In Hitman: Freelancer, Agent 47's life is more customizable than ever before. While Hitman 2: Silent Assassin had a small shed which players could bring weapons back to, Freelancer gives 47 an entire underground bunker, a multi-story house, and a few acres of forest and lake to call home between missions. These missions, which are randomly generated and selected by the players themselves, take Agent 47 to locations from throughout the World of Assassination, including maps that date back to Hitman (2016).
The launch of Freelancer comes alongside Hitman (2016), Hitman 2, and Hitman 3 merging into Hitman: World of Assassination, the ultimate culmination of the past eight years of releases from IO Interactive. While developers have already stated this will be the last new Hitman content players will see for a while as the company switches gears to almost fully devote itself to the Bond game Project 007 and an unnamed third project, it's clear Hitman: Freelancer has been treated with the same attention to detail as the rest of the Assassination trilogy.
Recently Screen Rant spoke with Associate Game Directors Jonas Breum Jensen and Torbjørn Vinther Christensen, who co-directed Freelancer, to celebrate the launch of Hitman: Freelancer and discuss easter eggs, what changed since the Closed Technical Test, and the development of a Hitman-themed rogue-like experience.
Screen Rant: How did the idea of Hitman: Freelancer first originate?
Jonas Breum Jensen: Hitman: Freelancer came from a wish to give our most ionate players an evergreen game mode that would stay relevant, challenging, and fun for a long, long time. We also felt that there were facets of the Hitman fantasy that we could explore further: The economics and arsenal maintenance of a professional assassin, and the roleplaying opportunities of having a safehouse to inhabit. And we love the more hands-on approach to planning the contracts and strategies yourself, and on doing the recon in the missions.
Looking at how the community is engaging with the normal game we see a lot of -driven ways of finding new challenges - for example, speed runs and Hitman roulette, or self-imposed limitations to add extra challenge. We wanted to investigate how a new game mode could make sure that there were always new challenges even for experienced players and that the game would acknowledge the challenges that players set up for themselves, so that we could tie rewards and progression to it.
Torbjørn Vinther Christensen: We all loved the idea of players being free to roleplay and feel like Agent 47, while having the entire World of Assassination as their playground. This would be separated from the main story and have randomized content to allow for ever-changing objectives and experiences when playing the game mode. One thing we talked about early in development was to try and get the tension from elusive targets every time you’re on a mission.
What was the most surprising change made after the Closed Technical Test?
JBJ: One that really took us by surprise was that so many players hated our economy-fantasy based on low values/numbers, that was inspired by the John Wick coin and by cryptocurrency, and that we felt was also easier to navigate, because the low values are more readable in the UI.
It was a simple change to make to add some more zeroes, and based on the community reactions when we communicated that change, it’s a well-received change that will improve immersion for a lot of players.
Is the release of Freelancer 100% complete, or will new weapons, rewards, and permutations be added later on?
JBJ: We have lots of ideas and a few patches are already planned, but HITMAN Freelancer is probably our largest post-launch addition to a HITMAN game and we want to take the time to see the reaction of our players before entering in the specifics.
When does Freelancer take place on the Hitman game timeline, if it does at all?
JBJ: Freelancer exists in a separate parallel timeline. On the one hand the narrative of being a freelancer and operating solo with Diana, but without belonging to a bigger organization like ICA, fits with where the story of where Hitman 3 ends. But on the other hand the actual on-mission gameplay in Freelancer takes place on the same time as the main missions, in most cases, so that gives a narrative disconnect to make the post-Hitman 3 idea work fully.
We decided that it was preferable to keep most of the main-mission content in the Freelancer versions of the maps, rather than flushing that layer, because it gives more gameplay opportunities to the sandboxes than the vanilla versions would do. But we also decided to leave a bit of ambiguity so that players who like to pretend that the gameplay takes place after Hitman 3 can do that, without too much distraction from the established canon.
TVC: Early on in development we had to choose between reworking a few locations to fit the timeline to post Hitman 3 or use almost all locations in the trilogy in Freelancer. In our minds the choice was easy, as we wanted to get the biggest possible playground for the game mode.
How did you balance giving players the ability to customize their home while also ensuring Agent 47's character comes through in each item?
JBJ: We went with a basic concept of separating between the mission center of operations in the hidden basement of the safehouse, that would be in line with what players would expect from 47, and then being a bit more playful and creative with how players can customize the ground layers and outsides. We made a basic narrative of having just moved into the safehouse, with boxes that are still packed etc. But from there we felt it was important that players could roleplay their own interpretation of Agent 47.
In a way 47s character lends himself well to this - the Hitman games have always had a comic element of putting a deadpan 47 into weird costumes or situations. In some cases there is an almost melancholic vibe, when 47 is sitting in an armchair alone in the middle of nowhere in the safehouse, or processing an intense experience in Mumbai by painting his garden shed. But it’s quite open-ended and players can interpret it in ways that fit their own inner movie.
Another thing we strived for was to try to add as many references to the lore and older games as we could, to tip the hat to our legacy and to our extremely loyal community.
What is the reason behind giving players such a large map for Agent 47's safehouse, and just how many secrets are hidden in it?
JBJ: As a rogue-like inspired game-mode Freelancer can be quite intense, so we felt that it was important to give a bigger place for players to have a bit of relaxation and breathing room before going on the next mission. Hitman has always been known to have easter eggs, so we felt it was important to honor that in his safehouse as well. There’s some in there for sure
TVC: We wanted this to be something special for the player, a place they get to know and enjoy, as they progress in Freelancer. We’ve had safe houses in Hitman before, so it was very important for us to do everything we could to fulfill their expectations. Also our environment, concept, sound, lighting and tech art teams decided to kick some ass once we started building the safehouse, so it definitely didn’t get smaller because of that
What was the most difficult part of the core Hitman experience to translate into rogue-like gameplay?
JBJ: Building a good gear economy around weapons and freelancer tools was really difficult. We had to balance short term power-growth with long-term persistent progression, in a way that made sure that the different runs are very varied. The way the players lose all Freelancer Tools when they lose a campaign (as opposed to weapons, that the player only loses if they bring them to a mission and fail) is probably also one of the most controversial design-decisions in the game mode.
We decided to stick to it, even though it had some criticism in the Closed Technical Test, because we strongly believe it makes the most fun and varied experiences, even though it can be frustrating to lose all the tools you have collected within the campaign run.
What seemingly small detail about Hitman: Freelancer are you most proud of?
JBJ: Personally I’m most proud that the game sustains fun very well. As a long-time Hitman-dev veteran I can honestly say that I had a lot of fun in every single play-session of Freelancer while we developed it. That’s saying something, in a franchise that I have spent so much time in. A detail I would point out is the procedural puzzle gameplay around identifying the suspects in the showdown missions. I think there’s a really cool spy-vibe in blending in and following suspects around unnoticed, while scouting out for traits and tells to their identity.
TVC: When you work on the Hitman games, you don’t really get to feel the excitement new players have when they try each new game for the first time. The last Hitman game where I had that feeling was HM Blood Money, as that was before I got hired at IO-Interactive, and I’ve worked on every single Hitman game since. Because of the randomization and freedom of choice we have in Freelancer, I get that amazing feeling of playing a new Hitman for the first time again, which I really love about the game mode.