IO Interactive director Tore Blystad states in an interview that making Hitman: Absolution more accessible while still keeping the elements the 'hardcore' Hitman fans love is a difficult job.

In the interview, Blystad says, "The Hitman games of the past have been very hardcore. Even though the fantasy of the Hitman universe has a very universal appeal, the games have been so difficult to play, that it's been more of an acquired taste.

"The biggest challenge that we had with this game was to make it much broader in every sense, so that it was easier to play and more accessible, but still retain a very strong, hardcore side as well. We don't want to alienate any of our fans who have been extremely loyal for so many years."

Making the game more accessible is the new and improved AI. "If you attack an enemy from any angle, than we're able to have them fight back, or continue on in a normal state if you ignore them," Blystad explains. "There are similar things in games like GTA or these bigger sandbox games, but it's on a much less granular level because we have a very strong focus on the abilities of the characters.

Blystad also wants gamers to make stronger associations with the characters in the game: "You get so close to the characters in this game. They all have names, and they have all some kind of part to play in the story, so that they act as believable as possible is the most important thing for us. It's the most central part of the game."

Hitman: Absolution will be released on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 sometime in 2012.

The new trailer for fellow gamers n hitman fans.

is that Diana? O_O

47 picked up lots of kungfu lessons.

but shooting everyone with his silverballers aint make a good trailer lol.

The latest issue of EDGE magazine has caused an avalanche of Hitman: Absolution details to delight the Internet. The traditional map screen is no more.

In its place is Instinct Mode which highlights enemies and their patrols. Check points are in, levels vary from open-ended to 'tight and controlled'.


The guys over at Ripten have torn the latest EDGE issue a new one and summarised the juicy details within for IO Interactive's new Hitman. Fans maybe upset to learn that 47's long-time voice actor has been replaced by someone unknown for now.

Absolution is set in the city of Chicago. The studio has spent an awful lot of timing making sure 47's core movements are highly responsive to the player. We also get vastly improved facial animations thanks to the new Glacier 2 engine.

While Instinct Mode is 47's equivalent of Arkham Asylum’s Detective Mode, we still get a mini map that will highlight points of interest but no main map to study. There are tons of environmental weapons at our disposal throughout levels.

Speaking of levels, there will be a high number of open-ended areas to explore much like in previous titles but some parts will be tight and controlled for the story. For the first time check points are featured in Hitman to relieve frustration.

Disguises aren't going to fool everyone as NPCs may question your action regardless. Instinct Mode can aid bluffs to NPCs like letting you radio police to clear a cordoned off area. There are designated 'safe spots' for disguises like donut boxes when playing a cop.

Crowds are used very differently from past games and the AI reacts dynamically to 47's movements and actions as IO moves focus away from scripted events. Hostages can be taken but the AI won't just shoot blindly to kill you - they don't want to hurt the hostage.

Hitman: Absolution releases on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in 2012.

Responding to a fan, developer IO Interactive says Freedom Fighters is "definitely something" a lot of the team are "interested in doing," but will they?

Right now the "focus is on Hitman: Absolution." Freedom Fighters stars a New York plumber rising to lead a full rebellion against a Soviet invasion.


Overtime the player earns charisma which lets more members of the resistance join his squad. It also let us pick which areas to strike first in the game's campaign so we could soften up other levels to make them easier to overcome.

"It's definitely something a lot of us are interested in doing," IO twittered. "But right now, the focus is on Hitman: Absolution."

Freedom Fighters was then largely forgotten with IO Interactive moving on to new Hitman games and launching the Kane & Lynch franchise which got a sequel. Is it time for more Freedom Fighters to rise up and throw off the shackles of Soviet oppression?

IO Interactive's Tore Blystad has said that the Hitman: Absolution team "won't be dictated to by the fans", despite some of the backlash the game has received within the community.

"We want to probably know what they're thinking, and we want to make a game that people like, not just a game we like and no-one else cares about.

