Earlier today, IO Interactive, the team behind the popular Hitman series, took to the stage at EGX 2016 to give fans a sneak peak at the latest entry in its episodic flagship title.
As part of their developer session, Travis Barbour and Torben Ellert spent some time discussing Freedom Fighters, the fifth of seven episodes the game will have to offer. The mission sees Agent return to the United States after spells in Paris, Bangkok and Africa. Set in Colorado, a private militia have taken over an abandoned farm in order to train for something top secret, which the developers refused to reveal but suggested players would be able piece together when the chapter unlocks next week (September 27).
For the first time in the Hitman series, everyone’s favourite silent assassin will have four targets to take care of. As always, IO confirmed that this can be done stealthily and look like four completely unrelated accidents – or you could blow up the barns and go storming in with a shotgun. The choice is entirely yours. The team stated that they wanted to create this particularly intense area where you could be spotted from any angle to increase the danger of the mission.
The level players will be let loose upon is huge and you’ll able to explore farm houses, barns, lagoons, apricot orchids, warehouses, garages and cornfields to find the perfect way to take out each of their targets. It’s more a living, breathing village or town than what you might expect from a farm.
Attendees were shown screenshots of 47 dressed as a scarecrow and told that players could either be patient and wait in a field, or walk around with their weapon out and just be seen as a Halloween character; nobody will bat an eyelid until they start smashing skulls.
Story-wise, IO promised that there would be a big reveal in this episode now that the narrative arc is starting to come to an end. Each episode may be a separate mission unto itself but there is an overall theme throughout. The first couple of episodes were more about establishing the characters but from here on out, we will start seeing more and more advances in the Hitman story – not only for Agent 47, but also for Diana and the rest of the agency.
Like in all the other episodes released thus far, the items players have unlocked and acquired can be taken with them to Colorado. So if you’ve found the exploding rubber duck in the past, you can blow up a camp with it; opening up more and more possibilities.
The first full trailer for Episode 5: Colorado won’t be available until the game launches, so players will have to wait until then to find out any further details.
