The patch note is an underappreciated art form. Among the dry details of damage buffs and bug fixes are occasionally brilliant puns or revelatory details about the absurd complexity of videogames. Dwarf Fortress is the undisputed king of unintentionally hilarious updates ("Cleaned up the bear situation"), but we've also written about some of the all-time greats from Ark: Survival Evolved, Rust, and World of Warcraft.

Absurdity is always with us, though, and the good gods know we've needed every laugh we could find in 2017. To find the very best ones, I dove through the 2017 community updates and patch notes from all kinds of games. Deep, open-world survival games are always good for a laugh. After all, they model systems like pooping and sleeping, and a mention of "shitting the bed" is already 90 percent of a joke.

H1Z1

12/13

• Blood effects have been changed back to the classic mist effect. 

12/7

• Toxic Cargo Pants have been updated to be more consistent 

11/15 

• Shooting from a passenger seat should no longer result in hitting a teammate in the backseat. 

8/29 

• Old rocks have been removed and replaced with new, varied rock formations.
• Players should no longer fall out of their parachute. 

7 Days to Die

via reddit user u/nettech09

10/26 

• Some general improvements to zombie jumping
• Fixed: Snakes are fireproof

8/31

• Fixed: Businessman Zombie when killed can have his head dislocated when he falls backwards 
• Fixed: Vultures can fly underwater
• Fixed: Bears and wolves walk on water 

8/04

• Fixed: Wrong open sound on eviscerated remains
• Fixed: Dysentery description does not mention that it is lethal 

6/06

• Added: Moldy Bread is a science crafting item
• Changed: Fat zombie cops are bigger
• Changed: Zombie soldiers are less generous with the rocket launchers
• Fixed: Breaking down a car on the sloped road will create a hole in the world 

Oxygen Not Included

10/5

• Stress vomiting Duplicants infected with Hypothermia should no longer vomit "Hypothermia germs" 

8/31

• Fixed a crash that could occur if a Duplicant died while using a wash basin 

3/02

• Algae distillery has a much longer conversion interval
• Duplicants no longer use the massage table during red alert 

Ylands

12/9

• Horse is no longer perceived as a threat when sleeping 

Medieval Engineers

via reddit user u/zacrynix

12/12

• Fixed a crash when you walk on the exact north pole. 

11/28

• The Janitor will now clean up any static grids in the center of the planet. 

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds

via reddit user u/beerye 

12/27  

• Fixed the issue where the falling speed meter text was showing abnormally in Portuguese 

12/11

• Fixed the issue where player's footstep sound was silenced when player moved diagonally or wore particular shoes 

12/8

• Fixed the issue where while vaulting in FPP, player could look inside own body 

Lone Echo

8/30 

• Repeatedly punching the dummies will no longer result in a crash. Swing away. 

Prey

via reddit user u/everypostepic 

8/2

• Fixed crash when mimicking bass guitar in the Yellow Tulip.
• Player can no longer bypass ceiling collision by mantling GLOO. 
• If the player manages to fully GLOO the greater mimic while it is in mid-lunge toward the player's face, the facegrab animation will no longer play and trap the player. 

5/31

• Superfruit no longer appears shrunken and flat when fully grown.

As I slogged deeper and deeper into the year, dozens of tabs open across three monitors and a laptop, I started to get a little delirious. It was in this moment that I fell in love with the long-suffering community managers and blog writers who compile patch notes. These poor people cry out for help with little quips, "just to see if anyone is still reading this." My friends: I see you, and I love you. 

Astroneer

12/18

• Fixed a few other instances of Client players getting stuck in a wheelie while driving a Rover in Multiplayer games. 

10/12

• Fixed an issue where Rovers would fly into space when loading a save from a rover seat 

9/15

• Fixed a rare crash, that according to engineers was “super weird, and something that should never occur,” involving the game trying to access non-existent Rover wheels.
• Fixed an issue where items would go on a beautiful journey into space if not collected from an dead Astroneer before a second death occurs. 

Hitman

via reddit user u/newbzoors 

7/13

• We've fixed an issue that could cause the toilet in the Marrakesh school to behave erratically after 47 kicks it onto Zaydan. This could occasionally result in 47's death. Seriously. 

