Hitman 3's rogue-like Freelancer mode gets delayed to the latter half of 2022

Hitman 3's rogue-like mode mode has been delayed to the second half of this year.

In a blog post released earlier today on May 5, developer IO Interactive outlined content for the foreseeable future for Hitman 3. The Freelancer mode headlines the additions, but its release date has slipped to the latter half of 2022. "In short, this mode is quite expansive and involving. It’s built for players that want to dive deeper into what a Hitman game can be and for that reason, we’ve decided to give it more time," the announcement reads.

If you weren't already familiar with Freelancer, it's an experimental mode, letting players choose to play through a series of campaigns spanning maps across the entire World of Assassination trilogy. Unusually though, Agent 47 won't have the backing of the ICA, so you'll have to kit yourself out with whatever gear you choose at the beginning of the mission, and then complete the campaign with said gear.

Ultimately, if you perish during the campaign, you lose all your gear. It's a risk-reward dynamic we haven't really seen explored until now in the World of Assassination trilogy from IOI, and as the developer makes very clear in the new blog post today, it's generally regarded as the next evolution of the entire series at large, not just another simple update.

To compensate for the Freelancer delay, IOI is bringing in some new content in the meantime. You can check out the newly-unveiled May roadmap for Hitman 3 just below, which includes new weapons, new Featured Contracts, two returning Elusive Contracts, and there's even a new event called Duck Hunt taking place later this month. Topping this all off is a game update later this month on May 24.

It certainly looks like Hitman 3's got a fairly busy future immediately ahead of it, as developer IOI continues work on it aside from other projects. One said project is the Project 007 Bond adaptation, announced back in late 2020, before Hitman 3 had even launched. We've heard incredibly little about the project since it was first announced, and it definitely looks like all hands aren't on deck just yet.

Check out our guide on how to get the various Hitman 3 Mission Stories and assassinations.