Hitman 3 – Random Elusive Target Arcade mission failure, explained

Elusive Target Arcade was added to Hitman 3 as the first new game mode for Hitman 3 Year Two. It’s based on the classic Elusive Targets in the game but combines new mechanics with that formula to spice things up a bit for veterans and newcomers alike. However, it’s not without its flaws. This guide explains why Elusive Target Arcade missions can randomly fail and what you can do to avoid it.

Restarting or quitting to the menu breaks the game mode

The exact cause of Elusive Target Arcade missions failing hasn’t been found yet, but two things are definitely linked. First, if you restart a mission too many times from the in-game menu, you’ll eventually get a prompt telling you that the mission is no longer available. When you’re kicked out to the main menu, you’ll see that the timer for the mission being locked out started at about the same time you began the first level in the mission. This was our experience. However, some players have also reported that quitting to the menu causes the mission to fail.

The rules around Elusive Target Arcade missions are that if you start to complete objectives, as in killing the targets, you can’t restart or quit without failing the mission. In our experience, we didn’t touch the target, but the mission still failed when we restarted.

To avoid encountering this issue yourself, try to go into a mission and complete it without restarting. If you don’t have much time to make an attempt and might need to quit, wait until you have time to avoid the mission being locked.