Total War: Warhammer

via reddit user u/flavahbeast 

10/25

• FIXED an issue with the AI proposing peace right after entering a war with the player
• FIXED a staircase in Lothern Siege battle map which would cause chariots to spontaneously combust
• FIXED CA Cinematics Team’s obsession with slaying High Elves. May require further testing…
• FIXED Spearmen unit in Tor Elithis Rogue army T-Posing
• Skavenslaves: more salt added to diet; now 25% more delicious 

8/9

• Under-Morking no longer automatically leads to over-Gorking, and vice-versa. The waxing or waning of Morrslieb may affect this. Or it may not. 

It took our Bitcoin mining rig two weeks to spit out the solution to 'what is the hardest GOTY award to be mad about,' but our unscrupulous power consumption was worth it. Divinity: Original Sin 2 is the first uncontroversial Game of the Year award we've given in years. We finally did it!

Of course it couldn't last, though. After just a few days of basking in positive reinforcement, we also published awards for PUBG and Destiny 2, prompting questions such as: 'Are you drunk?' The answer is: probably. But we must press on. The end of the year is for awarding awards, and no number of incredulous reaction gifs and all caps emails can stop us. So before calling it quits, we grabbed a handful of rejected award ideas from our award box (after paying our office manager $1.99 for the key) to bring you the 2017 Looties, our other GOTY awards.

Best Mass Effect Game

Winner: Mass Effect: Andromeda

However you feel about Mass Effect: Andromeda, you have to admit that it's the best Mass Effect game that released this year, and at least the fourth best Mass Effect game of all time. Not too shabby! —Tyler Wilde

Most Effective Word of Mouth Marketing Campaign 

Winner: EA for Star Wars Battlefront 2

Wow! EA pulled off quite the marketing stunt for Battlefront 2: even politicians are talking about it. To make this word-of-mouth magic happen, the marketing savants at EA constructed a business model that it would be impossible to look at, even on paper, without saying: 'Excellent! Everyone is going to be very mad about this! In fact, even Disney will be mad. We'll definitely make Belgium's Justice Minister mad.' And like clockwork, that's what happened—literally anyone could have predicted it, which goes to show just how airtight the plan was. Nice one, EA! —Tyler Wilde

Most Unexpected Death

Winner: Dishonored 2: Death of the Outsider

It was a closely guarded secret all through the production of Dishonored 2: Death of the Outsider: The Outsider would die. The efforts taken to hide the death of the Outsider were extreme, with several fake endings to Death of the Outsider, in which the Outsider did not die, being fully produced and animated. The Outsider's voice actor spent days recording dozens of lines of dialogue intended to throw off any suspicions in case of a pre-launch leak, lines like "I am glad I did not die!" and "I, the Outsider, continue to live" and "There sure are a lot of deaths but thankfully none of them are of me, the Outsider." These efforts were completely worth it, because we were completely stunned when we got to the part of Death of the Outsider where we experienced the death of the Outsider. In fact, we feel a little bad not including a spoiler warning before this award, because now you know the Outsider, in Death of the Outsider, dies. —Chris Livingston

Most normal house

Winner: What Remains of Edith Finch

As evocative as the Finch's family home is, it's the realistic slice-of-life details that make it so compelling. For instance, there's the subtle inclusion of secret tunnels that only small people can fit through. We all know where ours are! (Though we must never find out what's behind them.) And rooms with entirely different colour schemes that perfectly show, down to the smallest detail, who lives there? These are the details I expect when I walk into a family home, not the unrealistic detritus you see in most so-called 'true to life' portrayals: mouldy pizza boxes stuffed down the side of a bed, embarrassing Star Trek tie-in novels in people's book collections, dad's copy of Band of Brothers on Blu-ray. As if we're not going to notice that the family dome is missing from that picture? Props to Edith Finch for getting it right. —Samuel Roberts

Wait, a Survival Game Left Early Access? 

Winner: The Long Ark

Wait, what? A survival game left Early Access this year? Wait, again! And what, again? Two of them? Ark: Survival Evolved and The Long Dark both left Early Access? Holy crap. I didn't know that was a thing that could happen. I thought maybe Steam forgot to make a 'Leave Early Access' button for survival game developers to click on, or maybe that they had to cut down a real tree using an axe made from a stick, a stone, and 'plant fiber' before they were allowed to leave Early Access and no one could actually do it. Well, good for Ark 'n Dark! May your stomach meters be full and your supply of firewood be plentiful. —Chris Livingston

