Hitman 3 Arcade Contracts will be tweaked to avoid railroading and "instant failure" states

Hitman 3 dev IO Interactive is looking to design more creatively fulfilling challenges for its Arcade Contracts in future.

The studio introduced the Elusive Target Arcade back in January - a twist on Hitman’s one-shot assassination mode that asks you to take down multiple targets one after another, with extra complications thrown in. It’s tricky, so the usual ‘one shot’ rule for Elusive Targets is toned down - if you fail, you’re locked out for only 12 hours.

Three new Arcade Contracts have arrived in the game this week - Nebulae, Genera and Vitae - each corresponding to a game in the trilogy. Your reward for completing any one of them is the Sieger AR552 Tactical, a nifty looking SMG.

They’ve been designed with a slightly different philosophy, which IO will apply to all Arcade Contracts going forward. “We will avoid complications that are considered to be creatively restrictive or can result in instant failure,” it writes. “This includes the ‘Hide All Bodies’ complication."

A bunch of tweaks have been made to preexisting Arcade Contracts, too - IO removing two complications each from The Deceits, The Codices and The Ellipses. That’ll bring them in line with a new rule: a single complication will persist throughout each Contract.

Ultimately, IO is planning on making all complications optional, letting you opt out of the restrictions you don’t find fulfilling. “If we don’t encounter any unexpected issues, we expect to implement this additional change with our next patch,” the studio says.

Next week, players can expect a new Elusive Target in Dartmoor, named The Collector. You’ll have ten days to take down the fine art addict, though as usual, you’ll only get one attempt.

Beyond that, IO is planning to add Contracts Mode support for a couple of older missions from March 17. And it’ll finish out the month on March 24 with yet another batch of Arcade Contracts for Elusive Target Arcade. Busy, busy!

Personally, as a latecomer to the Hitman trilogy, I’ve been very happy to see Elusive Targets from the past return recently. I’ve come to a number of Hitman 3’s maps cold that way, treating the game like a permadeath challenge in which I regularly chuck my gun-concealing-suitcase over a high wall, without quite knowing what’s on the other side. Thoroughly recommended.

New to the trilogy? Here are our tips for your next Hitman 3 contract.