PS5's "Blitz-Fast" Load Times Let Hitman 3 Encourage Even More Experimentation

Hitman III was announced a month ago during Sony's PlayStation 5 reveal event, and it looks like business as usual for Agent 47 as he travels the world and hunts down new targets. Hitman players are no strangers to maps that require several runs so that they can familiarize themselves with every nuance of the levels that their targets inhabit, but Hitman III may be focusing on trial and error more than ever thanks to consoles such as the PlayStation 5 and its SSD technology that allows for "blitz-fast" load times.

"Hitman III is going to mark yet another big leap forward for our technology, driven and inspired by the capabilities of the PlayStation 5," Game Director Mattias Engström said to PlayStation Official Magazine via WCCFTech.

"It's an extraordinarily complex game that has multiple systems running at the same time that support each other constantly, so having more power to play with gives us more options and lets us do significantly more. Hitman is a game about experimentation. We invite the player into a sandbox, and we let them experiment the way they want. Therefore, we see the save/load as an important feature to encourage just that. The blitz-fast load times we are seeing on the PS5 makes it the perfect home for the Hitman trilogy, encouraging experimentation more than ever."

Lighting will also play a large part in Agent 47's missions, as Engström detailed the improvements made in this visual space and how it creates more iconic locations to explore. "We've been very careful about choosing our locations for Hitman III to take you on a journey and for them to line up thematically with where you are in the story at the time that you encounter them," Engström explained.

"I am staying completely away from spoilers, but we've got some locations that are going to be extremely memorable and a big part of that is thanks to our environment and lighting artists. Specifically, screen space reflections are truly pushed to the limit in Hitman III.

Developer IO Interactive has begun hosting monthly livestream sessions for Hitman III ahead of its January 21 launch for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC. So far, only one of its six locations has been shown off so far, the 1005-feet-tall Cayan Tower that bears a resemblance to Dubai's iconic Burj Khalifa skyscraper. All previous maps from Hitman and Hitman 2 will also be playable if you already own those games.