IO Interactive's Hitman reboot, due out this year, will be released as a series of episodes...
After the relative disappointment of Hitman: Absolution, developer IO Interactive's gone back to the drawing board for its assassin-disguise franchise, with the forthcoming game simply called Hitman.
The thing is, the studio still seems to be pinning down exactly how they're going to present it. That the game will offer up a more open-world experience, with multiple ways of completing the various mission objectives, was on the table from the very beginning. But then there was talk of releasing the game as an initial burst of content, with additional episodes to follow.
But it's now been announced that Hitman will be released entirely as a series of episodes, with the first two—Prologue and Paris—available on release and the next episodes, set in Italy and Morocco, set to come out in subsequent months. Later settings are said to include America, Japan, and Thailand.
Interested parties will have three ways of stumping up their cash for Hitman. They can pay $60 for a complete season pass, or they can buy the opening pair of episodes for $15 and then pay $10 for all the ones after it. Alternatively, the episodes scheduled after the first two can be purchased in bulk for $50.
The question is, will this piecemeal approach encourage players to sample Hitman on release, or will they wind up waiting to read reviews or, equally likely, for the inevitable Steam sale?
Hitman is due out on March 11 for XBO, PS4, and PC.
