Ever since I played the beta of Hitman 3‘s Freelancer Mode, I’ve been unable to stop thinking about it. I fell completely head-over-heels in love with this extraction-style game mode, and I’m having a hard time waiting for its release in January. (If you want to read my full thoughts on the mode, check them out here.)
In the meantime, though, IO Interactive isn’t leaving us high and dry. In fact, according to their Year 2 Winter Roadmap, they’re dropping some time-limited unlocks for us to pick up during the frostiest of all seasons. If you play the now-permanent Holiday Hoarders mode between December 1 and January 5, you have a chance at unlocking Lil’ Flashy robot-shaped flash grenade and the Explosive Xmas Gift. And if you play the Hokkaido Snow Festival event between January 5 and 26, you can unlock the Ice Baller pistol.
To clarify, the unlocks are permanent, but the windows for unlocking them will shut, presumably for another year. Plus, all the previous unlocks for these events should still be available.
And that’s not all! There are more contracts coming to Elusive Target Arcade, giving you a shot at unlocking the Shashka A33 Gold assault rifle. Plus, there are returning Elusive Targets, as well as some brand-new batches of Featured Contracts.
All of this, of course, is leading up to Freelancer Mode, which officially launches on January 26. I guarantee it’s going to be stealing away dozens of hours of my life — it’s super, super fun!
This is a lot to keep track of, so I’m going to give you a chronological list.
December 1, 2022
- Lil’ Flashy is unlockable (until January 5)
- Explosive Xmas Gift is unlockable (until January 5)
December 8, 2022
- New Elusive Target Arcade contracts
- Shashka A33 Gold is unlockable
December 15, 2022
- Urben’s Holiday Special #2 Featured Contracts
December 22, 2022
- Sapienza (Icon Variant) map is free for all players – Expires January 2
December 30, 2022
- The Bad Boy (Elusive Target on Sapienza) – Expires January 9
January 5, 2023
- ICA19 Ice Baller pistol is unlockable (until January 26)
January 6, 2023
- The Forager (Elusive Target on Paris) – Expires January 16
January 12, 2023
- Frote7 Speedrun Community Featured Contracts #2
January 26, 2023
- Freelancer Mode
And if you want to get all the details in video format, check out the IO Interactive’s Winter Roadmap video below.
