Hitman 3 reveals third location in latest trailer

IO Interactive has revealed Hitman 3‘s third location in a recent trailer that also gives an interesting behind-the-scenes look at improvements to the game’s engine.

The third location for Agent 47’s globetrot is Chongqing, China, maybe one of the world’s most underrated cities. Featuring ingenious urban planning due to its mountainous terrain, a vibrant street life, and a mazelike layout, it’s truly the perfect setting for a Hitman mission.

Unfortunately, that’s about as much information as the trailer gave us about this third location. No targets were mentioned, though it looks like this might be more of a standard outing for 47 than the Thornbridge Manor murder mystery.

Instead, the rest of the trailer was dedicated to looking under the hood of IO’s proprietary Glacier Engine that was developed alongside the original Hitman: Codename 47 and has gotten a nice update for Hitman 3.

Some of the highlights (no pun intended) include the advancements in lighting and improvements to water effects, which should serve the game nicely in the neon-lit streets of Chongqing. Tweaks to character animations mean a more fluid and tighter-feeling gameplay experience.

These upgrades to Glacier also mean that IO is targeting 4K at 60 frames per second for next-gen consoles as well as true HDR, and that extends to the previous two iterations in the “World of Assassination” trilogy. What’s really cool is that the aforementioned improvements to animations and lighting will also come to 2016’s Hitman and 2018’s Hitman 2 as well. In other words, it’s a good excuse to revisit those gems as well.

It’ll be particularly interesting to see how these Glacier upgrades enhance the VR version of the “World of Assassination” trilogy, which is (as far as we can tell) exclusive to PlayStation VR.

Hitman 3 launches on January 20th, 2021 for Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Pre-ordering either the standard or deluxe edition will net you a slick trio of suits for 47.

In the meantime, IO has also announced that its working on a James Bond game that will serve as an origin story for 007. It might not be the Freedom Fighters sequel that we were hoping for, but it’ll do.