Hitman 3 reveals second location, timed Epic Store exclusivity

Developer IO Interactive has just revealed Hitman 3‘s second location, as well as timed exclusivity on the Epic Games Store for the PC release.

The new location, Dartmoor, flips the script of normal Hitman missions… sort of. You’re still going to have to kill someone, but you can also solve a murder if you’re so inclined.

You see, the major centerpiece of Dartmoor is Thornbridge Manor, where a murder has just taken place, and one of the wealthy family members who live at Thornbridge is the culprit. One of the Mission Stories available to the player is disguising Agent 47 as the detective that’s been called in to solve the murder by piecing together clues and, we’re assuming, interviewing the family.

It isn’t exactly clear how solving the murder mystery will impact the pursuit of your target. Sure, a detective disguise is a handy way of infiltrating the manor, but it would be even cooler if solving the mystery was the key to discovering who your target actually is.

Of course, you can also make your own plans, or just gun down everyone in the manor. You definitely won’t get a Silent Assassin rating if you do the latter, but you’ll get the murderer, one way or another.

As for the Epic Games Store timed exclusivity for PC players—yes, that’s happening. However, before you get your knives out (pun intended), IO is making it so that players who owned the previous two games on Steam won’t be left in the dust if they don’t want to have to wait a year to play it on Valve’s platform.

According to a recent blog post, players who owned the previous two games on Steam will be able to “carry over their current progression and unlocks from Hitman 2 on Steam into Hitman 3 on Epic Games Store. It will also be possible for PC players to import locations from the previous two games into Hitman 3 on Epic Games Store.”

“As an independent studio, our partnership with Epic has given us the freedom to create Hitman 3 exactly as we imagined and self-publish the game to our players directly,” IO stated. “It’s also important to us that we honor the time our existing PC players have spent in our previous games.”

Just yesterday, IO Interactive revealed which modes are coming over to Hitman 3, and it looks like the final chapter in the “World of Assassination” trilogy is going to be a strictly single-player affair… for now. IO has hinted that its got plans for a multiplayer mode that will replace Ghost, though it probably won’t be in the game at launch, if it all. However, if IO keeps the kind of creativity that’s in Dartmoor flowing throughout the rest of the game (not to mention the VR mode), we’re sure there will be plenty to keep players busy.

Hitman 3 is launching in January 2021 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Google Stadia, and PC via Epic Games Store. Pre-orders are scheduled to go live later this month.