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Seems like they're changing the release format and doing an "inverted season pass" type of release.
https://hitman.com/news/hitman-release-details
- INTRO PACK - 3 locations and 6 missions (with online "Contracts" mode) available March 11, 2016 for $34.99
- UPGRADE PACK - 3 new locations (1 per month April-June) and new campaign missions for $29.99
- FULL EXPERIENCE - All content when available for $59.99
I guess they had to cancel the preorders since the game's structure changed.
If so, why make this announcement when there are only 5 days, and no info about this before today? They still have the line "All locations from HITMAN 1 and HITMAN 2 can be imported and played within HITMAN 3 at no additional cost for existing owners – plus progression from HITMAN 2 is directly carried over into HITMAN 3 at launch." on hitman.com. To me it qualifies as a lie.
Huh, weird to not see weekly content again. Weird to see 11 days for ET as well. And no April game update.
All-in-all looks to be more like "half the april" content schedule, and either they are cooking something for 18th of April, or pushing more resources towards season 2 or we just see the decline of live content for now.
EDIT: ah, yes, explanation in blog:
> Now, after more than a complete year of weekly content releases, we’re moving to a monthly release for April.
Releasing all of our April Content on one day will ensure that you will be able to immediately play your favourite type of live content and have a larger amount of content to play, discuss and enjoy at once. HITMAN is a game that has evolved a lot since launch and we want to keep exploring ways that we can improve the experience.
All jokes aside, it's actually really irresponsible for the devs to include the briefcase in official artwork. For crying out loud, 47 holding the brief case is the first thing you see when you go to https://hitman.com.
No Xbox One Beta it seems. PS4 gets it first and then PC gets access a week later.
https://hitman.com/en-us/news/hitman-beta-trailer-and-details
> We’ve also got some extra news, specifically for our PlayStation 4 players. HITMAN will feature six PS4 exclusive contracts that we’ve called “The Sarajevo Six”.
Here's some more disappointing news.
From this weekly post: https://hitman.com/news/this-week-in-hitman-10-6-2016
> we hear your feedback about the lack of bullet wounds in some circumstances. That’s an issue that arose as a result of our weapon balancing from the Marrakesh update and will also get fixed.
It's expected to be included in the next update, with the Summer Bonus Episode.
Well first of all, they still have "All locations from HITMAN 1 and HITMAN 2 can be imported and played within HITMAN 3 at no additional cost for existing owners – plus progression from HITMAN 2 is directly carried over into HITMAN 3 at launch" on hitman.com
That line itself is a lie.
Secondly, $2-$5 could still be a lot of money depending on where you live.
Title implies that they were removed on purpose, which is obviously not the case.
> Equally, we hear your feedback about the lack of bullet wounds in some circumstances. That’s an issue that arose as a result of our weapon balancing from the Marrakesh update and will also get fixed.
Release notes for 1.03.
Text-only version below, full blog post here: https://hitman.com/news/game-update-1-03-released-
We just released a new game update for HITMAN, which adds the Vampire Magician Challenge Pack, improvements to load times and many other fixes.
This update will start rolling out today, March 31st for PS4 and Xbox One players and will be coming to PC in the very near future. Read on for the full release notes.
The Vampire Magician Challenge Pack includes 10 new challenges that were inspired by how our community have been playing the game. Each challenge requires you to wear the Vampire Magician disguise while taking down targets using a range of different methods.
Continued improvements to load times
The improvements will be most notable when loading The Showstopper mission in Paris and we're already working on improving all loading times even more.
Improved responsiveness for in-game menus and image loading
We've implemented an image caching system that will improve responsiveness and loading times for all images in the game menu.
Fixed issues with scoring
Primarily, this fixes an issue that resulted in many players earning a “0 second” time bonus and an incorrect score of 210,000. A leaderboard reset will be implemented at a later date.
Continued improvements to connectivity
Server stability improvements.
Missing 'Requiem Pack' items have been restored
For those affected, these items will now be available to choose from the planning screen again.
Fixed numerous issues that were causing crashes
General improvements to game stability.
The Hitman 3 website still contains the misinformation, and the fact that we're only finding this out 5 days before release doesn't help...
> HITMAN 3 is the best place to play every game in the World of Assassination trilogy. All locations from HITMAN 1 and HITMAN 2 can be imported and played within HITMAN 3 at no additional cost for existing owners – plus progression from HITMAN 2 is directly carried over into HITMAN 3 at launch.
