Alan
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It's here we see one of the first innovations in the game that will likely receive a mixed response from fans. While 47 sits in hiding behind a bookcase, the ambient colours dim, and your targets are lit with a golden glow, outlining them fully through walls and other obstacles. A bright line in the floor shows the route the nearest cop follows; which directly intersects with 47's current position. The silent assassin creeps to the side, grabs an extension cord from a nearby table as the officer goes by and uses it to strangle him.
The ability has a name: Instinct, and is part of the IO's objective to update some of the more outdated gameplay mechanics in the series.
"The old Hitman games are obese and while they have their place, are quite severe and are heavily based on trial-and-error," says Blystad. "We wanted to create an experience that captures the soul of the old games, but makes them workable for the modern player."
Hitman: Absolution
The idea is that even if 47 is a sleek killing machine who can read the environment and predict the opponent's movements, its not guaranteed the player would also have these abilities. With Instinct, the player can see the world through 47's eyes so you can better get an overview of its options and choices, as Gameplay Director Christian Elverdam explains.
"Imagine that you have made a clumsy murder that another guard may have heard, and is bound to investigate," says Elverdam. "With Instinct, you can see from your hiding spot that he will go left and you can go right to avoid him, instead of just blindly choosing one of two directions. We have removed much of this trial-and-error, and instead give the player a real choice."
Elverdam continues: "Sometimes in previous games players got a feeling that they had an enormous amount of options, but you didn't necessarily understand the consequences to those choices.
"Something you did in one section could have a big effect on another, and we would like to have these consequences more apparent to the player. So this is just one of the systems we have created to help you figure out what the AI thinks, and help you to take your choice."
Instinct does have a catch. It draws on a charge to use, which can only be replenished through silent killings and other acts familiar to a hitman's stock and trade. And of course, you needn't use it at all.
Hitman: Absolution
47 continues his silent but deadly journey through the library. A cop is beaten down with a small bust (improvised weapons are a big part of the experience), while another is dragged out over the balustrade of a balcony, plunging him through a hole in the floor to the level below.
We see 47 avoid a patrolling officer by climbing up on an inner gallery (which is marked out when the Instinct is activated). He finds a baton, sneaks in behind a cop and kills him in typical efficient, silent, and gruesome fashion. He slips it over the officer's neck, kneeing his back so he falls to the ground and wrenches the baton sideways. A chilling snap as bones break echoes across the library.
During the demo we see more classic Hitman mechanics. Corpses can be picked up and carried in hiding, and you can sneak up on unsuspecting people and use them as human shields. We see the bald assassin sabotage a fuse box to cut out the lights. Later we see him disguise himself in a policeman's uniform. The costume comes into play when he's trying to escape the helicopter, letting him sneak past a police search of the apartment building he ends up in.
Instinct has another role to play in these proceedings. Activating the system during an encounter with another police squad has 47 attempting to bluff his way out. He'll immerse himself whatever role he's concealed as, while concealing his face as best he can as he passes by the group.
There's plenty of tension in these sequences...and a sense of contained excitement at getting away with it. Proven brilliantly as 47 walks straight into a room crammed with police and SWAT. Beside him sits a pair of assault rifles, gleaming enticingly. He walks to them reaches over - and grabs a doughnut from the box sitting beside the arsenal. With that, he walks into the throng, hidden in plain sight.
Hitman: Absolution
It might sound like Instinct makes the game too easy, but that's not the case.
"One of the problems with old Hitman was that unless you were an expert in the game, would you look like a real little killer," says Tore Blystad. "This time it's not hard to be a good assassin. Instead, it's hard to keep the situation under control, and hold yourself back from going berserk. We'd rather try to tempt the stealthy players to go into a more action-oriented direction. "
It all depends on how demanding you make the game for yourself. It's your choice whether you make it through without using Instinct. And the gameplay is much more layered now. Whereas before there was a distinct binary-style element to the game (you're either discovered or you're not), now you'll see guards investigate first before sounding the alarm, and even if you're rumbled, you can kill witnesses before they escape. There's several levels before the game whips into outright chaos.
You can still get through unseen, but requires you to perform a flawless walkthrough. Don't expect it to be easy. "We know we have a very strong and loyal fanbase, and they are usually very hardcore," says Blystad. "So one of the things we are very focused on is to make the game even more hardcore in certain areas...but te believe that we have something for everyone - our spectrum is much broader than before. " By complete chance, Blystad seems to echo Nintendo's dilemma from its E3 show: create something that will appeal to all.
http://www.gamereactor.eu/previews/7763/Hitman:+Absolution/
