Hitman's first Elusive Target revealed in new trailer

Details of the first Hitman “Elusive Target” have been revealed: His name is Sergei Larin, he's a forger, and you've got less than 48 hours to ensure his wife needs to buy a suitably sombre new black dress. 

Don't feel too bad about his grieving widow, though. Based on the Elusive Target trailer released today, she's the one who wants him dead, or at the very least wants to be sure she has a rock-solid alibi when the deed gets done. Larin's location wasn't known when the job was first announced, but it turns out he'll be in Paris over the weekend, which is your window—your only window—to do the job. 

The Elusive Target timer began at 9 am PDT/12 pm EDT today, and will run for precisely 48 hours. If Larin is still alive when the timer hits zero, you're done. If you get killed, you're done. If the target gets away, you're done. If you botch the job and end up having to massacre dozens of innocent bystanders... well, that's okay, as long as Larin gets dead in the process. 

“An Elusive Target is the closest thing to the Hitman fantasy that we've ever created. Each one is a custom-created character with their own backstory and their own unique reason for being in that location,” Io Interactive said. “We call them Elusive Targets because they are added to an existing location for a limited time in real-time and you'll only have one chance to take them down. If you kill them, that's the way that you killed them. There are no do-overs and no second chances. When an Elusive Target leaves the game world, they never return.” 

Elusive Targets are particularly tough to nail because they don't appear on the mini-map or instinct, and you can't save your progress along the way. But with risk comes reward: Taking out five of them will get you the “signature suit” from Hitman: Absolution, while killing ten will earn the suit from Hitman: Blood Money. 

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.