up (until I purchase the intro I assume). The full game is $69.99.

      The Intro Pack is only bumped up 20% vs the USD price. Assuming the same is true of the upgrade, it would be $60 – giving us a total of $78 CAD. Seems plausible, but it would be nice to know ahead of time.

  • What a terrible idea. Episodes really? How is that even a good idea?

  • I hate the idea, it sounds good for DLC add ons but not the full game. I hate downloaded games for the fact it has no resale value. If i buy the disc and i dont like the game i can sell it, but with download u have to stick with it. I was really eager to buy hitman CE and had the money ready before i found out about this rubbish BS. A overpriced Collectors edition without disc??? Thats just wrong. I rather wait on the disc (sadly) and if collectors edition doesnt come out for it then too bad, i spend less money. With all the waiting i might as well buy it used next year. Smh. #ThisGameMightBeAFlop

  • It really does suck that we are being drip fed a full game, I’d rather pay $60 up front and get a complete full hitman game.

  • No physical=no buy

  • I wont buy this game as I don’t like the violent story, but I just don’t understand why some people are so against the episodic formula. It’s great for many reasons. Perhaps most important is that the developers get the change to listen to the gamers and make improvements. Life is Strange is a very good example of that, although a great story all through the series, the first episode had bad lipsync and poor dialogue. Then the developers could work on that and the game just got better for each episode. Also, episodic games builds up a desire for the next episode, like with great TV series. You just can’t wait for the next edisode. It helps you develop patience, it’s a great quality to have in life. :)

  • I don’t know if people realize this or not but the day you get a FULL game for $60 is so long gone. just wait until game goes on $ALE….. O.W.N.

  • I really love Hitman series and this looks really really good but i hate this episodic thing i will buy the Disc version if they ever release it.

  • I hope everyone understands that this being episodic doesn’t hinder the game especially. All it means is that Square Enix has an easier time updating the game in their live events and side missions. They explicitly said that Hitman will not feature any microtransactions. If you pay $60, which is a very familiar price for video games nowadays, then you will receive all content from release day and onward. It is more thoroughly explained on their website here, if you haven’t already read through it: The New Year update. https://hitman.com/news/hitman-new-year-update

  • As a true and long-time Hitman fan, I am so relieved to read these comments. Hopefully the outrage will be big enough that SE has to pull a M$ to get people back on board.

  • I pre order at game stop where do I enter that code at

  • Because for the the Tom Clancy Division dey send a key to a email address and they don’t tell u what email address dey sent it to

  • I’ll make the judgement call once the game is actually COMPLETE. NOT a fan of episodic gaming PERIOD. If the whole game turns out to be actually great or good… then assuming i remember or feel charitable, i’ll consider spending money on the retail complete edition .

    My .02

  • Pre-ordered the Full Experience
    How much the beta is going to last?
    Can we explore the mission in the beta after the game launch?

  • I for one I’m looking forward to the episodic element of Hitman.The game being episodic means I’ll play an episode, finish it and then wait till the next one is released by playing the many more other great games that are coming out. Sometimes it’s good to take a break from a game no matter how good it is. For example, I would have more likely finished The Witcher 3 if it were episodic. Each episode ending on a cliff hanger.

  • You guys are old and stupid. You don’t understand that people don’t want to be bamboozled and drip fed “episodes”. They want to play a free demo before buying. They want the complete “season” available up front. Today’s trend is to binge watch, don’t you know? Don’t you realize you are shooting yourself in the foot here with your greedy, old scammy ways?

  • After looking through the comments I have to say, I’m very proud of my fellow gamers right now.

    Greedy publishers are trying all kinds of dodgy stuff at the moment and all too often you see people taking bullets for these rich corporations, but not you guys. There is always the odd one that needs ‘re-education’, but those who recognise the issues that are plaguing gaming right now and are willing to make their voices heard are doing a sterling job. I think our hobby may be safe after all.

