During the PlayStation 5 Future of Gaming reveal event, Hitman III was announced. According to developer Io-Interactive, “Hitman III is the dramatic conclusion to the World of Assassination trilogy and takes players around the world on a globetrotting adventure to sprawling sandbox locations. Agent 47 returns as a ruthless professional for the most important contracts of his entire career.” Hitman III releases January 2021 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC.
Being the last of the World of Assassination trilogy, the story picks up after the events of Hitman II and sees Agent 47, his handler Diana Burnwood, and his long-lost friend Lucas Grey continuing their mission to eliminate the partners of Providence. Like the last game, the entire campaign will be available to play when the game releases. The first game in the trilogy, Hitman, released in 2016, had its story missions released episodically.
Dubai has been revealed as the first of six locations that will be available in Hitman III. Other details that IO has revealed include that like Hitman II, players will be able to go back to previous locations from the past game and undertake those missions. “The World of Assassination trilogy is fully realized with Hitman III and we are establishing our new game as the ultimate place to play all three games. Players of our previous Hitman games will be pleased to know that it will be possible to ‘import’ locations that they own from the previous two Hitman games into Hitman III, essentially putting all 20+ locations from the entire trilogy in one place.” Along with locations, players will also be able to import the progression that they earned from the previous games and vice versa so progression earned from Hitman III will work with the other games too.
“Hitman III will act as a platform for the entire trilogy, and we are excited to finally realize a vision that we had five years ago;” IO Interactive said. “To create a game world that would continually grow and expand over time. In the coming months, we’ll share precise details about how location and progression carryover will work.”
Unlike Hitman which was published by Square Enix and Hitman II published by Warner Bros., Hitman III is developed and published by IO Interactive. the developer said that this “feels like a natural step for Hitman III, as the final game in this trilogy, to come directly from us to our players. We feel ready for the challenge and look forward to embracing the journey, together with our players and community. There’s something special about Hitman III being the first full game that we self-publish. Everyone at IOI, in both our Copenhagen and Malmö offices, is ready to deliver a Hitman game that we are all extremely proud of.”