A few months ago in March Square Enix announced a trio of new mobile titles during their Square Enix Presents digital event, and one of those titles was a follow-up to their massively popular Hitman: Sniper game on mobile. The new game at that time was tentatively titled Project Hitman Sniper Assassins, but today during Square Enix’s newest digital event taking place during E3, they have officially unveiled the new game’s first trailer along with the brand new title Hitman Sniper: The Shadows.
Storyline-wise, this is not a direct sequel to the original Hitman: Sniper, nor does it have anything to do with that game’s universe or lore. This is a wholly original story that takes place in the current Hitman universe, where Agent 47 has suddenly gone missing and, facing a new global threat, the International Contract Agency aka ICA has to enact “Initiative 426" which means deploying a group of highly trained special assassins named The Shadow to hopefully thwart this new threat.
Practically, what this means is that Hitman Sniper: The Shadows will feature 5 different playable assassins, each with their own unique attributes and abilities. As always with a Hitman game, you’ll need to use different strategies to fulfill your contract goals, which means manipulating your enemies and the environment to your benefit. Lead designer at Square Enix Montréal Fahad Khan says “Our new protagonists all have unique backstories and different styles that could turn into player style, amplifying their play experience, creativity and strategic choices when approaching a contract."
Unsurprisingly, Hitman Sniper: The Shadows will be a free to play game. You may recall the original Hitman: Sniper launched as a paid game, but over the years numerous IAP and very free-to-play-like progression systems were implemented, and that is what has allowed it to build such a dedicated following and continue receiving new content to this day. It’s no wonder Square Enix Montréal is looking to go free-to-play right from the gate with this one. Hitman Sniper: The Shadows is set to launch on iOS and Android sometime this year and new details will continue to be revealed leading up to that point.
