The second significant game update for HITMAN 2 is on the horizon, and outlines our commitment to new content, improvements and community feedback. We’re introducing a holiday event, adding unlocks to Featured Contracts and a making whole host of improvements across the board, many of which have been requested by our community.

Release Details

Update 2.12 will arrive on December 18 and we expect it to be approximately 1GB – 1.2GB on all platforms.

We’ll be taking the HITMAN 2 servers offline for maintenance starting at 11am UTC on December 18, to prepare for the release of the game update. We’re expecting to have the servers back online again at 2pm UTC.

Please note that the update version you see on your console or PC may differ from our internal names for the update. The number we use will be the one you see in-game.

Update (19 December): We are releasing an additional update for PS4 and Xbox One players today at 12pm UTC that weighs in at approximately 900mb. This update will fix an issue with textures not rendering properly, specifically on vehicles. There won’t be any maintenance for this release.

Update (20 December): We are releasing an update for PS4 players (only) today at 1pm UTC that weighs in at approximately 350mb. This update will fix an issue that could cause the game to crash on PS4 Pro when a player had ‘High Framerate’ and ‘HDR’ enabled, when aiming with a sniper rifle, getting infected in the Patient Zero campaign or after a flashbang explosion.

Update (21 December): We are releasing an update for PC players (only) today at 11am UTC that weighs in at approximately 110mb. This update will fix an issue that could cause an infinte loading screen when accessing the save menu.

What’s Changing?

Overall Game Improvements

We’ve made hundreds of improvements, fixes and tweaks to the entire game across all disciplines. These improvements will greatly improve the experience of playing HITMAN 2. We’ve listed the stand-out highlights below.

Holiday Hoarders

Our first seasonal event for HITMAN 2 goes live on December 18. This time-limited event includes the Holiday Hoarders mission with new festive items to use and a Challenge Pack that allows players to permanently unlock the Santa 47 suit for use in all HITMAN 2 locations – just make sure to unlock it before the event ends on January 8th!





Featured Contracts Rewards

We’ve introduced four new Challenges that can be earned by completing Featured Contracts. Each one will reward a new unlock, which will be permanently added to your inventory. Featured Contracts are just one element of the ‘live content’ that is continually released for all HITMAN 2 players. We are currently planning to release 5 new Featured Contracts per month.

Progress towards all of these challenges will begin starting on December 18 2018 and players can only gain credit for completing each contract once. Completing the same Featured Contract 40 times won’t help. If players have already completed a Featured Contract, they will need to complete it again to make progress on these new challenges.

Contract Apprentice

Complete 5 Featured Contracts to unlock the Measuring Tape.

Contract Journeyman

Complete 15 Featured Contracts to unlock the Handyman Wrench.

Contract Specialist

Complete 25 Featured Contracts to unlock the [Redacted unlock].

Contract Master

Complete 40 Featured Contracts to unlock the [Redacted unlock].

Discover Cuba

We’ve fixed an issue that would cause the ‘Discover Cuba’ Challenge in the ICA Facility not to progress or unlock.

Save Load Cycles

We’ve fixed a handful of issues that could be caused by saving/loading, specific to challenge completion and target status.

Aim Assist Snap

We’ve fixed an issue that could cause the aim assist ‘snap’ to be incrementally higher if a player uses it in quick succession after a kill.

Nul Point

We’ve fixed a rare issue that could cause players to receive 0 points on their final scoreboard. This was caused by performing very specific actions followed by a save/load cycle.

Crash(es) on PS4

We’ve fixed a handful of prominent crashes on PS4, caused by various factors. Basically, this system software update improves system performance on PS4.

Fast Target

We’ve made a change to ensure that the ‘Fast Target’ option works consistently.

No Master

We’ve fixed an issue that caused Location Mastery trophies/achievements to remain locked after earning Mastery outside of main campaign missions. Players can now expect to unlock the achievement/trophy whenever they reach the max Mastery level.

