HITMAN World of Assassination has added digital creator Jacksepticeye, real name Seán McLoughlin, to its assassination sandbox as the featured performer behind a new Elusive Target. The mission, called The Host, puts Agent 47 on the trail of Finn Colton—better known to his audience as Finnvictus—a wealthy, divisive creator whose constant broadcasting has not kept him out of trouble.
The limited-time Elusive Target is playable from October 29, 2026, through November 25, 2026. It is available without charge in-game and through the Free Demo, although players must have access to the Hawke’s Bay location to take on the mission. Alongside it, a new seasonal roadmap introduces challenges, returning targets, Featured Contracts, a Twitch Drop, and a separate paid pack designed to give players permanent access to Host-related activities.
A livestreamed target in Hawke’s Bay
The setup turns Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, into Finn Colton’s remote content compound. Colton is suspected in the disappearance of a contract worker, and the mission frames his residence as a place where his life is livestreamed around the clock. That premise gives Agent 47 a direct reason to enter the property under an identity familiar to long-time HITMAN players: Tobias Rieper.
Rather than breaking in as an obvious intruder, 47 is booked as a guest for the Finn and Friends podcast. It is a fitting piece of HITMAN-style social engineering. An Elusive Target is a time-limited mission centered on a particular target and available only during its scheduled window. The format makes the target, the setting and the deadline the key elements of the event. Here, the central hook is a creator whose public persona is a potential route to the private space where he can be reached.
McLoughlin describes Finn as “loud, paranoid, and completely obsessed with content,” and says the prospect of appearing in the World of Assassination was especially meaningful after playing HITMAN with his community for years. The character’s online handle, Finnvictus, and the 24/7 stream motif underline the mission’s satire of a personality built around relentless visibility—while the actual objective remains unmistakably HITMAN: eliminate the target.
What players need to know before the deadline
The most important practical distinction is between the mission’s free availability and its location requirement. The Host is offered free in-game and through the Free Demo during its event dates, but access to Hawke’s Bay is still necessary. Players should not assume that seeing the event listed automatically grants the location needed to launch it.
The event is scheduled across a notably broad platform lineup:
- PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4
- PlayStation VR2
- Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One
- ROG Xbox Ally X and ROG Xbox Ally
- PC and PC VR
- Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2
- iPhone, iPad and Apple silicon Mac
That broad reach matters because The Host is not merely a video or a cosmetic tie-in; it is a playable target scenario across the supported HITMAN World of Assassination ecosystem. The short event window, however, is the defining limitation for players interested in the Elusive Target itself. November 25 is the cutoff given for its free run.
The Season of The Host expands the event
The Host arrives with a Season of The Host roadmap. In addition to the Elusive Target, the schedule includes The Host Special Assignment, new Featured Contracts, a new challenge called Like Mist, and the return of three prior Elusive Targets: The Pharmacist, The Warlord and The Entertainer.
Like Mist rewards the Vampire Magician Suit. In HITMAN terms, a challenge is a defined objective that awards a named unlock when completed, whereas Featured Contracts are curated player-made or community-facing contracts selected for attention. The supplied details do not outline Like Mist’s requirements, so players should treat the suit as a stated reward rather than assume a particular assassination method, disguise or loadout requirement.
The Host Assignment is identified as a Special Assignment with five challenges. It is related to the new scenario but is not described as identical to the limited-time Elusive Target. That difference is important for anyone deciding how to spend time during the season: the Elusive Target has an explicit closing date, while the Assignment has its own challenge structure and is also included in the separately sold Host Pack.
Players who play The Host while using an IOI Account will unlock The Hijacker Duck. The roadmap also includes a Twitch Drop called the Royal Purple Banana. These two rewards have different stated conditions: one is tied to playing The Host with an IOI Account, while the other is identified specifically as a Twitch Drop. The information provided does not give further instructions for claiming the Drop, so it is sensible to check the applicable campaign details in the game’s connected-account and Twitch materials rather than presume the two rewards are earned the same way.
