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IO Interactive announced that Hitman World of Assassination has finally got its long-awaited PC VR patch, bringing new life to a sorely neglected port.

The News

IOI released VR support for Hitman 3 (2021) on PC back in 2022, later rebranding in 2023 to Hitman World of Assassination, which included the full trilogy—PC VR support and all.

Still, PC VR support left much to be desired, omitting some of the quality of life stuff, like some iffy two-handed interactions and sometimes buggy visuals, which were largely addressed in the PSVR 2 port when it launched back in March as a $10 paid upgrade to the PS5 game as well as its own $40 ‘Part One’ bundle.

Now, with the latest ‘Season of the Dragon’ patch, the PC VR version is at feature parity with the PSVR 2 port, coming free to all owners of the Standard Edition or above on PC.

The new patch includes:

• Two-Handed Tweaks – aiming of two-handed weapons has been improved; it is now based on the position of both hands. Previously, it was based on the main hand, adjusted slightly with the support hand.
• Weapon Collision – weapon collision is improved when wielded with both hands; it is now based around the barrel of the weapon. This should help to prevent drifting when holding a sniper above railings.
• Bullet in the Chamber – reloading a non-empty magazine doesn’t require you to rack the slide, as per the last patch. Now a chambered bullet is visible when racking the slide.
• Sharpened Scope – improvements to instances where far away objects could become invisible when looking through a sniper scope, causing great difficulty when sniping from certain vantage points.
• Third-person Moments – various key moments and kill opportunities are now in third person.
• Better Cutscenes – some starting and exit cutscenes are now 3D instead of using the 2D “cinema mode” screen.
• Better Object Interaction
  • Intuitive Interactions – various improvements to touch interactions, including adding hand poses when your hand comes into proximity with them.
  • Pistol Placement – when starting a mission, concealed weapons (e.g. pistols) are no longer stored in a hip holster. Instead, they are placed in the inventory wheel.
  • Grip Position – improved the alignment of various items when they’re held.
  • Holster Feedback – changed how the feedback works for holsters.
  • Toggle Grip – Enabling this allows you to release the grip button while keeping items in your hand.
  • Two-Handed Aiming – controls how weapons are aimed when wielding them with both hands.
  • Firearm Angle – split previous firearm angle option into two options for one-handed and two-handed weapons.

Additionally, both PSVR 2 and PC VR versions now include the rogue-like ‘Freelancer’ mode as well as access to ‘The Sarajevo Six’ DLC and more than 50 Escalations, Elusive Targets, and Elusive Target Arcade Contracts.

As for the PSVR 2 version, IOI says it improved black levels, as some players noted that they weren’t as “inky” as they should be.

If you’re still playing on the original PSVR, IOI says those changes made for PSVR 2 have been integrated “to provide a more consistent experience.”

My Take

Hitman World of Assassination is known for getting near-monthly updates that include new missions and targets, often which feature paid DLC, such as the new ‘The Dragon’ Arcade contract featuring Bruce Lee for $5.

Love it or hate it, it’s a live-service model that needs to keep chugging. Whatever the case, it’s basically made the SteamVR-compatible version the best VR version of the game right now (finally), especially if you have a hefty GPU capable of pushing graphics as high as they can go in VR.

And tightening up access to that DLC pipeline on PC VR—the second most populous VR platform—makes sense, especially as the PSVR 2 platform wanes with the lack of strong support from Sony. Notably, VR support is free on PC VR, which isn’t the case for PSVR 2.

Granted, PC VR probably doesn’t represent a gold mine of DLC purchases—a majority of owners undoubtedly play in flatscreen. Still, leaving PC VR lagging behind PSVR 2 as the game starts its end-year slate of DLC feels like a broader marketing push to scoop up relevance wherever it can be found.

Considering Quest, VR’s most populous platform, doesn’t support the game, but rather a tuned down (and widely panned) standalone version of Hitman 3, IOI could be trying to maximize where it reasonably can with (relatively) little effort.