Hitman's Elusive Targets Are Hand-Built, Not Scanned, Developers Say
IO Interactive says its Elusive Target characters are handcrafted by artists who study their subjects for hours, not built from scans, ahead of The Host.
According to TechRadar, the developers at IO Interactive say they do not use scanning to create the Elusive Targets in Hitman World of Assassination. Instead, the studio describes the process as hand-built work from start to finish. Senior level designer Marin Ansdal is quoted by the outlet as calling the approach "bespoke craftsmanship."
TechRadar Gaming spoke with the studio about its newest special mission, The Host, which features YouTuber JackSepticEye as a playable Elusive Target. The discussion covered how these limited-time missions are designed and built, and the outlet reports that the team wanted to explain the work behind them.
Junior concept and character artist Lovisa Österman described the early stages of the work, according to the report. She said artists spend a considerable amount of time, described as hours, studying the person before design begins. That research comes before any modeling starts.
The developers made a specific point about the difference between accuracy and likeness. As TechRadar relays it, Ansdal suggested that a model can match measurements and geometry exactly and still fail to feel like the real person. The outlet presents this as the reason the studio puts so much weight on the human observation phase.
The report is an interview-based feature, so the details come from what the developers chose to share. Independent confirmation of the production process was not part of the coverage.
Background
Elusive Targets are a recurring format in the Hitman series. They are time-limited missions built around a single named character, and they typically appear once and then disappear, which makes them distinct from the main campaign levels. Players usually get one chance to complete them, and that scarcity has become part of their appeal.
Character creation in large games often blends several techniques. Studios may use photogrammetry, motion capture, or 3D scanning to capture real people, then clean up, retopologize, and texture the results by hand. Other teams work almost entirely from reference photographs and sculpting tools. Each approach carries trade-offs in speed, cost, and the amount of artistic control retained.
Likeness is a long-standing challenge in games. Faces are especially hard because small errors in proportion, skin response to light, or the way a mouth moves can make a character look uncanny even when the underlying measurements are close. Animators and modelers often talk about the gap between a technically accurate mesh and one that reads as the right person on screen.
Hitman has leaned into real-world celebrities and internet personalities before, and the series is known for detailed, theatrical level design. Its missions reward observation, so character fidelity matters to how players experience the game's world. Creators with large online audiences have also become common guest figures in games, which brings their own attention from fans and collaborators.
Industry practice around these collaborations is not uniform. Contracts, approvals, and how much a featured person contributes to the final look vary from project to project. General knowledge of these norms helps readers understand why studios might emphasize craftsmanship when they discuss special characters.
Why it matters
The developers' comments point to a broader question about how games represent real people. A character that looks right without being a direct scan is still a product of many artistic decisions, from how a jaw sits to how eyes catch light. Describing that process openly helps players understand that a "true to life" character is the result of interpretation as much as capture.
For players, the distinction can shape expectations. Fans who follow a featured creator often judge a character by whether it captures their mannerisms and presence, not just their outline. If studios explain their methods clearly, it sets realistic standards and reduces disappointment when a model differs from what people imagined.
For the industry, the story reflects an ongoing tension between speed and quality. Scanning can be faster for some tasks, but handcrafted work offers more control over the final result and can avoid problems that come with raw capture data. Studios weighing those costs will watch how audiences respond to projects like this one.
The story also highlights the human side of game production. Behind a single limited-time mission sit concept artists, designers, and modelers who spend time studying a subject before work begins. Recognizing that labor can change how players talk about the games they play, especially when the results are meant to feel personal.
Finally, the feature offers a view into a studio's self-presentation. Developers choose which details to share, and interviews like this one help build trust and interest in upcoming content. Readers can take the claims as the studio's account while watching whether the finished mission lives up to the description.
What to watch
The most immediate question is how players and the featured creator respond once the mission is available. Reactions to the likeness, along with comments from the creator's own audience, will show whether the handcrafted approach achieved what the developers described.
Readers may also want to see whether IO Interactive gives more detail about its process in future updates, developer diaries, or follow-up interviews. Specific examples of reference material, sculpting steps, or review rounds would help clarify what "bespoke craftsmanship" involves in practice.
Other studios may take note if this approach gets positive attention. Whether scanning, handcrafting, or a mix of both becomes the preferred method for featured characters could influence how future collaborations are planned and budgeted.
Finally, watch for how Hitman's Elusive Target format evolves. Limited-time missions with recognizable guests are a strong draw, and the way the studio handles future releases will indicate how much it intends to invest in that model.
Viewpoints
Commentary from our columns: three angles on this story.
The Skeptic open questions and weak points
Studios love to talk about craftsmanship, and that is fair. But a claim that a character was built by hand rather than scanned is hard to judge from the outside. Players see only the final model, not the reference sheets, the revision rounds, or the hours of study that the developers describe. Those hours are a reasonable thing to mention, yet they are also the easiest thing to say and the hardest thing to verify.
There is also a deeper question. If a team says the mesh can be exact and still miss the person, then likeness becomes a judgment call. Whose judgment decides that a character feels right? Fans, the featured creator, and the studio may all disagree, and a polished interview does not settle that.
None of this means the claim is false. It means readers should treat it as the studio's account. The useful test comes after release, when people who know the creator well weigh in on whether the character captures them. Until then, the craftsmanship story is a promise worth keeping an eye on rather than a finding.
The Builder the engineer's view
From an engineering view, the interesting part of this story is the pipeline, not the press line. A handcrafted character usually starts with reference gathering, moves through sculpting and retopology, and then needs careful texturing and rigging so it holds up under the game's lighting and animation. Each step is a place where small choices change how the face reads on screen.
Scanning has real strengths, since it captures surface detail quickly. But raw scan data often needs heavy cleanup before it works in a game engine, and it can carry artifacts that are hard to fix. A team that builds from observation gets more control over topology and expression, though it asks more of the artists.
What I would want to know is how the team validates the result. Do they compare renders against reference footage? How many iterations does a model go through before it is locked? Those answers would show whether the process is repeatable or depends heavily on a few skilled people. That is the kind of detail that helps other developers learn from this work.
The User what changes for people who use it
For someone who plays Hitman, the change that matters is simple: a limited-time mission with a recognizable face in it feels more like an event. When the character looks and moves like the person you follow online, the experience becomes more personal. Players who enjoy that connection will notice the care put into it.
It also means the game is asking you to pay attention. Elusive Targets reward observation, so a character who reads clearly on screen helps you learn their routine and spot their habits. Good likeness and good design support the same goal of making the mission feel fair and readable.
For casual players, the story is mostly about what they see when they load in. If the model looks right and the mission runs smoothly, the craftsmanship behind it does its job quietly. The most useful thing a studio can do is make the moment feel worth the wait, and this update is clearly aiming at that.