Hitman 3 dev confirms it will add ray tracing on Xbox Series X, alongside PC

IO Interactive will add ray tracing lighting effects to the Xbox Series X / S versions of Hitman 3, alongside PC, it’s said.

The Hitman 3 studio has previously committed to adding the headline graphics feature via a post-release update, but in a new Xbox.com blog post it specifically confirms that it will be coming to “Xbox Series X|S hardware”.

IO’s CTO, Maurizio de Pascale said: “It’s great that the GPU in the Series X|S has hardware support for Ray-Tracing. We’ve already started working on RT technology for the renderer in our Glacier engine, and once that’s deemed ready for prime time, we’ll definitely bring it to the Series X|S hardware.”

There’s not yet been confirmation of ray-tracing coming to the PlayStation 5 version of Hitman 3, but this could simply be due to the Xbox-focused nature of the above marketing post.

It was revealed this week that Hitman 3 on Xbox Series X has a resolution advantage over the PS5 version, according to a technical analysis of the just-released game.

Digital Foundry reports that Microsoft’s flagship next-gen console runs the game at native 4K resolution, compared to PlayStation 5 running it at 1800p and Xbox Series S at 1080p resolution.

“I know Xbox fans have been waiting for a game to come along like this,” said staff writer John Linneman. “So here it is, we have higher resolution on Series X versus the PS5, but they both have the same textures of course.

“I think shadow quality actually was a little bit different. I noticed that the Series X has higher resolution shadows compared to PlayStation 5 and Series S as well.”

In terms of performance on next-gen consoles, the site claims all three versions “barely waver from a 60fps lock from start to finish” with no need to choose between quality and performance modes.

VGC critic Matthew Castle wrote in this month’s Hitman 3 preview: “Outside of [a few] tweaks, there are fewer leaps than we saw between Hitman 1 and 2.

“Agent 47 has a camera for hacking locks and analysing clues (handy when playing Dartmoor detective), but it’s more of a story gimmick than a versatile tool. As far as I can tell, older levels haven’t gained hackable doors in the same way they were updated with extra bushes in Hitman 2.”

Further reading

Hitman 3 review: A great farewell to a stealth legend

Agent 47 aims for a happy ending - and several skulls - in his best missions yet