And it's not just about not being able to play the game. The way the progression and content transfer occurs is convoluted and adds to the frustration, even outside of the Epic games issue here.
It'd help if the marketing didn't say the exact opposite.
> All locations from HITMAN 1 and HITMAN 2 can be imported and played within HITMAN 3 at no additional cost for existing owners – plus progression from HITMAN 2 is directly carried over into HITMAN 3 at launch.
Epic storage page (my emphasis):
> Carry over your HITMAN 2 progress from other PC platforms to start HITMAN 3 with your existing player profile, XP, location mastery progress, and more.
Epic exclusivity announcement (from only 4 months ago):
> It’s also important to us that we honour the time our existing PC players have spent in our previous games.[...] It will also be possible for PC players to import locations from the previous two games into HITMAN 3 on Epic Games Store. We want to make it a seamless process for our PC players to enjoy HITMAN 3 on a different PC platform and continue to enjoy the benefits of our World of Assassination.
It isn't until you dig into this FAQ (only released 5 days before the game's release) that you discover that "[a]s HITMAN 2 is not available on EGS, we have set up an 80% discount for this Access Pass for the first 14 days after HITMAN 3's launch" (noting that console Hitman 2 owners are able "to download this Access Pass for no additional cost").
PC release time has changed, now the same as consoles.
All three platforms will get an update, starting from 13:00 CEST, aka this time in your region: http://bit.ly/MarrakeshRelease
Release Notes page also updated: https://hitman.com/news/episode-three-release-notes
I think it's the former because if you go to hitman.com and go to location, you will see 6 slots with the first one labeled Miami while the rest are written "Classified", so it's possible the remaining locations will be teased later.
And yet, the post on their own forums contradicts that and so far nobody corrected that info - "If you started playing Elusive Targets after ET 14, or if you have missed/failed too many, you won't be able to unlock all of the rewards. Make sure to aim for the Silent Assassin rating with this Elusive Target if you want to make sure you unlock the prestigious Winter Suit".
Official tweet was a few minutes behind, but is posted now.
One new Escalation in Paris and the first one for the Freeform Training location, aka the yacht.
https://hitman.com/news/a-new-set-of-escalation-contracts-added-to-hitman
For those wondering about the source for this, it's at https://hitman.com/news/elusive-target-24#
>This target will be in Sapienza for 11 days and is one of the final three Elusive Targets to be released for the first season of HITMAN.
This is really, really stupid.. wonder how they'll keep their promise of letting disc buyers get all the rewards.
The physical version will be released at a later date as the game itself is first coming out digitally in the form of episodes.
Currently you have five options:
- buy the "Intro Pack" which is simply the Prologue and the Paris missions if you'd prefer not risking getting the entire package at once
- buy the "Intro Pack" and later upgrade to the "Full Experience" which will give you access to everything
- buy the "Intro Pack" and get the other episodes seperately
- get the "Full Experience" which will give you access to all of the episodes once they are out.
- wait for the disc release
Here for more info, as I am sure IO's community manager is better at explaining stuff than I am.
Also, don't worry. You're not the only one confused.
> and with Ep. 3 (scheduled for May), the mere release date won't even be announced until mid June.
They've stated in this article that the release date will be announced next week.
They also confirmed in a Tweet that Episode 3 will release before E3.
> We were told we were buying the first season.
https://hitman.com/news/hitman-q-a#
> Throughout 2016 we’ll release more locations and missions until the story arc is done and finished. All of that content is included in the $60 price.
"Finished".
> the other place where that language is used - TV
Video games have started to use the word "season", too. The episodic business model is new but HITMAN isn't the first game that's using it.
My point is - as I consumer, why would I stand for companies trying to milk me out of my money by purposely not finishing the storyline and expect me to pay to see the rest of it?
In the press release itself: https://hitman.com/news/hitman-holiday-content
> We are very excited to reveal a brand new mission that is coming to HITMAN on December 13th, just in time for the holiday season!
From the Bonus Episode Release Notes:
>The Summer Bonus Episode is available for players who own the Full Experience or own the combination of Intro Pack + Upgrade Pack, at no additional cost. For all other players, the Summer Bonus Episode will be available for individual purchase later in the Season, packaged together with a third bonus mission for one price. At that time, Full Experience and Upgrade Pack owners will also get access to the third bonus mission at no additional cost.
