Trivia / Hitman 3 Freelancer

• What Could Have Been: There were several changes between the Closed Technical Test (or "CTT" for short), of Freelancer, notably to the gameplay balance:
  • The briefing for Freelancer heavily implied the ICA was still around or being rebooted. On final release, this was changed, and the briefing removed all traces of ICA iconography (likely as the implication of the ICA being rebooted undermined Hitman 3's ending).
  • One of the main complaints of the CTT was that Merces, the in-game currency, was too hard to earn, despite the avenues presented to the player. In the final release, the amounts earned when picking up Merces were changed to be 100 times bigger! (5 Merces became 500 Merces).
  • Weapons disappearing from your safehouse after failing a campaign was a sticking point by players as it felt too punishing (and was also inconsistently applied during the CTT); this was changed so that weapons are not removed if you fail, only Freelancer tools are (itself causing its own controversy). The developers also created a tier of Freelancer tools called "Collectors Editions" to soften the blow of failing as, unless you were carrying them, they will not be removed from the safehouse, so as to get the player in a better starting point when they start another run.
  • In the CTT, Merces were entirely gotten from completing a mission or showdowns' optional objectives. In the final release, this was changed so that the player actually gets at least a small, base amount of Merces for completing a mission or showdown, even if they make no effort to complete any of the side objectives - though you still have to beat the optional objectives if you want to make the most money. Showdown missions also got a higher payout compared to the CTT, as they noticed players didn't earn as many Merces from completing the other objectives (likely due to the increased risk factors involved in doing so).
  • In the CTT, players being spotted by lookouts and then failing showdown missions (and therefore a campaign) felt very unfair as lookouts informed all potential targets immediately with no logical chain of events to catch them. Now, there's a specific animation for them doing so (touching their earpiece), making the player being outed much less of an issue.
  • The CTT let players use body containers to verify if a suspect was the target in a showdown, which has been changed, so all potential targets are blocked from containers until they're killed, which also incurs a 1,000 Merces punishment in the final release. This was also done to stop players from just shooting each one in the head on sight and skipping the info-gathering entirely.
  • Killing civilians in the CTT is something that was arguably incentivised due to the relaxing of Silent Assassin and optional objectives that incentivised a loud approach. In the final release, a small, 50 Merces punishment for killing civilians was added, so as to not encourage players to go on rampages, or to at least keep the collateral damage to a minimum. Note that taking out a guard confers no monetary punishment, allowing you to defend yourself in a shootout or strategically take out guards without having to consider the profit/loss.
  • A big complaint in the CTT was that the number of suspects was found to be too overwhelming the further you went into your run. The numbers for the final release were toned down a bit - though you'll still have four, six or nine to deal with based on how far in you've gotten.
  • The levels in the CTT had more stashes, but the final release has less stashes, but more valuable tools inside to balance this out.