The seasonal mix follows a familiar live-game pattern: a limited scenario anchors the calendar, optional challenges create additional objectives, older targets return, and cosmetic or equipment rewards provide reasons to engage beyond a single completion. Other games are also regularly pairing free updates with optional extras, as seen with Escape the Backrooms’ Lost & Found update. The Host’s structure is more specific, though, because it combines a real-person performance, a timed Elusive Target, account-linked unlocks and a permanent-access product.
The Host Pack: permanent access and themed equipment
For players who want material that remains available beyond the Elusive Target window, IO Interactive is releasing The Host Pack. It carries a recommended retail price of $7.99 / €7.99 / £6.99 and is available from October 29, 2026 on most platforms. Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 receive the pack on November 10, 2026.
The pack’s most significant items are its two permanent-access components:
- The Collab, an Arcade contract featuring The Host Elusive Target
- The Host Assignment, the Special Assignment featuring Finn Colton
An Arcade contract, as described here, is a contract format featuring the Host target rather than simply a cosmetic souvenir of the event. The key word is “permanent”: the pack is positioned as a way to retain access to Host-focused playable content after the ordinary Elusive Target availability ends. It should not be read as a claim that the original limited-time Elusive Target itself becomes permanently available in its exact event form; the stated permanent items are The Collab and The Host Assignment.
The rest of the pack is a themed set of equipment, outfits and a collectible:
- Thought Leader Suit with Gloves
- Persona “Suit”
- Demon Dakota 12G
- DXTR PlayFactory Controller
- Creator Soundboard
- Kwineeny Collectible
The supplied list names these items but does not provide mechanical descriptions, so their exact gameplay effects, if any, should not be inferred from the names alone. The Demon Dakota 12G is plainly presented as part of the package, while the controller, soundboard and collectible continue the creator-studio flavor of the mission. The outfits offer an additional way to bring the collaboration’s identity into other HITMAN play spaces, but no special properties are specified.
Why Hawke’s Bay is central to the collaboration
Hawke’s Bay is not simply a backdrop in The Host. It is the condition of entry: players need access to that location, and Finn’s content complex is established there. The mission’s podcast guest angle also turns a public-facing media format into the narrative mechanism for gaining entry. Finn’s obsession with creating and broadcasting content is therefore more than character color; it explains why a stranger using the Tobias Rieper alias could plausibly get close enough to the target.
For players, this means the event is likely to reward attention to the premise as much as raw speed. HITMAN’s assassinations generally revolve around observing routines, obtaining access and manipulating a space, and The Host’s fiction is designed around access through media status. Still, the available information does not disclose a particular route, scripted kill, restricted area layout or optimal strategy. The only confirmed starting premise is that 47 appears as a podcast guest at Finn Colton’s Hawke’s Bay operation.
That restraint is useful going in. The event is an invitation to explore the scenario without preloading expectations about the exact methods available. What is known is enough to establish the stakes: a controversial creator, a missing contractor, a secluded but highly performative home base, and a professional killer arriving under a carefully chosen cover identity.
Release dates at a glance
- The Host Elusive Target: October 29 to November 25, 2026
- Free availability: in-game and via the Free Demo during the event, with Hawke’s Bay access required
- Season of The Host: begins alongside the Elusive Target
- The Host Pack: October 29, 2026 on most platforms
- The Host Pack on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2: November 10, 2026
HITMAN World of Assassination is available on all of the platforms listed for the event, including console, PC, VR, handheld and Apple devices. For anyone mainly interested in meeting Finn Colton during the Elusive Target run, the practical priority is clear: confirm Hawke’s Bay access, play before November 25, and use an IOI Account if The Hijacker Duck is on the wish list. Players looking for Host-related content that does not depend on that limited window can weigh the Host Pack’s permanent Arcade contract and Special Assignment against its $7.99 / €7.99 / £6.99 price.
