The Hitman: Absolution release date has been set for November 20. Square Enix confirmed the date as part of a press release outlining the unusual Sniper Challenge pre-order bonus. If you pre-order the game on May 15 you'll get a standalone sniper game through Steam on August 1.
Sniper Challenge will give you a sniper rifle and place you on a balcony overlooking a swanky party populated by the friends, staff and bodyguards of your target, CEO Richard Strong. There will be "score multipliers" and "secret extras" that will let you unlock weapon upgrades and claim even higher scores. Weapons like the Kazo TRG sniper rifle can then be ported over into Hitman: Absolution when it comes out in November.
More details are set to arrive on the Hitman Sniper site , which will likely be updated when the pre-orders go live next Tuesday May 15. The separate Sniper Challenge minigame sounds like a better idea than the bonus levels we've seen in games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and at least this way we'll have to earn those unlocks rather than seeing them appear magically in our inventory at the start of the game. What do you think, good idea or a bit of a gimmick?