    • Unfortunately, the vast majority of the time, these people will let you down. I, too, am very happy to read the comments here, but if this is the first time I’ve seen such an appropriate response from my fellow gamers.

  • I appear to be in the minority here, but I love the idea of episodic storytelling coming to a AAA title. It’s a format with a lot narrative potential. Also, I’m often intimidated by the length of games, and breaking it into smaller chunks makes it more manageable for me. I’ve never wanted to buy a Hitman game, before, but this one has me intrigued.

    Furthermore, I want to thank whoever is replying to the comments in this channel. You’re doing a great job. I want to buy the game just to support you.

  • Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions. I’m wondering about the trophy list for the game. Would a person need to wait until the end of the season to unlock all the trophies or would it be possible with what is initially released. Thanks!

  • “Ugh episodic, its just gonna cost more. They are making it so confusing” I wonder how many times they are going to address this comment. Read the article. And the other responses. While i am as irritated as any other gamer about the whole season pass, dlc, shipping an incomplete product, thats not what this is. It seems to me almost tailored specifically to the ‘i love hitman…but ive never beaten any of the games’ guy. That hypothetical poseur fan doesnt have to buy an entire game, they can just buy episodes as the come out.

  • Hi I really love the Hitman series but I am going to buy a PS4 as well as the game in june. So I want to know if I will be able to play the beta, the six missions and the “director” mission or not ?

  • completely hate the fact that the game will be released in episodes. this fashion in no way benefits gamers who are paying for the games. love the hitman series… but im going to sit this one out completely.

  • If I preorder a physical copy from Amazon for PS4 do I still get the bonus 6 PS4 exclusive contracts? Couldn’t find that mentioned anywhere.

  • I have pre ordered the collectors edition on the square Enix Website but I’m unsure if I’ll get the beta code and requiem blood money pack as it doesn’t say anything on that page???

  • If it was anything like absolution, I think I will pass. I love the way I can beat bloodmoney in so many awesome ways. Absolution was like another splintercell or something completely not hitman.

  • I pre ordered from Best Buy. Will I be getting a beta code in my email??

  • @Travis, can you convince me that this won’t be anything like Absolution? I bought it on day 1 thinking that I was buying a traditional Hitman game, but it was more Fugitive than Hitman. Instant buyer’s remorse. Would totally buy a new game with the same features as Blood Money.

    Not sure why everyone is up in arms about the episodic thing. Each mission in older games was basically an episode so it doesn’t change a whole lot. You just won’t get all of the missions upfront

    • And that is exactly the problem. How many people want to spend 4+ months just to finish a game like this? With the older Hitman games, you get into it and finish it in a few days, or a week (or maybe longer, depending how many hours you put into it). You replay missions you like however many times to try different approaches and improve your rating, but it doesn’t take months to do that. With this game, people will finish the content and have a long waiting period until the next release, which they may not be as into anymore, may have forgotten how to play, may/likely have gotten into other games. It’s an awful plan. Fortunately, it won’t be very successful and this sort of thing will be less likely to happen again.

  • I pre ordered with Best Buy, will I get beta access?

  • Hi I am a huge fan of Hitman. I have pre-ordered The Full Experience through the PSN – Playstation Store. I’ve seen people referring to receiving a Code or some sort in order to have access to the Beta. Where can I expect to find this code having pre-ordered through the Playstation Store? Will I need one, or will it simply be made available intellectually associated to the fact that my account has pre-ordered, and therefore no code is necessary?

    I live in Australia, and would really appreciate some info on this, as I dont want to miss my window of opportunity to play the BETA because I was asleep during it. (Timezone pitfalls).

    Kindest regards,

    P.S. so immensely excited to play through these brilliantly designed levels, awash with anticipation.

    Strider.

  • Hyped for this gonna pre order this week

  • You all whine too damn much. Either buy the game upfront and get each mission episodically OR wait until all the episodes have been released and purchase the game then. You idiots don’t complain when TellTale does this, so shut the holy f**k up already.

Please enter your date of birth.

Date of birth fields