Laying the foundations for the second episode that arrives on Tuesday 26th April, there’s a new patch for Hitman that’s out now on PC and out on Monday on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. There’s a lot of good news for those who’ve sunk hours into the game, with two of the biggest complaints being addressed.
Namely, if you lose connection to the online servers, you’ll be given the option to reconnect and resume your mission, where the game currently forces you back to the main menu. Theoretically, this should also work when resuming a game after the console’s been on standby. At the same time, load and restart times on PS4 and XBO have been improved again, with reductions of around 50%, so you can put your murderous plan into action quicker.
There’s a bunch of other tweaks highlighted in the patch notes.
What to expect from the ‘Sapienza’ release on April 26
New Destination: Sapienza
- New Story mission: World of Tomorrow
- 10 new Opportunities for ‘World of Tomorrow’
- 20 levels of Sapienza Mastery, with the following unlocks:
8 new Sapienza starting locations
(+1 starting location unlocked via a challenge)
8 new Sapienza Agency Pickup locations
6 new weapon/gear unlocks - New suit for Sapienza: Italian Suit
- 75+ Sapienza-specific challenges
- 7 new trophies/achievements
- New ‘The Sarajevo Six’ Contract. Target 2: The Enforcer. (PS4 Exclusive)
Live Content for Sapienza will include: New Escalation Contracts, Elusive Targets & New Featured Contracts (Contracts Mode)
Native Ambient Audio
Added an audio layer for Sapienza that will play native ambient dialogue in crowded areas.
‘Hide in Plain Sight’ Options
The Sapienza location includes more options for Agent 47 to ‘blend in’ whilst wearing his suit.
Opportunities System Improvements
– Persistent reveals: When a player has ‘revealed’ an Opportunity once using the pop-up tracker, they are not required to do so when they encounter the opportunity on future playthroughs.
– Fail Categories: Added categories to explain why an opportunity was failed.
Note: The above Opportunity improvements are only implemented in Sapienza.
Opportunities in the ICA Facility and Paris destinations are not affected.
What to expect from the ‘pre-release’ update before ‘Sapienza’ launches on April 26
Reconnect Option
If a player is playing in online mode and gets disconnected during gameplay, they will have the option to immediately reconnect and resume play without losing any progress, instead of returning to the main menu.
[Available now on PC. Available in a future update for PS4 & Xbox One.]
Immediate Challenge Awards
Challenges are now awarded and saved immediately upon completion, rather than when completing a mission.
[Available now on PC. Available in a future update for PS4 & Xbox One.]
Loading Times
Significant improvements to load and restart times across all locations.
(Reduced by approximately 50% on PS4 and Xbox One)
Challenge Verbosity Settings
Players can now choose between three options for how challenge descriptions are displayed in the game menu.
Full: All Challenge information is shown.
Minimal: Only the image and name of the Challenge are shown
Off: Only the image of the Challenge is shown.
Weapon HUD Settings
Added three options for displaying the holstered/equipped weapon icon.
Full: Show weapon HUD for equipped and holstered weapon.
Minimal: Show weapon HUD only for equipped weapon.
Off: Don’t show weapon HUD.
Immediate Intel
Added an option for players to access the intel menu immediately after finding new intel.
Dropped Items
Disguises, weapons and items that are dropped are now shown on the in-game map.
Holstering animation
Added an animation for 47 holstering a small item, such as a pistol.
Escalation Contracts Improvements
– The list of complications and objectives are now viewable during gameplay and the planning phase.
– Players can now easily see from the in-game menu how many stages of each Escalation Contract they have completed. (e.g 3/5)
General improvements to stability
PC Specific Notes
Recommended Settings
The Game Launcher will recommend graphic settings based on player hardware.
Windowed Mode
The Game Launcher now allows players to change their resolution in Windowed Mode. (Useful for streamers)
Audio Levels
Audio levels during cutscenes and briefing videos now match the in-game audio.
Key Bindings
Fixed minor issues with inconsistent key bindings.
Source: Hitman