Saddest Child

Winner: Little Nightmares

It's never been a better and worse time to be a sad child in a game, what with Inside and Rime showing that kids have it tough in service of entertaining players. Little Nightmares, though, offers the saddest child of 2017, as grotesque people regularly attempt to eat your character on a horror show of a boat while your character slowly starves to death. If it's not that, you have to avoid giant toy men who want to mess you up real bad. Will 2018 be another banner year for sad videogame children? I would expect so. This sub-genre is flourishing right now. —Samuel Roberts

Saddest Robots

Winner: Nier Automata

Have you met the member of the resistance group who reprograms a Yorha android because he's desperate to start a family? And then did you read the email afterwards that explains in cold detail how he and his new robot relations were killed? Nier features some deeply sad robots, all trying to figure themselves out in a box-y world where people no longer reside, but human feelings live on in their creations. Everyone's having a bad time. Except the robots having an orgy—they're loving it. —Samuel Roberts

Corporate Good Guy of the Year

Winner: Yosuke Matsuda, Square-Enix

It's rare to see major publishers behave with magnanimity when the big bucks are involved, so I was moved if not to tears, at least to substantial surprise when Square-Enix decided not to be jerks about the whole not wanting to make more Hitman games thing, and instead let IO Interactive walk away with the rights to their slap-headed, murderous creation. Credit for that has to go to big boss Yosuke Matsuda, who explained: "I believe it wouldn't be Hitman unless it was Hitman made by IO… I love the game, and I believe the fans of Hitman think it's only Hitman if it's made by IO. So I thought that was the best way for the game to continue, and that's why we were supportive of the MBO and of course didn't mind if they continued to use the IP." Imagine, Bobby Kotick at Activision saying something like that. You can't. Because he's buried under that pile of loot boxes. Shhh, Bobby. Let the darkness come. You're safe now. —Tim Clark

Corporate Bad Guy of the Year

Winner: Also Yosuke Matsuda, Square-Enix

Goddamnit. No sooner had I hung the garland on Matsuda-san than I realised he was also responsible for this year's greatest single moment of villainy: Ignoring the noble and righteous campaign led by our own Wesley Fenlon to have Final Fantasy Tactics finally ported to PC. I mean, I can't be sure this is entirely Matsuda's fault, but I also can't be certain he isn't to blame. So here we are. I mean, c'mon Square. You've jammed every other Fantasy onto Steam except that one about the hot boys riding around chasing chocobo tail in a black cadillac, why the hell can't we have Tactics? It's literally one of the best turn-based strategy games ever made, and would be an absolute delight to play with mouse and keyboard. To be honest, if it was between this and letting the Hitman devs families' starve… —Tim Clark

Also, you can literally fight him in Nier: Automata, which makes him a true (but extremely cool, dammit) bad guy. —Wes Fenlon

Last week, IO Interactive described its decision to part ways with Square Enix earlier this year as a "watershed moment" for the studio. Now, Square Enix's CEO Yosuke Matsuda has praised IO's treatment of the Hitman series, but says SE could no longer "continue sufficiently investing" in it. 

In conversation with gamesindustry.biz, Matsuda suggests that despite its warm critical reception, the latest episodic Hitman failed to meet financial expectations following its release last year. 

"In the case of Hitman, I personally love the game," Matsuda tells GI.biz. "I think it's very unique, but I always have to look at things from the perspective of what it costs us to develop it and the performance it delivers. In doing that, in the case of Hitman, we had several expectations where that balance was not sufficiently achieved.

"Whether it's our Western studios or Japanese studios, at Square Enix we sometimes end up with conflicts or shortages in terms of resources. I felt that if we were not able to continue sufficiently investing in Hitman, it could wind up ruining the game—so we found ourselves in a difficult position. A decision had to be made in terms of our relationship with the Hitman team. I wanted them to continue to develop the game, but I thought in terms of investing further in the game it would be best if they worked with another partner other than ourselves."

IO of course went independent in June and have since confirmed a new Hitman game is in the works. The Danish outfit ultimately controls its own destiny from hereon, which Matsuda says encouraged Square Enix to support the management buyout (MBO) both parties agreed upon earlier this year.  

"I believe it wouldn't be Hitman unless it was Hitman made by IO," adds Matsuda. "I love the game, and I believe the fans of Hitman think it's only Hitman if it's made by IO. So I thought that was the best way for the game to continue, and that's why we were supportive of the MBO and of course didn't mind if they continued to use the IP."  

Read Phil's review of Agent 47's most recent outing here.

Sergei Larin, better known in underworld circles as The Forger, was the first-ever Hitman Elusive Target. And as developer Io Interactive promised last month, he's back for a ten-day sojourn through Paris—which means you have another opportunity to put two in his head. 