Helicopter Exit Exit

We’ve fixed an issue where an emergency escape hatch on the bottom of the Miami helicopter would trigger if the exit cinematic was skipped, resulting in Agent 47 falling out and floating behind it.

LOC Down

We’ve fixed multiple issues with fonts, overlapping text and special characters in various localised languages. We’ve also introduced a new font for Russian and Japanese localisation.

Cohh-lombian Carnage

We’ve removed the option to take cover against the mansion gate in Santa Fortuna, due to an issue that could result in 47 only able to shoot the door.

That Was Fast

We’ve fixed an issue where saving and loading in Miami could cause the Global Innovation Race to end almost immediately. It was also confusing Diana a bit, so we had to fix it.

Tranquilizer ammo

We’ve fixed an issue that caused the Kalmer-1 Tranquilizer gun to lose ammo when reloading a save game.

None Shall Pass

We’ve added a progress bar to the ‘None Shall Pass’ Challenge on Isle of Sgail.

The Sound of XP

We’ve fixed an issue where the audio cues for unlocking Performance XP would still trigger when players have toggled the ‘HUD Score’ to Off.

Painter’s Immunity

We’ve fixed an issue where Agent 47 could get away with murder by blending in as a painter in Mumbai. Now, guards will engage and open fire. He’ll probably still get away with it.

Autosave HUD

The small icon in the bottom right-hand side of the screen that indicates whether you can save or not, is now toggled ‘off’ by default.

Whittleton Creek Loading UI

We’ve made a change to the objectives icons visible during the loading screen for Whittleton Creek, in order to describe the objectives fully.

Bus Stopped

We’ve fixed an issue that could make it impossible to exit a created Contract in Mumbai if the main exit (bus) was used.

Too Much Sugar

We’ve fixed an issue where Agent 47 could insert an infinite number of coins into a vending machine by concealing a coin in the briefcase. We laughed at this one, but it’s still been fixed.

Sensitive Security

We’ve fixed an issue that could cause some car alarms to trigger in Miami without any player interaction.

Hidden Targets

We’ve fixed an issue where unconscious targets could be placed into cupboards in some rare cases.

Poor Jeeves

The Butler disguise was previously not required for the Chameleon challenge in Isle of Sgail. Now it is.

Postal Insurance

The ‘Priceless’ challenge has been removed from the game on all platforms because the package was indestructible. Mr Batty will be pleased, for now…

Triumph Trigger

We’ve fixed an issue that could prevent the fireworks and confetti from triggering when Sierra walks on the podium.

Challenge Breaks

We’ve fixed a visual issue in the main menu that would cause the ‘Challenges Completed’ number to break into two lines when players reached double figures.

One A Day

We’ve fixed an issue where an apple would be considered as an illegal item in Whittleton Creek on Casual Difficulty Level.

[Editors Note (Nov 26, 2019): We’ve added a visualisation of this fix below. Thanks, Cartoonishly!]

Briefcase

Don’t worry, it’s not *that* fix. Instead, we’ve fixed an issue that was preventing some players from accessing the Aluminium Travel Briefcase. Check your inventories…

Terminus

We’ve fixed an issue that prevented eligible players from being awarded with the Terminus Suit for completing an Elusive Target with the Silent Assassin rating.

Elusive Target Text

We’ve made some subtle changes to the communication when attempting to launch an Elusive Target that isn’t live yet. The intention is to give more information to the player and have it feel less like an ‘error’ message.

Ghost Mode Improvements

Timer Stacking

We’ve added a new mechanic that adds 20 seconds to the opponent’s target countdown clock for each consecutive noticed target kill/pacification you perform. For example, 1 noticed kill equals the regular 20 seconds. A consecutive noticed kill will result in an additional 20 seconds being offered to your opponent, up to a maximum of 80 seconds. We’ve made this change to further encourage unnoticed kills/pacifications and to give more room for players to eliminate their target without being pressurised by opponents who consistently perform noticed kills.

