IO interactive has been adding smaller pieces of content to Hitman 3 throughout its first year. The developer has now revealed plans for all the new content coming to Hitman 3 in Year 2, in addition to some features that are being added to the PC version.Nvidia had earlier revealed a list of games that will get ray tracing support, which included Hitman 3 as well as Rainbow Six Extraction, among others. Ray tracing is one of the biggest new features of modern GPUs and next-generation consoles. While it can be extremely demanding, it has a massive impact on the graphical quality of any game. Now, IO Interactive has announced some details regarding what fans can expect from ray tracing in Hitman 3.RELATED: Hitman Trilogy Announced For Xbox Game PassHitman 3 will get support for ray tracing sometime in 2022, and its levels will see a drastic improvement in reflections as well as shadows. The developer uses the opening level of Dubai, a location consisting of many reflective surfaces, as an example of how ray tracing can improve the graphical quality of the scene. It also mentions that the atmosphere in Chongqing, a rainy location from later in the game, will look just as impressive. As levels from both Hitman 1 and Hitman 2 are playable via Hitman 3, players will be able to use ray tracing to enhance the visuals of all locations in the World of Assassination trilogy.

As a part of the ongoing partnership between Intel and IO Interactive, Hitman 3 will use Intel’s XeSS technology, which utilizes machine learning to improve performance without sacrificing image quality. The PC version will receive support Variable Rate Shading as well, which helps in boosting performance.

IO Interactive also took this opportunity to confirm that Hitman 3 will release Steam on January 20, signifying an end to the 1-year exclusivity deal with Epic Games Store. The developer confirmed that Hitman fans on Steam will have access to all the new features that are being added to the PC version, and purchases made within the first 30 days will include the Trinity Pack, Hitman 3’s pre-order bonus, for free.

Unfortunately, there is no mention of ray tracing support for the console versions of Hitman 3. While it already looks good on next-generation consoles, ray tracing in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy highlights its drastic impact on the visuals in every scene. Fans on consoles can expect ray tracing to be implemented in some form later in Hitman 3’s life cycle.

Hitman 3 is out now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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