Today, developer IO Interactive announced that Hitman's next update -- titled the January Update -- will come with a new "Professional Difficulty Level." The update, which is free, will release alongside the game's disc launch on January 31st.

According to IO Interactive, the new difficulty level offers extended replayability, new game features, a separate mastery track with unique rewards, tweaked game mechanics, and new AI behavior that combine to create an entirely new experience for all players, whether they're looking to test themselves in more a challenging environment, or looking to earn leaderboard bragging rights (which are now separated between difficulty levels).

Professional Difficulty Level can be selected for all Story missions in Season One, excluding the Prologue. However, to unlock the new difficulty level, you will need to reach Mastery Level 20 for each location. For example, reaching Mastery Level 20 on Paris will unlock the Professional Difficulty Level on Paris. The game's live content -- Elusive Targets and Escalation Contracts -- will only be available on the default difficultly level, which IO is now referring to as Normal Difficultly Level.

Full release notes for the January Update will be published before the update arrives on the 31st, which is the same day Hitman - The Complete First Season arrives at retail on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Below, you can view anew image released by IO Interactive that details the game's new difficulty level: