There’s been some confusion over the state of the new Hitman‘s release, particularly over whether it should be classified as an Early Access release. In a new FAQ, IO attempts to quell that confusion. It… er, doesn’t really work.
From the FAQ:
“Early access can often mean something unfinished or unpolished. That’s simply not the approach we’re taking. All of the content we release live to our players will be complete and polished, whether that’s the locations and missions we release on December 8th, the live events or the locations and missions that we will release in 2016. It will always be a polished Hitman experience.”
This seems to sidestep the fact that, while the missions themselves will be ‘complete,’ it sounds as if the full game won’t be in place until sometime in 2016. It’s fair enough if IO doesn’t want to associate with Early Access—which does often imply a lack of polish.
Maybe it’s better to call it episodic? That’s usually how we categorise a story that isn’t finished, but that will be released in chunks over the course of a year. Hey, Hitman FAQ, is it episodic?
“We think the word ‘episodic’ sets up the expectation that we will sell individual content drops for individual prices but that’s not something we’re planning to do. That said, there are some episodic elements to the story in the sense that it’s delivered in chunks over time, so experiencing the story will probably feel episodic. But there is also a ton of other content including live events, which have nothing to do with the story. We’ll also be improving and changing the game constantly whilst you’re playing it. Our ambition is to have a stream of content available from December 8th until the story arc is finished.”
To recap: the new Hitman is not Early Access (but kinda is), and not episodic (but kinda is). I guess my main question is how much of the game will be in place at launch. We’ll keep you updated as IO release more information about the game.
