Since it rebooted its Hitman franchise in 2016, IO Interactive has been putting on a level design masterclass. Each of the missions the developer rolled out in what it calls its World of Assassination series has contained a huge, intricate collection of scripted and free-form systems that create harrowing moments, presented elaborate puzzles to solve, and allowed the player to orchestrate ludicrous and often hilarious situations. Levels are designed to be played over and over so you can explore, understand, and eventually master all their moving parts, and it's impossible to see everything one has to offer in a single playthrough (or in most cases, even two or three).

At first blush, Hitman 3 appears to be more of the same. It makes no drastic changes to the underlying formula, instead adding a few graphical upgrades and quality-of-life improvements to the existing Hitman framework. But Hitman 3 improves on the World of Assassination through consistently excellent level design--which is saying something, given how strong all the previous missions are. Hitman 3 is full of fun and fascinating ideas, many of which play with the concepts underpinning the last four years of Hitman levels.

Presumably knowing that players have spent all sorts of time mastering its many settings and systems, IO throws in some brilliant curve balls that require you to use your assassin skills and knowledge in clever, challenging new ways.

#AutoChessMOBA: The Auto Chess themed MOBA game with ALL HEROES FREE

Chess characters from #AutoChess will become heroes in the MOBA game! Features: all heroes free, no paid runes, day and night version system, destructible objects pic.twitter.com/dN7utBNgxp — Auto Chess (@AutoChess2019) January 9, 2021

Ninja Theory’s upcoming psychological horror game, dubbed “Project Mara,” will take place entirely in a single upscale apartment, with some serious technology being utilized to create incredibly realistic textures, lighting, and more.

In a four-minute video, Ninja Theory chief creative director and co-founder Tameem Antoniades explained how the studio attempted to “capture reality obsessively.”

Ninja Theory’s art team utilized a real-world apartment (seen in the video), took numerous samples from walls, floors, and other objects, and photographed and scanned everything. With that reference, Ninja Theory then recreated the materials (such as a bit of leather) and generated procedural shaders and detail maps to make the materials as true to life as possible.

“A funny thing happens when you get that close to a material, when you get as close as a human eye can possibly see,” Antoniades said. “Things that seem flat from afar become 3D. You start to see details, you start to see edges, edgeware, you see lint, you see dirt. You see all kinds of stuff that is 3D geometry.”

To give you an idea of what Antoniades means, Ninja Theory shows off in-game renders of a carpet with countless individual bumps and curls in its threading, and hair and dust scattered along a wall. Side by side, the in-game renders certainly give the real world a run for their money.

Watch Ninja Theory's previous teaser trailer, which shows off some minor story details.

Ninja Theory also utilized the skills of Clear Angle, a 3D scanning specialist company, to scan the entirety of the apartment. This allowed Ninja Theory to have a working “point cloud” of the apartment, allowing the team to ensure everything has a proper sense of scale and shape.

Perhaps most impressively, Ninja Theory’s artists used procedural generation to create this level of detail across the apartment, a task that Antoniades says would have been impossible by hand. You can see their work in the images below.

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Project Mara was announced in early 2020 alongside Ninja Theory’s Hellblade: Senua’s Saga. Ninja Theory is now a part of Xbox Game Studios, so expect to see its titles release as first-party Xbox exclusives on consoles and PC. From what we’ve seen so far, Project Mara appears to follow a young woman plagued by “mental terror” based on real accounts and research.

Ninja Theory’s upcoming psychological horror game, dubbed “Project Mara,” will take place entirely in a single upscale apartment, with some serious technology being utilized to create incredibly realistic textures, lighting, and more.

In a four-minute video, Ninja Theory chief creative director and co-founder Tameem Antoniades explained how the studio attempted to “capture reality obsessively.”

Ninja Theory’s art team utilized a real-world apartment (seen in the video), took numerous samples from walls, floors, and other objects, and photographed and scanned everything. With that reference, Ninja Theory then recreated the materials (such as a bit of leather) and generated procedural shaders and detail maps to make the materials as true to life as possible.

“A funny thing happens when you get that close to a material, when you get as close as a human eye can possibly see,” Antoniades said. “Things that seem flat from afar become 3D. You start to see details, you start to see edges, edgeware, you see lint, you see dirt. You see all kinds of stuff that is 3D geometry.”

To give you an idea of what Antoniades means, Ninja Theory shows off in-game renders of a carpet with countless individual bumps and curls in its threading, and hair and dust scattered along a wall. Side by side, the in-game renders certainly give the real world a run for their money.

