Hitman 3 Will Feature Ray Tracing After Launch

Hitman 3 developer IO Interactive has announced that Agent 47's upcoming adventure will feature ray tracing on PC. The feature won't be available at launch, but is due to arrive sometime later in 2021.

The announcement was made in a blog post discussing the studio's new partnership with Intel. IO says that this deal will allow it to provide the best possible performance and optimization for Hitman 3 on PC, particularly for those playing on high-end machines with 8-plus core CPUs. Aside from the addition of ray tracing, those with 8-core CPUs will see denser crowds in the game's Dubai level, while Dartmoor will feature more complex destructibility.

There's no word on whether ray tracing is also coming to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game, nor does IO delve into any specifics on how the feature will be implemented. It's safe to assume, however, that it will use some combination of real-time reflections, global illumination, and hyper-realistic shadows.

IO has promised more details on Hitman 3's PC release in the next few weeks, but before then, the developer has revealed the game's next location, Chongqing, and revealed that the game will run in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second with HDR support on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5. AI enhancements made for the third game will also be implemented into the levels from Hitman and Hitman 2.

Hitman 3 is due out on January 20, 2021 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Stadia. A cloud version is also coming to Nintendo Switch but its release date hasn't been announced yet.