Once both players have eliminated the target, the waiting period for the next target will be 10 seconds or less, depending what was on the clock when the second players’ target was killed.

Ghost PiP

We’ve fixed an issue that could cause the PiP camera in Ghost Mode to be too dark if a kill is performed indoors.

PiP Boy

We’ve fixed an issue where the audio cues for the PiP camera are played, even when players have disabled it.

Lobby Challenges

We’ve added the Challenges Menu to the Ghost Mode Lobby.

SFX Connection

We’ve added a sound effect that plays when you have connected to another player in the lobby. It sounds a bit like “whooosh-ka-ching”, but we recommend you play Ghost Mode to hear it for yourself.

Mission Timer

We’ve disabled the ‘Mission Timer’ option when playing Ghost Mode.

Considerate Assassin

We’ve fixed an issue in Ghost Mode that could cause inconsistencies with explosive devices.

Crate Crashers

We’ve fixed an issue in Ghost Mode that could reliably cause a crash when retrieving items from Ghost Crates.

Fish Lunch

The Ghost Mode announcer will now declare “Victory” or “Defeat” at the end of a completed match.

Legacy Pack Specific Improvements

Jeg Sauna Hende Stadig Ikke

We’ve fixed an issue where raising the temperature of the sauna in Hokkaido would insta-kill the NPC’s in the sauna. Now, they’ll leave the room, as expected.

Shadow Man

We’ve fixed an issue on Xbox One that could cause shadows in Marrakesh to behave erratically near the APC turret controls.

Frequently Answered Questions Pt. 2

We still strongly recommend that any players who are having issues with the Legacy Pack check the Legacy Pack FAQ.



PC Specific Improvements

Go to Map

Press the M key to go directly to map, do not pass Challenges, do not collect $200. You can also choose to bind it to another key in the Options menu.

Screenspace Shadows

We’ve added a new Graphics Option; Screenspace Shadows. Toggle on to give high quality shadow detail.

Reflection Quality

We’ve added a new Graphics Option; Reflection Quality. Toggle off, low, default or high to control the resolution of the rendered reflections in mirrors and floors.

Motion Blur

We’ve added a new Graphics Option; Motion Blur. Toggle off, low, default or high to give a smoother look.

Dynamic Sharpening

We’ve added a new Graphics Option; Dynamic Sharpening. This option counters effects caused by temporal anti-aliasing.

SLI Performance

We’ve fixed an issue that could cause performance drops for players using NVIDIA cards with SLI enabled.

Simulation Separation

In the release notes for our previous update, we included a new option called “Simulation Quality.” In this update, we’ve split this option into two; Graphical Simulation and Audio Simulation, allowing players to take advantage of the audio improvements but without affecting their GFX performance.

Steam Trading Cards

We’ve added support for Steam Trading Cards, including badges, profile backgrounds and emoticons.

Silent Assassin Status

We want to give you an update on the Silent Assassin status. We introduced a new feature with our 2.11 update in November that allowed players to retain their Silent Assassin rating, even if they were spotted by their target. We really like this feature and what it adds to the game. Unfortunately, this change brought with it some changes to gameplay that made it much easier to earn the SA rating. Essentially, you now need to enter a ‘compromised’ state in order to lose the SA rating, rather than just be ‘spotted’.

We’re not happy with the way things are currently and we’re going to make further changes to keep the SA rating as something that is difficult to earn and feels like a rewarding challenge to complete. We’re already deep into what those changes can be and we will have an update on this specific issue to share in the new year.

One final thing; we fully acknowledge that we’ve been slow to respond on this particular matter. In future, we’ll strive to do better. Thanks!

What’s Next? The January Update

We’re already looking ahead to our January update, which will bring more fixes and more improvements as well as some other exciting announcements. We’ll also have a full January Roadmap to release early next year, which is packed full of brand new content. We’re looking forward to it. See you there!