The reactivated Elusive Targets will work exactly as they did the first time around, and with all the same suit unlocks, for new players and old pros who missed them the first time around. There's only one exception: If you've already undertaken an Elusive Target contract, successfully or not, you won't be able to do it again. "Your record for that contract will stand and cannot be altered," Io Interactive said. 

Io said future Elusive Target reactivations will be announced via the Hitman mobile companion for Android and iOS devices. A schedule wasn't announced, but you can get a rundown of who they were and when they originally appeared on the Hitman Wiki. 

The Forger will be in Paris for ten days, so you've got until November 27 to get the job done. Bear in mind that the contract cannot be restarted "once any targets have been eliminated or any objectives have been completed." Fortunately, this particular job only has one objective: Kill him, any way you can. 

Despite being dropped by Square Enix earlier this year, going indie was a "genuine watershed moment" for Hitman studio IO Interactive. With new games planned, Agent 47's episodic series is in rude health—and is now in-line for a television series. 

As reported by Deadline (via gamesindustry.biz), Fox 21 has partnered with streaming service Hulu to launch a Hitman series—with a pilot script written by Derek Kolstad, the creator and writer of the John Wick action films. Kolstad will be an executive producer, alongside film producers Chuck Gordon and Adrian Askarieh—the latter of which worked on both Hitman movies.   

Deadline reports that "the hope is for Hitman to become a flagship series" for Hulu, which, given how poorly received both the 2007 and 2015 films were, is perhaps something Agent 47 deserves. 

Speaking to the game, Phil's review of the first season in its entirety can be read here. Also from Phil, I really enjoyed this piece on the making of Sapienza, Hitman's best level.  

IO Interactive's Hitman was received well over the course of its episodic release, however studio's future was placed in jeopardy when parent outfit Square Enix announced plans to sell earlier this year. IO responded by going independent in June, unveiling a Game of the Year Edition last month, and confirming another game is in the works last week. 

In conversation with gamesindustry.biz, IO CEO Hakan Abrak describes the decision to go it alone as "a genuine watershed moment" for he and his colleagues—one which will inform the developer's games into the future.  

"The AAA digital era is where we all are right now and it made perfect sense for Hitman Season One, " says Abrak. "Being able to create that experience and then continue to add to it has been immensely rewarding for IO Interactive, and we hope for our players too. That journey has not only changed Hitman, it has changed our thinking also, when it comes to creating new universes in the future.

"This has been a genuine watershed moment for us. Just like our games, it can be challenging at times, but now we're in control of what we do next and that's quite satisfying. Being independent means we don't have to do things the way we've done them in the past. We can decide what's right for IO Interactive, for Hitman and for our players. We can be more open with what we say and what we do. In other words: expect less corporate-speak, and more heart."

Elsewhere, Abrak feels he and his team are onto something good with the latest Hitman, and that while the episodic release nature of season one wasn't for everyone, the "live model" was a particular success. 

To this end he says: "We learned so much during the first season of this game, and by the end we felt like a well-oiled machine... We're the first to admit we got some things right and some things wrong. Changing our business model before launch caused confusion, and we had some tech issues at launch. While the episodic nature of the main story campaign received major praise from the press and many gamers, it wasn't necessarily everyone's cup of tea. What did really work wonders for the game was the live model.

"Frequent release of content, challenges and live events really exceeded all expectations. With every content update we saw more and more players joining. All of that content took a herculean effort from the dev team, and it paid off... We learned a lot that will make the experience even better for the next game in the Hitman universe."

Read gamesindustry.biz's chat with Abrak in full in this direction. 

THE HIGHS

Samuel Roberts: LA redux

I enjoyed reading Tim's piece on LA Noire's upcoming VR offshoot this week, not least because I can empathise with his sweaty chronicles of punching a man in the face using VR controllers. That aside, the way interacting with other characters works in this revamped game sounds effective, and it's nice to hear they've redone hundreds of objects to make the world feel more vivid. The original is starting to show its age, as nice as the faces look. 

LA Noire is one of those games that games journalists love to talk about: it has a rich historical setting, cinematic aspirations and is flawed in a bunch of interesting ways, despite reaching so high. I'm all for another way to experience it. 

Phil Savage: IO, IO, it's off to work they go

Right, yes, fine. With almost tedious inevitability, I am excited about the confirmation of new Hitman.