Most likely after the 6th episode.
New update for all platforms releasing "in the coming weeks" as of March 22nd. When there's a more concrete ETA, I'll share it.
Full post here: https://hitman.com/news/two-new-escalation-contracts-added-to-hitman
For Sapienza, you'll know the exact date this week.
At the beginning of every month this website: https://hitman.com/news will update and have a content schedule. The elusive targets are listed in the content schedule, so just be on the lookout for the May content schedule.
General Improvements
Offline Profile
All unlockable items that are earned when connected to the game's servers, are now also saved to an 'offline profile', meaning that they can be used when in Offline Mode. Items include all mastery items; including weapons, gear, starting/pickup locations as well as Elusive Target suit rewards and Challenge Pack unlocks. Note: You must be connected to the game servers in order to acquire new unlocks.
The info we shared over a year ago is still correct and not expected to change in any way:
> As for the PlayStation 4 exclusive contracts, they are only available to those people who own a PS4 copy of the game.
Same here.
They still have the line "All locations from HITMAN 1 and HITMAN 2 can be imported and played within HITMAN 3 at no additional cost for existing owners – plus progression from HITMAN 2 is directly carried over into HITMAN 3 at launch" on hitman.com.
No info about locations, but when they announced Bad Boy, they wrote: "At this point, you'll need to have already earned 2 Silent Assassin ratings from the previous 10 ET's before starting The Bad Boy to be able to unlock the prestigious Winter Suit via Elusive Targets".
That pretty much means there is Bad Boy and two more ETs before closing the clothing shop.
As for locations, I will be unable to find it, but one of the devs wrote they made one of the ETargets in Night Marrakesh for sure.
Landslide is a popular guess, as a "every bonus map should have one, right?". But I think Hokaido would be better, just to give people second chance for White Yukata (did Bad Boy in Night Sapienza unlocked the Sapienza's shirt+glasses+gloves suit?)
Lets see what was said back in September
https://hitman.com/en-us/news/hitman-q-a
"Can I play HITMAN offline or do you have to be connected all the time?
You will be able to play the locations and missions offline. To play the live events, download updates or see things like leaderboards, you’ll need to be online."
Looks like they left out a few details regarding challenges, getting a rating after a mission, using guns, disguises and stash points you unlock, playing user created missions, but what the hey "Tomato - Tomahto", right?
Yeah, especially considering they already changed release model.
There's also this:
https://hitman.com/en-us/news/world-of-assassination#
> as the first season progresses
Kinda implies that there will be 'second season'.
Also you could argue that game itself is a season pass. But of course they are not using that word.
Don't worry. We're all confused.
Basically, if you want to buy the entire game - you have to wait until it's finished. There's going to be a physical release supposedly around the end of the year. So, if you just want to experience everything all at once, you don't have to care about anything else and just be patient.
Otherwise, if you prefer to be more involved, the game will release in chunks over the next couple of months. If you are familiar with the Telltale games, you should know how this works, but since you are confused about the term, just think of it as levels. The first "episode" will be released on March 11. This will include the "prologue and the Paris location". What that means is not specified. This chunk will be priced at $15 or your regional equivalent. If you wish to purchase the next set of missions that will be releasing over time, you'd have to pay for those individually or just buy an "upgrade pack" which might be a fancy term for a Season Pass.
Since that might still confuse you - in March we get a few levels for a lower price. This is not a complete game. More levels will be released over time (every set of level will have to be purchased unless you pay upfront for the whole package) until the game is finished at which point there will be a physical release.
Here's that info on the official site if you'd like to read more.
wrong. YES YOU CAN. go to hitman.com it's called starter pack. It gives you the first 3 locations at release for 39.99
You can upgrade to full if you like it afterwards for 19.99
https://hitman.com/news/hitman-release-details
Go to section that says Intro Pack
It was in a thread on /r/pcmasterrace can't seem to find the user that posted the link it was a tech website talking with the developer. I'll keep looking but no promises!
EDIT:Can't find the direct page I think it was from PC gamer but here's the open letter to fans they posted a while back https://hitman.com/en-us/news/an-open-letter-to-all-hitman-fans
>[PC physical edition question]?
>* If it doesn't show up on hitman.com/buy, then it doesn't exist.
