There’s perhaps no better time to dive into IO Interactive’s Hitman series than later this month. By the end of January, not only will the World of Assassination rebranding mean you can buy all three games in one bundle with zero fuss, but the new roguelike mode called Hitman: Freelancer will become available following its November technical test.
Ahead of its release on January 26, IO Interactive has put out a new cinematic trailer and a new blog post, both of which provide a brief oversight of how the mode works. The trailer even features Agent 47’s handler providing her usual narration, this time about how numerous crime syndicates are on the rise and recruiting ordinary people to create the “ultimate distributed organizational structure.” Therefore, Agent 47 needs to identify these key figures within the syndicates before he can assassinate them, and eventually set his sights on the leaders and dismantle the syndicates.
As a reminder, unlike the main game, Freelancer mode will require you to do all the footwork that was usually taken care of for you. Without the support of an organization, you’ll need to perform your own recon and surveillance, as well as acquire your own gear and decide what’s best to take on a mission. Since a lot of elements are randomized, whether or not you succeed is all dependent on you bringing the right tools for the right situation. If you fail, you lose everything you’ve acquired and will need to start from scratch, hence the roguelike comparisons.
IO Interactive is eager to give players complete freedom with how they play through Freelancer, with the various syndicates apparently based on your own tastes. The aforementioned blog post reads, “Another way that Hitman: Freelancer gives more freedom to the player is by giving them the choice of which syndicates to go up against – all based on the players’ preferred gameplay style, favorite locations, and maybe even the personal dislikes of certain types of crime of the player.”
All in all, this mode sounds like it could keep fans busy for a long time after they’ve seen everything in the main game. IO Interactive has yet to share any further Hitman plans after this, though it’s also supposed to be busy with its James Bond game, which it hasn’t provided an update on since it was announced in 2020.
