Hitman: Absolution

There are a lot of expections from the plot of the fifth game in the Hitman series…

True! The story takes Agent 47, a genetically enhanced assassin, on a dangerous journey that involves him taking care of a young, mysterious girl named . It is the most personal and dangerous contract of his career.

What kickass features have been added to the gameplay?

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We have added a number of new features to provide a better and more immersed experience, as well as added to the toolbox of the previous games. Hitman games are all about players’ choice and we’ve been working hard to make sure the player is aware of the amount of content in the game as well as polishing all the features from previous editions.

When you launched the first game, how did you decide the characters and storyline?

The first game was centred around Agent 47's creation. He is genetically engineered to be the world's deadliest assassin and his DNA comes from a number of different fathers as well his creator, Dr. Ort Meyer. That set the scene for Hitman: Codename 47’s storyline.

Agent 47’s look is pretty cold… Is that ntentional?

There was a lot of back and forth with his looks. In fact, at some point he kind of looked like a French version of James Bond. But it was important to make him look iconic and cold, as he's a genetically enhanced assassin.

Do the movies or TV series inspire you to script a storyline?

Yes, movies are a great inspiration to the Hitman games. We want Hitman: Absolution to be a cinematic game and the best inspiration comes from .

How many people work on this game?

We have a large and diverse team spanning several continents. The core team is in . For this project we’ve seen the need to hire specialists in areas like screenwriting, movie and audio direction to get the highest level of cinematic quality. On the technical side, we’ve built a brand new game engine which forms the core of this edition’s development. We are also working with voice and acting talents in , environment art in and animation in .

Realistic or Virtual: where does Hitman: Absolution sit?

Hitman has always had a bit of both. There is a fair bit of simulation in Absolution, especially on human behaviour and the world's responses to the players actions. The style and storyline is quite ‘cartoony’ and there is a lot of dark humour in the game.

Hitman is huge. Do you get stalkers or people who come to you saying crazy stuff?

Luckily, there are only few stalkers that go through the trouble of travelling all the way to , but there is quite a lot of crazy stuff happening online. The Hitman games have very hardcore emotional fans, and they make their voices heard, especially when we change something in the franchise. There have also been a few death threats, but we are still all alive.

What's your earliest gaming memory?

Manic Miner on the ZX Spectrum. I was probably 7-years old and it was in my friend's big brother's bedroom. The big brother was out one day and we snuck in to play. I immediately started saving for my own computer and bought a Commodore 64 a few months later to my parents despair.

How do you rate yourself as a gamer?

I have to admit, I’ve gone from a pretty hardcore gamer to a more casual one in the last couple of years. Absolution has been a very long crunch and most of my waking hours have been spent at work. However, I have a large catalogue of games sitting at home waiting to be played.

What's your all-time favourite game?

I always loved Nintendo's games, especially the Mario franchise. My favourite must be Super Mario Galaxy for the sheer amount of game features and mechanics they have managed to cram in. It's amazing to see such a polished and diverse game that manages to use the hardware (Wii) so well.

Who is your favourite character?

Link from Zelda: Wind Waker is probably the character I have connected the most with as a gamer. I love the cell shaded universe and the way the game is built up.

The trailers of the game featuring "gun-toting, PVC-clad nuns being killed in a hail of bullets" caused a controversy…

The "Attack of the Saints" trailer is based on a level in Absolution where Agent 47 is ambushed by a group of assassins known as the Saints. They arrive in a school bus disguised as nuns and blow his motel room up with a rocket launcher. It's a Grindhouse inspired over-the-top level that doesn't take itself very seriously, and we never imagined it would cause such a controversy. That was never our intention.

Don’t you think the Instinct Mode, which works a lot like the Detective Vision from the Batman Arkham games makes the gameplay a bit easy?

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) of the game is really powerful and it can be a real challenge to keep up with them. Instinct Mode was invented to help the player keep track of the AI and give him information about what's about to happen. You could say that it's a way of taking the map from the old Hitman games and putting it into the world so the player can stay in the game, but still get the map information.

What next after the release of this game?

We have already started up a number of classified projects at IO, so expect something new to emerge in the not-so-distant future!

Does Hitman: Absolution has a storyline with an end?

The Absolution storyline is self-contained and can be played without knowing anything about the Hitman universe. It has an ending, but it also hopefully teases you with a peak into the future.