In a recent interview, Hitman 3 developers at IO Interactive spoke at length about their plans for the Xbox Series X/S versions of the game, including adding ray tracing support. Hitman 3 released earlier this week to critical and commercial success across every modern platform, including cloud versions on Nintendo Switch and Stadia. The game is the culmination of the Hitman reboot trilogy, and the latest release includes support for the levels of all three games upgraded to the latest tech. While it is certainly a cross-gen experience, the game was built with new hardware in mind, already sporting some impressive features that only current consoles and PC can manage.
Ray tracing on the Xbox Series X is one of the few features of the new console that can be appreciated by all owners, regardless of the type of TV their console is connected to. Unlike 120fps multiplayer matches and 4K image quality, ray tracing is purely a console upgrade, presenting realistic light and shadows rendered in real-time. Games like Watch Dogs Legion and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War already included the feature around launch day and more, and more optimized releases are showing up with it as time goes on.
In an interview with Xbox Wire, IO Interactive revealed that it's working on ray-tracing support for Hitman 3's Glacier engine, and it will "definitely" be implemented in-game as soon as the tech is deemed ready for prime time. The developer considers Hitman 3 a "live game", meaning that it will continue to ship upgrades as time goes on well past launch. There are already several levels in the game that seem to be tailor-made to show off the tech, such as the sun-blasted soirée on a rooftop that opens up the adventure.
Beyond the incoming ray tracing update, IO Interactive also talked about the benefits of both new consoles through the lens of the Xbox Series X. The studio says the new console generation has removed the CPU bottleneck that has haunted console developers all throughout the previous generation, saying that its games can be presented as intended for the first time in along time. For Hitman 3, this meant more NPCs, more destruction in the environment, and a generally more realistic world. In addition, they hope that loading screens and waiting times are relegated to "bedtime stories" to scare the kids, making for a generation of "cinematic" games that immerse the player more than ever.
Even though the current consoles launched just a few short months ago, it feels like recent games like Hitman 3 are barely scratching the surface when it comes to what they can do. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially as developers work on optimizing their previous games for the new tech this year. Considering that this time last generation was full of developers scrambling to start new projects and shelves full of rereleases, the industry is in a much better place, and develops will have a lot more impressive games to show in the years ahead thanks to new tech like ray tracing as well as graphical innovations that are yet to come.
Hitman 3 is available on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia.
Source: Xbox Wire