IO Interactive has been actively supporting their episodic Hitman game since it released with new content, regular updates with fixes and tweaks, and more. With their decision to go completely independent after Square Enix decided to end their partnership, they have the ability to do just about whatever they want and what they want to do is fix killer toilets in their game.
Today, IO Interactive released a blog post detailing all of the issues that will be fixed in their upcoming update which includes better load times, tweaked combat, the removal of the aforementioned murderous toilet, and much more. You can see the full list of details for Hitman's July update down below.
July Update Release Timings
The HITMAN July Update releases worldwide across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC, Linux and Mac on July 13th 2017.
The update will arrive for all players between 11am and 1pm UTC. There will be a short period of server maintenance, starting at 10:30 UTC and expected to end before 14:00 UTC. We expect the download size for the July Update to be 550 MB (PS4), 950 MB (Xbox One) and 1.2GB (PC). We will post updates about the maintenance on the IOI Twitter account.
Here are the release notes for our July Update, also known as 1.12.1 as per the in-game menu.
July Update Release Notes
Xbox One Loading Times
After a recent update, Xbox One users reported to us that the game was taking longer to load than usual, especially when restarting a contract.
We've looked into this and now have the Xbox One loading times back to where they should be. Thanks to our Xbox One players who reported this.
Combat Changes
We've made some changes to combat across the game. The intended result of these changes is to make combat more satisfying and viable for all players.
Specifically, we have reduced the fire rate of NPC pistols, slightly increased how quickly 47 can 'snap' to the target NPC when 'aim assist' is toggled on, reduced the damage that 47 takes at mid to long distances and increased the speed that 47's health regenerates. We are continuing to monitor and adjust these values based on our own impressions and we're looking forward to feedback from our players when these changes go live. Please note that Professional Difficulty is not affected by these changes and still offers the 'Lethal Combat' that was promised.
Backstory: With an earlier update on June 23rd, the first iteration of our internal combat changes was unintentionally released. That first iteration simply reduced the damage output of NPC weapons and resulted in what some of our community have lovingly described as 'Tank 47'. The changes that we mention above (and will introduce with 1.12.1) are based on the combat values before the June 23rd update. This is important to mention because we want to be clear that we haven't made 47 more of a tank. Instead, we've looked at the combat experience that we've had in the game since launch and made the above changes to the long-standing values.
Professional Difficulty
We've changed the unlock criteria for Professional Difficulty from Mastery level 20 to Mastery level 5. All players that currently have Mastery level 5-19 on each location will automatically unlock Professional Difficulty after updating their game to 1.12.1 (July Update). There are no changes to Professional Difficulty other than the unlock criteria.
Excuse me, I found a weapon
We've fixed an issue that could cause guards to repeatedly drop weapons that they discovered on the ground. This issue was prominent on The Icon mission.
Bathroom Break
We've fixed an issue that could cause the toilet in the Marrakesh school to behave erratically after 47 kicks it onto Zaydan. This could occasionally result in 47's death. Seriously.
Cancelling Connecting
We've fixed an issue that could cause players to inadvertently cancel the 'connecting' prompt and enter 'Offline Mode'.
Opportunity Lost After Loading
We've fixed an issue that could cause the Opportunity Marker (the little light bulb) to disappear after a save/load cycle.
Trespassing vs Hostile Area
We've implemented a fix for a Known Issue from our June Update. The 'Trespassing' and 'Hostile Area' status messages on the mini-map now display correctly.
Maximum Mastery
We heard that some players have had issues unlocking the trophies/achievements associated with reaching Mastery level 20 in various locations. We've implemented a change so that the game will re-check whether you have reached level 20 when you launch the game and award the appropriate trophies/achievements.
Trophy Typography
We've made some necessary updates to the trophy descriptions on PS4; corrected a few typos and mistakes.
Unconscious Witness
We've also implemented a fix for the other Known Issue from our June Update. The 'Unconscious Witness' status on the mini-map is know displayed correctly.
Miscellaneous Fixes
We've fixed other minor issues across the board to keep the game in fantastic shape.
What's Next?
The July Content Schedule below shows everything planned for HITMAN in July.
The new Escalation Contract and 15 Featured Contracts have already been released and are playable in-game today. You should already know all about the July Update (see above!) and the Final Elusive Target will arrive in-game on Friday 14th July. Looking further ahead, we'll have an August Content Schedule set and ready with new challenges for the first week in August.