This isn't entirely accurate -- there's a physical edition for PC, but only in certain regions (Europe, Middle East, Asia). https://hitman.com/buy doesn't mention it but it's available through Square Enix: https://store.eu.square-enix-games.com/en_GB/product/615146/hitman-iii-pc
try this my friend
Edit: It was there (for EU) until yesterday. Probably the took it down. I think they are making some changes to the way they're going to sell the game from now on as the release date is coming.
Edit 2: You can still find keys on grey market sites.
From the announcement " two separate ICA missions which catalogue Agent 47’s first trips to both Sapienza and Marrakesh. This Episode is not part of the story arc of HITMAN, being previous ICA missions they are set apart from the main story."
https://hitman.com/en-us/news/hitman-summer-bonus-episode-announced
I've been saying that for weeks. IO really need to step up their game in terms of communication. Hell,I'm mostly seeing Travis posting news updates and nothing else. There's no "Known issues we're working on" ,no "Report bugs here" threads. We need frequent updates on what's fixed and what is yet to be fixed and possibly a roadmap for future content - what features can expect in the future and a very rough release schedule. I know things constantly change in the gaming industry and bugs pop up all the time,so delays are inevitable. But we should really have some sort of a rough schedule on future content. And please don't be so silent about the patches. Literally 24 hours before yesterday's patch came out Travis posted:
> Info on the next patch was posted before Easter here: https://hitman.com/news/two-new-escalation-contracts-added-to-hitman > In the future, hitman.com will be updated to make the most recent (and important) game information more visible on the site, making it easier to get an overview for what's changed and what's coming up.
He very well knew we'd have a patch on the next day(since it had to be ready in order for them to release it on the next day) and yet he still refused to provide info about a patch that's about to be released on the next day. The waiting for a patch can be infuriating when the game's buggy and knowing a few days beforehand that the patch is almost ready can aleviate some of the frustration.
SCEE regions (Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania)
The PS4 Beta is scheduled to start at 11:00 CET on February 12th 2016 and end on February 15th at 11:00 CET.
SCEA regions (United States, Canada and Latin America)
The PS4 Beta is scheduled to start at 08.00 PST on February 12th and ends on February 15th at 08.00 PST.
I was also interested in hitman, but it wasn't the episodic bit that killed it for me. It was that according to the devs there will only be "six sandbox locations" once all of the content is released. That pretty much translates to six maps (3 at launch, and 3 later). They also say that there will be six missions at launch(over 3 maps) and "more missions" later (most likely over those 3 maps). Even with contracts mode, I don't feel like this is even remotely enough, especially since they're reusing maps.
Source on all of this
Sounds like "The CP2077 situation is being exaggerated. Despite having constant bugs and terrible graphics, its still a playable game on console" to me. They literally have "All locations from HITMAN 1 and HITMAN 2 can be imported and played within HITMAN 3 at no additional cost for existing owners – plus progression from HITMAN 2 is directly carried over into HITMAN 3 at launch" on hitman.com. If being lied to doesn't make you feel bad, idk what does.
There will still be a standard release of the Standard Edition available in stores etc - this is just a way for them to get a physical Deluxe Edition out.
When you look at the official pre-order page, the standard edition has text saying "RETAIL PRE-ORDER COMING SOON" while the Deluxe Edition section does not have this.
I'd go by this table on the promotional site. I think if the collector's edition came with the entire Season 1 (which will be called the Legacy pack in Hitman 2), it would make a point to mention that here.
As I understand it, completely new locations. If not, this purchase page is heavily misleading. I understand it as six locations in the base game plus an additional two for those who buy the extra content.
The app isn't dead - it's still supported by IO as they regularly update the file it calls on to add the Elusive Target information into it as ETs are reactivated. However it hasn't displayed HITMAN news for sometime because it was pulling that data from the Square Enix version of Hitman.com - and isn't designed to be pulling that information from ioi.dk (which is where they're being posted now).
I believe the app was published to the App Store and Google Play by Square Enix, and they removed it after the split. If it's still available in some regions, it's an oversight - as it hasn't been available in most countries for a long time.
I suspect a new release of the app will coincide with HITMAN 2 - but it's main job it just to remind people that aren't actively checking the game, websites or social media for news on Elusive Targets. I don't expect a re-release to do much more than what it currently does.
Yes-sir,
>Because "Season 2" is "Elusive"? I dunno exactly.
