Here's how the Hitman beta will re-introduce you to open-world assassination

Applying for a job at the world's foremost assassination firm means getting your hands dirty. As such, the International Contract Agency has a faux military base hidden inside a frigid alpine facility that's perfect for proving out would-be paid killers. And you'll get to try it early if you digitally pre-ordered Hitman, or you can just take a look at this new trailer if you're not sold yet.

The Hitman beta will begin on PS4 on February 12 (8 am PST in North America and 10 am GMT in Europe) and conclude on February 15 (same times). It will only include the ICA training facility, but inside you'll find two separate "training hits" to attempt and retry over the course of the beta. Think of it like a "baby's first" version of the big, open-world environments 47 will explore later: it's a smaller area, but you can still approach the hits any number of ways.

Fun times figuring out new ways to kill people aside, the beta FAQ reminds testers that this isn't just a demo: "In Hitman: Absolution, we patched the game with an adjustment to how quickly players were detected when wearing a disguise. This was based on feedback from our players. Feedback such as this is exactly what we want to hear as we will be able to review and adjust these matters before we release the game on March 11th. We cannot overstate how important and valuable this feedback will be to us."

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Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.