An IO Interactive developer has made the startling admission that Hitman titles in the past have failed to live up to their potential, and feels that the new engine powering the latest game in the series, Hitman: Absolution, will give it a chance to live up to that unreached potential.

In an interview with GameSpot, IO gameplay director Christian Elverdam admitted, “We have improved all the stuff that Hitman can do. We were a little bit sad about the fidgety moves you could do in the old game. I think a lot of people knew sometimes it just failed. So we really wanted to make all that stuff super tight."

Elverdam stated that the new Instinct system will allow players to try alternate strategies rather than suffer a trial-and-error approach to passing obstacles.

A few days ago, game director Tore Blystad stated that the development team was listening to fan suggestions and criticism, but wouldn't be dictated to by them.

Hitman: Absolution will be released on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012.

Danish studio IO Interactive created Hitman, a beloved series for letting us execute assassinations anyway we please but only if we figured out how.

Absolution is the new instalment and it leaves behind the "hit structure" for storytelling, making it "more personal" to 47. Choices 'made clearer' to us.

"In the prior games the structure of the story, the pacing of the story, was linked to the hit structure. Diana would give you a hit and that would push forward the story, with the next hit and the next hit," explained lead producer Hakan Abrak.

"It's very different in Hitman: Absolution as we wanted to make the story a more personal one. Hitman is betrayed and on the run. So he needs to make the decisions now. You become a lot closer to Hitman, get to know a bit more about his background and who he is. You get to make the next steps, the next moves as Hitman would in the game."

IO wanted to explore who Hitman's number 47 really is as a person, which is something they haven't really done before in the series.

"There are a lot of interesting stories to be told with Hitman in the universe we built around it. It was something we never did before. It's very interesting to come a bit closer to the fact he's a clone. What is driving him? What are his ambitions? His nature?"

The studio isn’t leaving what lies at the core of a Hitman game: choice. "We want to emphasise on the core of our franchise, which is the freedom of choice. In the earlier games you would be dropped in the middle of a level and you would go round and explore how to solve the different obstructions and challenges in the game," noted Abrak.

"You still have that choice. To one challenge, there are several ways of overcoming it, with different play styles. It was important for us to make those choices clearer."

"The choices weren't clear before, and that was a challenge. And sometimes the controls were also a challenge," he added. They needed to streamline controls to make Hitman more accessible in the game world. "It's very clear to you what choices you have, then it's up to you what approach you take for that challenge and how you solve it."

There's definitely more choice now. "Before, when you screwed up the stealth path, then it all went into action and then it was very hard, or the controls weren't up to spec. It's definitely a viable way, if you want to approach an obstacle, a challenge, in a very violent way. You can do that, and you can have a compelling experience out of that."

"If you want to do the extreme stealth assassin, it's very much still in there. You get a compelling experience from that as well. If you want to switch, there is a possibility to do that as well. So you can mix your play style, which wasn't possible in the earlier games."

Check out the full interview between Hakan Abrak and Eurogamer. Hitman: Absolution releases on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in 2012. Excited for number 47's return?

Well, okay, you don't technically need to be a masochist, but a hardcore mode in Hitman Absolution, included specifically for veterans of the series, just may be a real blood-boiler. Producer Hakan Abrak told Eurogamer that the difficulty setting rewards methodical stealth play with Achievements and/or Trophies.

"We will get into more details at a later point, but obviously it's linked to the playing style," he said. "It's more pacify your enemies, be undetected, maybe solve the challenges in a smarter way. That will probably give you a stealth assassin achievement." It might also give you an ulcer, depending on how many times you're forced to restart each mission.

Abrak also hopes to silence critics who say Absolution ditches its stealth roots for the more action-packed gameplay we saw in the gameplay demo -- don't expect that, Abrak says. "Rest assured, the hardcore fans that like to have replayablity value in the game or want to have this stealth assassin -- you know, I'm the ultimate stealth assassin -- that playing style, those achievements, are very much in the game."

For more info on Hitman Absolution, be sure to check out our preview from back in Jun

back in my time, we play hitman without eagle eyes... =_="  we only kill the targets... with fibrewire.