IO Interactive has clarified the status of the upcoming Hitman game, in light of some recent questions spurred on by canceled pre-orders. 

Agent 47's next murdering adventure is still set to begin in March, but IO is embracing the episodic label. A prologue and Paris location will launch on March 11 for $15, followed by Italy in April and Morocco in May at $10 apiece. 

The studio is planning monthly content updates leading up to the season conclusion later in 2016. Planned locations include Thailand, the United States, and Japan, and IO will also be providing weekly live events and extra content on top of the larger monthly updates. You can purchase it all upfront as "The Full Experience" for $60, which will include the monthly updates and live content, or you can wait for a disc version set to ship at the end of 2016. PlayStation 4 will also get six bonus contracts.

A beta is set to begin on February 12 on PlayStation 4 and February 19 on PC. Purchasing the "Full Experience" or Intro Pack will gain access to the beta as well. 

"Part of that decision is for that little bit of extra time to ensure every location we release is at the quality level fitting for a HITMAN game," said studio head Hannes Seifert in the announcement. "But the main driving reason is that this will allow us to create a living game that will expand and evolve over time and establish a foundation for the future – this is the first game in a storyline which will continue and expand with future Hitman games."

The potential episodic model has been a little unclear since E3, when IO and Square had difficulty explaining that it wasn't quite episodic or early access. Earlier this week, the PlayStation Store canceled some pre-orders, which Square chalked up to the fact that the "configuration of the product you preordered has changed significantly."