Ha, ironically that works I guess.
From the last ET hitman.com piece > this target will be in Marrakesh (Bonus Mission) for 10 days and is the final Elusive Target to be released for the first season of HITMAN!
So yeah it's over for this season's branch of ET's, so I guess "Season 2" makes sense no? Apologies to anyone confused by it.
We specifically called out Elusive Targets on the promo material for the disc version, saying that the disc version excludes live events that have already happened. See here: https://hitman.com/news/out-now-on-disc
Currently, the only way to earn those suits is through ET's.
I think it's weird that they use this picture of Agent 47, yet we don't have the sniper briefcase. Is that coming?
I also wish it was easier to get the gloves without having to complete 13 elusive targets.
This post makes it sound like you're only going to be getting elusive targets as they come along. Who knows, though - it might be a "season 3" feature or something crazy like that.
You're not the only one...
https://www.reddit.com/r/HiTMAN/comments/4xgv72/anyone_else_having_troubles_creating_contracts/
Will probably fixed when they release episode 4, as the release notes mentions this
> A bug that sometimes prevented players from saving their created contract has been fixed
> Episode Three: Marrakesh will be playable at our booth and we’ll reveal more about it well before E3. In fact, next week we will tell you the exact release date.
That post is from Thursday. We should know next week.
https://hitman.com/news/this-week-in-hitman-19-5-16
The blog post shared by Square Enix this week implied that we’ll reveal the first info about Episode Three at E3. That isn’t accurate. Episode Three: Marrakesh will be playable at our booth and we’ll reveal more about it well before E3. In fact, next week we will tell you the exact release date.
Taken from lo blog
Looks like we aren't getting any improvements after all, also more mixed messages and bad marketing, it would be funny if I hadn't bought the whole game or if I didn't care about the hitman games
It looks like they load a regular map and apply a filter over it using CSS. (regular one https://hitman.com/assets-bin/images@x2/components/map/bg-platinum-map.20160219103347.jpg)
So I made it myself.
I believe I read they're going to give us an in-depth briefing regarding the contract and a picture to fall back on. In this news post they put up, it goes into more detail regarding what to expect.
edit: I'll post some bullet points.
Custom briefing video
A backstory and a unique reason for being in that location
The Elusive Target will not appear on the map and will not appear in Instinct
You'll need to use clues from the briefing video and a photograph that you will be able to review
I'm starting to think you're trolling. Anyway. Yes. Yes it will. The level you play in the beta is the 'Prologue' which is the first level of the full game.
SCEE regions (Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania) The PS4 Beta is scheduled to start at 11:00am CET on February 12th 2016 and end on February 15th at 11:00am CET. (It's at this time that you'll see the Beta in the PSN Store. Anyone with an active pre-order will be able to download it.)
SCEA regions (United States, Canada and Latin America. The PS4 Beta is scheduled to start at 08.00am PST on February 12th and ends on February 15th at 08.00am PST. (It's at this time that you'll see the Beta in the PSN Store. Anyone with an active pre-order will be able to download it.)
The PC Beta is scheduled to start at 11:00am CET on February 19th 2016 and ends on February 22nd at 11:00am CET worldwide.
From the Hitman Beta FAQ site:
CAN I SHARE VIDEOS / SCREENSHOTS / LET’S PLAY / TWITCH STREAM?
Yes, yes, yes and yes. Do all of this to your heart’s content. There are very few restrictions on sharing your experiences in the beta.
It's still gonna cost 60$ for the entire game, says it in their Q&A, here.
Nothing about being cheaper or anything.
I remember reading a few weeks ago that if you buy the "full package" or preorder the game it's going to be 60$, but, if you get the "Intro" pack you pay 15$ and if you decide you feel like playing the rest you pay another 10$ per level pack, so if anything, if you're not buying the full package, it's actually gonna cost more. 60$ for the full pack, or 65$ for the "Intro+Upgrade pack".
here's the link.
https://hitman.com/news/hitman-collector-s-edition-details
The CE will be available to pre-order very soon and will be available on March 11th 2016 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
Maybe it will be listed eventually? Otherwise they have spread false information themselves.
https://hitman.com/en-us/news/hitman-release-details#
That was their original pricing announcement. My guess is maybe you can only pre-order the full game, and have to wait until release to get the new prologue / location 1 pack.