Seriously, though, while I've written about Hitman so much that I'm almost sick of my own opinions about it, it remains brilliant. And the fact that IO gets to make more of it as an indie studio is a rare and heartwarming thing. I look forward to seeing what they come up with, be it a new game or a second season of the existing one. (Although I might get someone else to review it.)

Joe Donnelly: Dressing room dressing down

I spoke about Football Manager 2018 in last week’s high column and here I am at it again. Why? Because I’ve not played anything else this week. In fact I’ve not really done anything in the last seven days, besides reviewing the latest game, chanting football songs at my monitor, and moaning about how my Celtic players don’t respect me as a manager. I’m a bit of a dick, I admit that, but these guys have a serious problem with authority. 

FM 2018’s Dynamics system is what's given my squad its newfound backbone—a new feature that forces you to manage 15+ bodies both on and off the pitch. Upsetting the most authoritative players (by dropping them from the first team, for example) often has knock-on effects and can spill onto the pitch. Despite my new disdain for some of my real life heroes, it’s a really cool addition that I’ve enjoying messing around with. 

Tyler Wilde: Rocket surfing

Goofiness has retreated from a lot of multiplayer games. We don't get to stand on the wings of flying planes in Battlefield anymore, or fill jeeps with C4. Weird, silly mods like Action Quake 2 are harder to find. The most popular game right now, PUBG, takes place in a grey military sadscape. So although I haven't played much of it yet, I'm excited to see the playfulness of Battlefield 1942 and Team Fortress 2 emerge in Fortnite Battle Royale, where players have been riding on pumpkin rockets and turning themselves into bushes. I want to do that.

Wes Fenlon: Hello Nioh

Hey, Nioh's out on PC! Cool. I haven't played it yet, and I know it's mostly a shameless combination of Dark Souls and a bloated loot system, but dangit, I love my Japanese action games. I'm especially glad to see it arrive on PC because Sony published Nioh on the PS4, which I had assumed meant a PC version was out of the question. I'm glad to be wrong, especially as I've been replaying Team Ninja's incredible Ninja Gaiden Black recently. There may be little left of the team that made that game a decade ago, but I want to believe the action pedigree still lives on in those halls.

Chris Livingston: Hats and dogs 

The Sims 4 has finally gotten pets, and they're fun. Dogs will jump in the pool with you, cats will lick their crotches while sitting on the kitchen counter and ignoring you (and ignoring everything else, including house fires) unless they want something, and you can design them, breed them, and dress them up in little outfits. You can even run a vet clinic, which I have been doing with some success, provided you don't spend too much time in the lobby which is covered with dog pee (and, this being The Sims, possibly some human pee as well).

Realistic? No. Cats will obediently climb onto the examination table without screeching, and taking their temperature involves scanning their ear with a laser instead of sticking a cold thermometer up their butts while they try to claw you to death. But who wants realism? I want to put a hat on my cat and have it stay there, instead of my cat shaking it off immediately and then hating me for the next 72 hours.

THE LOWS

Samuel Roberts: Pricey crystals

Who wants to buy £80/$100 worth of loot crate crystals? Not me. Obviously this is the big issue in blockbuster games right now, and I'm even a little bit tired of passing comment on it. But the idea of spending that amount of money on an in-game currency rather than buying, say, two full games at retail price is completely alien to me and probably always will be.

But hey, I'm sure they wouldn't list it as an option unless they believed someone was going to buy it. 

Phil Savage: Missed Call

I genuinely wish I cared about Call of Duty. Few other releases feel like such an event for the people who truly love them, and it's fun to join in on the Big New Thing. But it's been precisely 10 years since I last enjoyed a game in the series, and nothing I've read about WWII suggests it will be any different. That's a shame: the switch in setting had a chance to recall the heyday of military shooters—both the original Call of Duty games and Medal of Honor: Allied Assault.

Instead, CoD:WWII sounds as if it's more of what CoD's been doing for the last decade. Ultimately, though, it's fine. This is PC gaming, where even if the big new thing isn't to your taste, there'll always be something that is—even if you're looking for a fun World War II shooter.

Joe Donnelly: Nioh more

As Wes notes over the page, Nioh’s Complete Edition came to PC this week. And despite seemingly suffering a bit of a shoddy port, it’s another game that I really want to play. Which means I’ve now got it, Wolfenstein 2, Destiny 2, Divinity: Original Sin 2, the new South Park, and of course Football Manager 2018 on my plate at the moment and I don’t know where I’ll find the time to make a dent in any of them.

