The latest Hitman is an episodic game that will see periodic releases of new content. The first of those releases consists of two Escalation contracts for players to attempt. If you own the game, you’ll be able to find them in your Contracts menu under Escalation.
Escalations are something completely new to the Hitman series, and were created by IO Interactive as a way to provide players with fresh challenges while they wait for new chapters of the main story to release. In order to complete an Escalation contract, players need to master the location as well as the gameplay mechanics to complete a hit that escalates in difficulty by adding new elements for each new stage.
These contracts use existing locations, like the palace featured in the Paris mission, with added security measures like laser trip-wire explosives and additional security cameras. Players can climb up the leaderboards to compete against others online and save functions are completely disabled.
The two new Escalation contracts are:
“The Holmwood Disturbance” challenges you to eliminate Faustin D’Aoust with a firearm while wearing the vampire magician disguise. Escalations include adding an additional target, disallowing pacifications, limiting you to a single exit point and adding more security cameras.
“The Mandelbulb Requiem” gives you a contract on Michel Charest while wearing a Palace Staff disguise. Making things harder, you will eventually need to find and hack a laptop, eliminate Lance Artois while wearing a different, specific, disguise, dodge more security cameras and finally get around deadly laser tripwires throughout the palace.