From the recent Q&A "Is HITMAN digital only?
No, we’re leading with digital, so it’s ‘digital first’. At some point in 2016, we’ll release the game on a disc." https://hitman.com/en-us/news/hitman-q-a#
<strong>Dr.Cryptolite</strong>
Now that is - doing something different - the Hitman developers definitely could take notes here.
It's like when you are hunting a monster that is too powerful and you cleverly manage to get it closer and closer to a big town as you fight it and at a certain range the city's Guards become activated and charge the Beast, now you got a small Militia helping you defeat the Monster that is 15Lv above you 👍🤣😎
Agent 47 returns in HITMAN 3 for the most important contracts of his entire career. The dramatic conclusion to the World of Assassination trilogy awaits... Available 20 January on Xbox Series X/S.
Agent 47 returns in HITMAN 3 for the most important contracts of his entire career. The dramatic conclusion to the World of Assassination trilogy awaits... Available 20 January on PS4, PS5.
Agent 47 returns in HITMAN 3 for the most important contracts of his entire career. The dramatic conclusion to the World of Assassination trilogy awaits... Release date - Available 20 January on PS4, PS5.
Actually if you look at the price of the Hitman 2 Gold Edition and assume its price will be the same for the Access Pass. Then it will be about $20 US for the Access Pass for 14 days then the price will go up to full price. So owning the previous games does not matter and to make it worse IOI advertised it on the Hitman3 website that it would be free. https://hitman.com/global/
he didnt say jan 1st. He just said Jan 2021. It comes out Jan 20, 2021 though. Dunno why you're arguing easily verifiable information.
some clarification:
there will be physical editions of the game. but the preorders for that aren't up yet. https://hitman.com/global/buy/ will be updated when they are up. no word on any Collector's Edition at the moment.
Here I'm nice enough to link the real 4k wallpapers for you:
https://hitman.com/cms/assets/uploads/wallpaper-desktop2.jpg
https://hitman.com/cms/assets/uploads/wallpaper-desktop1.jpg
https://hitman.com/cms/assets/uploads/wallpaper-desktop3.jpg
"Expansion 1: Including new location, missions, sniper map, outfits and weapons" (https://hitman.com/purchase). We should expect to see one new location with one (or more) missions in the new location.
edit: None of the Hitman 2 editions include the Legacy Pack. The only way to get it free is to buy Hitman 2 (any edition) on the same platform you owned the previous game on. If you didn't own the previous game or want to change platforms, you'll need to buy the Legacy Pack.
If you owned the GOTY version of 2016, then you get the full pack. If you had only a partial copy or earlier version you'll have to get the cheaper of the 2 Legacy Packs. If you didn't play 2016 or are changing platforms, get the more expensive Legacy Pack.
While we know that the expansions will come with a new location, we don't know how many missions are within each expansion. And whether they are limited to the new location, or other locations in the game as well.
All we know is that the page on hitman.com says mission*s*. Plural.
It's not in the patch notes, if it was intentional it would be because this is a massive change.
https://hitman.com/en-us/updates/june-update-release-notes
Hope they fix this bug ASAP, really not a fan of this bullet sponge thing, while it makes loud playstyle easier. This is stealth title first and foremost
That because the link OP posted is from IOI site. The one from the Hitman site sadly still asks for age verification: https://hitman.com/news/june-content-schedule Good to know the news update can be viewed from the IOI site though i had no idea :)
To answer you question about the Winter Coat its an unlockable for killing 5 Elusive Targets with an silent assassin rating. Elusive Targets appear every few weeks for a limited time (usually for 7 days) and you only get once chance to kill them. More details below which explain the unlocks in more detail:
https://hitman.com/news/elusive-target-18
Also the app will notify you when the Elusive Targets become available
Download the free app now for iOS: http://bit.ly/HMCompanion_iOS
Download the free app now for Android: http://bit.ly/HMCompanion_Android
No, the bonus missions come with the upgrade pack too.
Bonus missions are only unavailable (for now) to those who bought each episode individually
Edit: source
What exactly is an unplanned patch? Every patch is unplanned until a decision is made to package fixes together into an update. If they had waited two months to roll this update into the December patch would the game would have released 'finished'?