I’m normally a bit Scrooge in the run up to Christmas, but the festive period will work wonders on my pile of shame.   

Tyler Wilde: Repeated transactional engagement

Take-Two says it wants 'recurrent consumer spending opportunities' in every new game. Yay.

Wes Fenlon: Hollow Life

Hollow Knight, one of my favorite games of the year, has an absolutely incredible vinyl record soundtrack coming out, and it's not in my hands right now. Even worse, I'll have to pay up if I do want it in my hands next year. My wallet weeps, but my record player will be so happy.

Chris Livingston: Torchlife

I was pretty bummed to hear about Runic Games shutting down. During a very stressful time in my life, Torchlight was my go-to game for decompressing and destressing after long, shitty days. Every night I'd spend an hour hacking, slashing, and gathering colorful loot and wonderfully named weapons. For several months it was a near-daily escape. I sunk plenty of time into Torchlight 2 as well, and I've just begun playing Hob which, while quite different than the Torchlight games, still shows the Runic team's excellent world-crafting and animation skills. "You haven't heard the last of us," said Runic head Marsh Lefler, and I believe it.

As promised last week, Hitman Game of the Year Edition is now live on Steam, with a new four-mission campaign, additional weapons, suits, and challenges, and the reactivation of Elusive Targets. The GOTY will set you back $60, or $20 for anyone who already owns the Complete First Season. More relevant to the future of the series, however, (and therefore our interests) is a launch-day message posted by Io Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak confirming that a new Hitman is on the way. 

"Five months ago, I posted an open letter to let you know that Io-Interactive had become an independent studio once again," Abrak wrote. "We’ve kept intentionally quiet since then, because we needed to focus inwards at what we want IOI to stand for, in terms of our employees, our culture and our ambitions and dreams for the future. It’s been hard and challenging work, but also incredibly exciting as we lay the foundations for a new start for this special studio." 

After expressing his gratitude to fans for their "continued support and love," Abrak concluded, "One last thing about our next Hitman game; I want to let you know that we’re making great progress and we have exciting new features and some franchise firsts, which we can’t wait to tell you all about. You’ll have to wait a little longer as we don’t plan to start talking about that until some point in 2018." 

The lack of detail is disappointing, yes, but given the year that Io's had—from "a brilliant return to form" to being cut loose by Square Enix to finding its footing as an independent outfit—the simple confirmation of "our next Hitman game" is good news to get. 

Earlier this month, IO Interactive asked us to "save the date" for a Hitman-related announcement on October 24. That's today, and the developer has now revealed its iconic time-limited Elusive Targets contracts will be reactivated next month.  

Alongside a new Game of the Year Edition of the base game, the Elusive Targets reset is due November 7. Here's how IO describes the process: 

And starting (again) in November, we will reactivate Elusive Targets, this is something our players have been asking for. So if you missed any Elusive Targets first time round or if you are new to HITMAN, then this is your chance to experience these intense time-limited in-game targets. Reactivated Elusive Target's will still be time-limited and if you’ve already completed or failed an Elusive Target, that record still stands and cannot be altered but you can complete any others.

At a regular price of $60 ($20 if you already own everything from Season One), Hitman's GOTY edition includes the original's seven locations, bonus missions, and Challenge Packs—and comes with new 'Escalation Contracts', lighting and graphics enhancements, and a clown suit. Obviously.

The new game also boasts a new four-mission 'Patient Zero' campaign "with new dialogue, briefings and audio tracks", with the added promise of a "few surprises" for players when it lands. 

Here's a GOTY-flavoured trailer:

Hitman's Game of the Year Edition is due November 7.

IO Interactive has outlined what's coming to Hitman this month, and asks players to "save the date" for an announcement on October 24.  

By way of ten Featured Contracts, the 'Master Scarecrow' Challenge Pack, and a further ten player-made Curated Contracts, the bald butcher has his work cut out for him over the next few weeks. The first two of those three will land on October 13, which marks the first Colorado-based Challenge Pack, while the third is expected "later in October".  

Alongside the roadmap, IO says it'll reveal some new Agent 47-related stuff on October 24. "That’s the date when we will reveal brand new content for the game," says this update post. "We’re going to let the announcement itself do all the talking, but there is one thing we want to clarify before then; this upcoming content is not 'Season 2'. We’re saying that now to keep expectations in check."

Keep your eyes peeled, then, and we'll report back two and half weeks' time.