Hitman Absolution’s new ‘play-to-create’ Contracts mode – full details

IO Interactive has revealed Contracts Mode – a new feature for Hitman Absolution that allows players to create their own challenges by playing through levels in specific ways.

The new mode was revealed by gameplay director Christian Elverdam at an event in Cologne this afternoon. Contracts will be playable on the show floor at gamescom from tomorrow, and there’ll also be a new trailer for those of you who can’t make it to Germany.

Here’s how it all works:

• Rather than being an outright level editor, Contracts appears to be quite similar to EA’s Autolog feature: Assignments are created by playing through a map in a specific way, and then challenging other players to copy your actions – or to improve upon them by being more efficient.
• Players pick a mission and then ignore the usual objective, instead designating up to three targets of their own choosing. The victims are manually selected and then eliminated during a live play-through of the level; this initial run serves as the benchmark for your new Contract.
• When another player plays your Contract, their aim will be to beat your score. For maximum points they’ll have to use the same weapon and then escape the level by using the same exit you did. Once the last hit has been accomplished, the player’s score begins to deplete – so they’ll have to reach the designated exit as soon as possible.
• Based on the way the Contract creator plays – and depending on variables they can set afterwards – a number of restrictions will appear in the resultant mission briefing. These include “Hide all bodies”, “Only kill targets” and “Don’t miss”. You can also force challengers to kill their targets in a specific order.
• Creators are able to re-write the text for the mission briefing. However, as each NPC in Hitman Absolution has a set name, you probably won’t be able to re-Christen characters.
• The money earned from Contracts allows you to purchase new weapons, upgrades and disguises. The latter include some classic outfits from previous Hitman games, including samurai and scientist clothing, and the yellow bird costume from the Mardi Gras level in Blood Money.
• Once you’ve finished creating a Contract, you’ll be able to share it with friends and the Hitman community. If you wish, you can set the duration of the challenge – limiting the number of days for which it will be available.
• Users can draw attention to public Contracts using a “Like” button. Each week IO will pick out five new Contracts and highlight their leaderboards on the mode’s front page.
• Hitman Absolution will ship with an initial set of Contracts designed by the team at IO.