Hitman 3 is getting ray tracing and PC VR in 2022

Hitman 3 is the conclusion to IO Interactive’s sandbox homicidin’ trilogy, but the game itself still has plenty of life in it yet. In a new “Year 2” trailer, IO producer Hakan Abrak has teased some fresh additions coming in 2022, from new modes to PC-specific upgrades like ray tracing and VR support.

Actual details are pretty sparse, and an accompanying minisite explains that a full reveal for Year 2 content (Hitman 3 released in January 2021) won’t come until early next year. For now, we know one of the new modes will be named Elusive Target Arcade, with it promising a twist on the current once-chance-only Elusive Target challenge mode.

Abrak also hints at “new maps, new storylines, new modes [and] new ways of playing”, so it sounds like 2022 will see Hitman 3 on the end of some pretty beefy DLC. VR mode also looks like a combination of cool and hilarious, allowing you to both chuck knives into heads and raise the roof at a rave with thine own hands. I don’t know if it’s for me – Hitman often only works because 47 has the dexterity of a literal superhuman, not a tech journalist with a profoundly lapsed gym membership – but it’s nice that the PC is getting VR at all, after the PS4 and PS5 versions have been having all the fun.

Hardware allowing, us of the personal computer persuasion will also get to enable ray tracing – a feature that’s long been promised for Hitman 3, albeit in vague terms - from early 2022. We get a glimpse of this in the trailer, with 47’s bonce looking even shinier than normal, though unfortunately (for polished floor enthusiast Katharine) we’ll have to wait and see if the rest of the game is as gleaming.

The Year 2 phase of Hitman 3 officially starts on January 20th 2022. Again, it’s not overtly clear if ray tracing, VR support and Elusive Target Arcade will arrive on that specific day, but there’ll be more announcements (including confirmation of supportive VR kits) before then.