Watch Ninja Theory's previous teaser trailer, which shows off some minor story details.

Ninja Theory also utilized the skills of Clear Angle, a 3D scanning specialist company, to scan the entirety of the apartment. This allowed Ninja Theory to have a working “point cloud” of the apartment, allowing the team to ensure everything has a proper sense of scale and shape.

Perhaps most impressively, Ninja Theory’s artists used procedural generation to create this level of detail across the apartment, a task that Antoniades says would have been impossible by hand. You can see their work in the images below.

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=project-mara-developer-diary-screenshots&captions=true"]

Project Mara was announced in early 2020 alongside Ninja Theory’s Hellblade: Senua’s Saga. Ninja Theory is now a part of Xbox Game Studios, so expect to see its titles release as first-party Xbox exclusives on consoles and PC. From what we’ve seen so far, Project Mara appears to follow a young woman plagued by “mental terror” based on real accounts and research.

Apex Legends season 8 starts on February 2, and will feature the battle royale’s 16th Legend: Fuse, developer Respawn Entertainment announced Monday.

With a theme of “Mayhem,” it appears Respawn is hoping to ramp up Apex’s action. On the official Apex Legends site, Respawn is teasing that Fuse’s arrival to the tournament has dramatically reshaped Kings Canyon. There’s no new screenshots to look at, though, but Respawn says it will show off more soon.

New Legend Fuse is a brash demolitions enthusiast and thief. You can watch his origin story trailer below. When Fuse and his friend discover a golden grenade in the hands of a dead soldier on their home planet, Salvo, it sparks a rivalry between the two that lasts throughout the years. With each friend continually stealing the golden grenade from the other, while Fuse builds up a career as a ring fighter, tensions eventually boil over as Salvo joins the Syndicate planets.

Fuse ends up telling his friend that he’s leaving Salvo to join the Apex Games, and offers her a truce, giving her the grenade. Obviously not a fan of kind gestures, this sends her off the deep end. She grabs the grenade, pulls its pin out, and surprises Fuse by tossing it at him, blowing his entire arm off. Fuse can be seen in a picture on the Apex Legends site sporting a metal arm that’s bound to be jam-packed full of weaponry.

Data miners have already found out a few details about Fuse’s abilities. “Airburst Grenade” lets him launch, what else, a grenade from his arm. His ultimate ability is believed to be “The Motherlode,” which lets him launch a missile off his back and burn anything in its path.

Apex players who still prefer other legends won’t be left in the cold. A new weapon named the 30-30 Repeater, a futurized lever-action rifle, will become available at the start of season 8.

Apex Legends season 8 will include all the other usual stuff you’d expect: a 100-tier battle pass offering skins and other cosmetics, a ranked competitive mode, and more.

Apex Legends season 8 starts on February 2, and will feature the battle royale’s 16th Legend: Fuse, developer Respawn Entertainment announced Monday.

With a theme of “Mayhem,” it appears Respawn is hoping to ramp up Apex’s action. On the official Apex Legends site, Respawn is teasing that Fuse’s arrival to the tournament has dramatically reshaped Kings Canyon. There’s no new screenshots to look at, though, but Respawn says it will show off more soon.

New Legend Fuse is a brash demolitions enthusiast and thief. You can watch his origin story trailer below. When Fuse and his friend discover a golden grenade in the hands of a dead soldier on their home planet, Salvo, it sparks a rivalry between the two that lasts throughout the years. With each friend continually stealing the golden grenade from the other, while Fuse builds up a career as a ring fighter, tensions eventually boil over as Salvo joins the Syndicate planets.

Fuse ends up telling his friend that he’s leaving Salvo to join the Apex Games, and offers her a truce, giving her the grenade. Obviously not a fan of kind gestures, this sends her off the deep end. She grabs the grenade, pulls its pin out, and surprises Fuse by tossing it at him, blowing his entire arm off. Fuse can be seen in a picture on the Apex Legends site sporting a metal arm that’s bound to be jam-packed full of weaponry.

Data miners have already found out a few details about Fuse’s abilities. “Airburst Grenade” lets him launch, what else, a grenade from his arm. His ultimate ability is believed to be “The Motherlode,” which lets him launch a missile off his back and burn anything in its path.

Apex players who still prefer other legends won’t be left in the cold. A new weapon named the 30-30 Repeater, a futurized lever-action rifle, will become available at the start of season 8.

Apex Legends season 8 will include all the other usual stuff you’d expect: a 100-tier battle pass offering skins and other cosmetics, a ranked competitive mode, and more.