Hitman update brings bonus mission, higher difficulty
Off to Sapienza again!
The wonderful murder sandbox of Hitman [official site] is now a touch livelier and, if you want, tougher too. A free update launched today adding a new hit set in Sapienza during a concert and a new 'Professional' difficulty setting, along with fixes, tweaks, HDR support, and some other gubbins. That's a good-looking update. I'll get into that soon but first, have a peep at the trailer for new bonus mission 'Landslide', which sends Ian Hitman to Sapienza to whack a politician with mafia ties:
That's Marco Abiatti, a naughty businessman-turned-politician with mafia ties. Someone wants you to put bullets through his face, or a screwdriver through his neck, or poison through his guts, or... they're probably not too picky. The mission makes Sapienza over a little with a concert Abiatti's holding near the harbour. Everyone who owns the full first season of Hitman gets this bonus mission free.
We've gone over Professional difficulty before but, in short, it makes everything tougher. NPCs are more attentive and search harder, auto-saves are disabled and only one manual save is allowed, naughty Deeds caught on security cameras will trigger guards to investigate, and so on.
As for the rest of the update's other bits, the patch notes detail some natty stuff. My personal favourite is that Ian is again able to pull folks over balconies and out windows; this ability was added in November then pulled in December as a bug meant NPCs who saw Ian yank people didn't blame him for their dreadful deaths. Ian also now gets warnings before picking up illegal items, much as he already did for illegal interactions. Check through the notes and you'll also find an option to disable auto-saves, HDR support, and more fixes and tweaks than I can get into here.
Today also brings a physical release of Hitman's first season, on a disc in one of those 'Steelbook' cases. Maybe you still have a disc drive? Or a fondness for physical things. Perhaps you wish to stroke Ian's cold, steely face. Put it on your pillow at night. You could break through his icy exterior, couldn't you? Clutching the case to your chest, you feel your warmth flow into him, bringing him to life.