HITMAN released a patch the month of its release with bug fixes and challenges based on player play styles. DOOM released a patch a month after release with bug fixes and minor feature additions like classic weapon placement and photo mode. Stardew Valley released patches on PS4 and XBONE two days after release that were entirely bug fixes and usability tweaks.
All of these patches are similar to the interim patch RB4 received. If RB4 released unfinished, by your logic, these games, and truthfully almost every game released this generation, came out unfinished.
The only place I could find the mission briefing was from this wiki and hitmanforum.com. Apparently a user there leaked the info http://www.hitmanforum.com/t/bonus-mission-3-landslide/8897
However, IO did previously announce the mission https://hitman.com/en-us/news/disc-release-date-announcement
I guess I should put a disclaimer since it hasn't been confirmed.
https://hitman.com/en-us/news/disc-release-date-announcement#
and they have confirmed that the live content won't have finished when this is released, so I don't see how it could be a proper "definative" edition as opposed to just a hard copy of the same game
Oh I just decided to re-read the release notes, which you clearly didn't do.
>the Summer Bonus Episode will be available for individual purchase later in the Season, packaged together with a third bonus mission for one price.
But sure, the marketing is woeful.
Edit: fixed link
Yes. The image from the "This week in HITMAN ' Post, showed him next to the black and gold fence in that area.
Sapienza has not yet released in the US yet. It's not available until 8am - 10am PST.
https://hitman.com/en-gb/news/episode-two-release-timings
> PlayStation 4, SCEA regions (United States, Canada and Latin America.) > A time-window release. Set at 8am - 10am PST on April 26.
I love how none of this was mentioned previously
https://hitman.com/en-us/news/hitman-q-a
"Can I play HITMAN offline or do you have to be connected all the time?
You will be able to play the locations and missions offline. To play the live events, download updates or see things like leaderboards, you’ll need to be online."
Left out a couple of details like completing challenges, seeing end of mission stats, using unlocked items, gadgets, locations or disguises, getting a rating and completing user created missions you download.
But hey lets not sweat the small stuff. The important thing is that SE has our money!
https://hitman.com/news/hitman-new-year-update#
that's the post that describes it, I was wrong slightly. April will bring Sapienza, May will bring Marakesh. Beyond that it's a bit murky but they do mention monthly updates.
I think the real interesting part of this game will be the one time hits that are available only once, if you don't get it done the mark gets away.
This is from https://hitman.com/en-us/news/hitman-q-a What does it all cost? How much do I have to pay to experience everything?
The entire game will cost you $60 or the regional equivalent.
That $60 includes everything we create in this story arc; from what we release on March 11th through to the end of the story arc in 2016 and all the live events too. There’s no micro-transactions or hidden costs in there. No extra paid DLC on top either. It’s one package, all-in for $60. We want that to be simple and clear and it was important for us to be up-front about that.
I don't know about microtransactions, as I've never heard anything to do with that for Hitman.
As for "paying for individual missions later", that's entirely untrue. IO have stated explicitly that they will be releasing missions for free further ahead of Hitman's release. They described it that when you buy Hitman, you are buying into something of a "one time fee subscription", which includes the future missions that they will include. Why do it this way? To keep the game fresh, you're not just being given X missions and be done with it, you get X missions, then you can expect more being released every month for 3 months after.
Here's an article they wrote on their release plan.
To nutshell it. You can either buy the "intro pack", which is the game as-is without the future release content, for less money. Or you can buy the full release which includes all future content for your typical AAA game price.
To be honest, the intro -> upgrade deal seem a bit of a rip, because you're being punished for seeing if you enjoy the game first before buying into more content. But it's good if you know you're not gonna be interested in future content.
~~So I think this is a good deal personally. Other AAA developers make you pay standard $60/£40, THEN pile a season pass on top of that for more money. With Hitman, you pay that one $60/£40 for everything.~~
Edit:
Opinion's changed slightly due to IO's ambiguity. From what they're saying it seems like you only get 3 locations (+3 locations in the following months), with different "missions" within each location. But it's just the same map with different targets. This is quite a bit of step down from Blood Money's 13, each with their own unique map. So I'm now thoroughly on the fence about Hitman due to the lack of unique content.
It's not a sequel to Absolution at all. If it was, why would 47 be working for the ICA? Why would Diana still be alive? From the site itself (https://hitman.com/news/announcing-hitman) it says it takes place at the height of 47's career so that has to mean it's pre-Absolution but possibly before/after Blood Money.