Hitman 3's first major update is live

Hitman 3's first major patch went live today with an arsenal of location changes, HUD and interface improvements, bug fixes, and new content including a pair of Deluxe Escalation contracts and the Tactical Turtleneck.

That's right, Tactical Turtleneck:

The Tactical Turtleneck — (Image credit: IO Interactive)

To get this stylish new look, you'll need to complete The Final Test in the ICA Facility (the culmination of the game's three-mission tutorial). Once unlocked, it will be added to your inventory and can be accessed anywhere you'd normally choose a suit. As for what makes it "tactical," I have no idea, but it does seem like a more practical choice for quiet infiltration jobs than 47's usual duds.

Deluxe Escalations added in the update, available to owners of the Deluxe Edition or Deluxe Pack, include:

The Proloff Parable - Become The White Shadow and use the White Custom Sieger 300 and White Katana to complete this challenging Escalation in the Carpathian Mountains. Complete all stages and all of the items will be in your inventory.

The Gauchito Antiquity - Get ready for The Guru to give you a taste of his emetic medicine in Mendoza. With the Emetic Grenade and Emetic Pen Syringe at your disposal, you’ll need to work through all stages to unlock the three items for your inventory

The sixth and final Deluxe Escalation contract is expected to arrive in March.

The HUD has also been changed and will now accurately indicate when Agent 47 is trespassing while performing "agility moves" like climbing or vaulting. IO Interactive warned that you might see some inconsistencies following the change (previously, all pipes and ledges were shown as non-trespassing even when that wasn't the case—now you might see things like only half a drain pipe being marked as a trespassing zone), "but the information you see will now be accurate according to the mission setups," the studio said. "We’re monitoring any further issues that might come up on this."

Players gunning for the Silent Assassin rating on missions will also find that the job has been made a little more manageable. An icon next to the minimap will now indicate whether it's still possible to achieve the rating in the current mission, while a new state has been added to the Silent Assassin HUD indicating when the rating remains possible if 47 erases security camera recordings before exiting the level. The Silent Assassin failure indicator has also been updated to make it easier for colorblind players to identify.

Hitman 3 locales have also been tweaked in various ways, the Sniper Assassin mode has been tightened up, issues with a trio of in-game challenges have been taken care of, and a couple of PC-specific fixes have been made: A problem where players could encounter ghosting or blurred images when using either the Super Resolution Screenshots or adjusting FOV in Nvidia Ansel has been addressed, and the likelihood of AMD 5700 users crashing when attempting to load the Berlin level have been "significantly" reduced.

There are some remaining known issues including missing Requiem Packs and HDR problems on some setups, and a possible reconsideration of the decision to remove the ability to switch which of 47's shoulders the game camera looks over. IO said that it's aware of other ongoing problems as well, and will "continue to add the most-talked about topics into the Known Issues section of our patch notes as they arise."

The Hitman 3 3.11 patch is live now, and you can get the full rundown of fixes and changes at ioi.dk. And in case you hadn't heard, the ability to import locations from the first two Hitman games into Hitman 3 is live now, too.

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.