Release date: November 20th, 2012
Developer: IO Interactive
Engine: Glacier 2
The Professional Edition's price: $79.99
The Deluxe Professional Edition's price: Unknown
Pre order bonuses
Videos
Streets of Hope gameplay
King of Chinatown gameplay
Off screen gameplay(unknown level)
Run for Your Life gameplay
Contracts mode gameplay showing off the Run for Your Life level
Contracts mode gameplay showing off the Streets of Hope level
The Ultimate Assassin trailer
Introducing Agent 47 trailer
Introducing disguises trailer
Living Breathing World trailer
Tools of the Trade trailer
Attack of the Saints trailer
Introducing the Kill trailer
She Must be Special trailer
A Personal Contract trailer
Reviews
"This is a fantastic package - a dark, witty tale of death and retribution that can be whatever you want it to. It captures the ebb and flow of tension that stealth games forgot about years ago, but presents it in a way that feels utterly contemporary." -Playstation Official Magazine UK (9/10)
"Hitman: Absolution absolutely nails the modern gaming trope of presenting oodles of gameplay choice. It would be an insult to polarise Absolution into 'stealth' or 'action', where the real beauty of the game is found in the fertile grey area in between." -Playstation Official Magazine Australia (9/10)
"slick, thrilling and well paced with jet-black humour...Absolution genuinely makes you feel like the most dangerous man in the world" - Official Xbox Magazine (9/10)
"A passable stealth game, but one that betrays almost everything that, until now, has made Hitman great." - PC Gamer (62/100)
"brilliant mission design,extremely motivating game mechanics." - Play 3 (88/100)
"Improves on hitman's core strenghts,and boosts the replay value with the new contracts mode" - Game Informer (8.75/10)
"On the right difficulty setting Absolution is Hitman at its cleverest, funniest, twisted best" - GameMaster (90%)
"The sheer number of unlockables and challenges adds tons of replayability to a game that already demands multiple playthroughs" -Playstation: The Official Magazine US (8/10)
"Stylish. Accomplished. Brutal" - PSM3 (9/10)
"One of the best games we have ever played" - X360 (10/10)
Story (Spoilers here, but they happen early in the game)
The first in-depth trailer for the game shows Agent 47 storming a safe-house, and confronting Diana while she is showering. 47 is "betrayed by those he once trusted and now hunted by the police, he suddenly finds himself at the center of a dark conspiracy and must embark on a personal journey through a corrupt and twisted world, in his search for the truth". At least one portion of the game will be set in Chicago, but it has been confirmed that the rest of the game will take place within the US.
It is also confirmed that 47 will kill Diana in her mansion under the order of the Agency as Diana found incriminating evidence about the ICA. Diana then asks 47 for a final request which is to protect and find this girl called Victoria. As 47 accepts Diana's dying wish, the ICA deem 47 as traitor and sent a group of assassins known as The Saints to kill him.
According to the latest cinematic trailer for Absolution, released on 26th October 12, titled as "How many lives will you take to save one?", Diana has already told Victoria that "a man will come, not like other men. He will protect you. Don't judge him for what he does.", implying that Diana already suspects that she will be assassinated by 47.hitmanwikia
Contracts Mode
Contracts mode allows the player to play through any level of the game and select up to three NPCs in it to mark as targets and also to establish a set of conditions for the Contract, such as hiding all bodies, not being spotted, not changing the starting suit/disguise, only using specific weapons, etc. The player is allowed to pick any suit and starting gear to use in the mission. In order to save the challenge, the player has to clear it themselves. For completing Contracts, players earn in-game currency to spend on disguises, suits, weapons and weapon upgrades.
In order to create a Contract, the player plays through a level (or at least a part of one), selecting up to three different NPCs as targets, eliminates them in any way of their choosing and leaves the level through one of the possible exits. The Contract, along with the conditions under which the player completed it such as which disguises and weapons were used, can then be saved.
Contracts mode will also feature a great deal of online connectivity, as players can upload their own Contracts. Each week, five user-made Contracts will be uploaded to the leaderboard for the online community to try.hitmanwikia
HUD
Map has been replaced with anInstinct Modethat shows the locations of NPCs and the routes they will take with a kind of x-ray vision similar to Eagle Vision in Assassin's Creed and Detective mode from Batman: Arkham City.
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Mini-map is added to HUD, showing the positions of guards.
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There is now a Purist Mode, where Instinct and HUD will be completely disabled
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The HUD now contains a warning system alerting the player if 47 has been spotted by guards. It looks like a long white line that gradually turns into an arrow the longer the guard sees 47 or becomes suspicious of him. The arrow turns yellow when he physically attacks someone in front of others and red when guards are alerted.
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The player is now notified by the HUD if 47 is trespassing, in a hostile area, dragging a body, having a body near him in plain view, hiding a body, and if visibly armed.
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The top right of the HUD will show a picture of the Target(s) and their status, such as Alive, Dead, or Unconscious.hitmanwikia
Gameplay
Saves are replaced by checkpoints now.
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There will be cinematic sequences during the missions.
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Point shooting, which will allow 47 to place strategic shootings in slow motion to kill multiple enemies quickly at the cost of Instinct mode, similar to theDead Eyemechanic in Red Dead Redemption orMark And Executefrom Splinter Cell Conviction.
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47 can take cover and peek around corners similar to most third person shooters. He can also grab targets over low covers.
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Absolutionhas an improved aiming system when 47 uses guns that is more typical of third person shooters. Unlike the previous games, the player now apparently aims the gun by holding down a specific button.
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47 can do close-quarter attacks in more ways than inHitman: Blood Money, including with firearms and objects within the mission such as busts and bongs. He can apparently also do so with a head-on attack and without sneaking up behind his opponents.
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47 can now use his exceptional hand to hand combat training to his advantage during gameplay against other NPCs In the form of a button sequence. Easily being able to knock out a trained Chicago Police Officer with his bare hands. (If the button sequence is completed quickly enough and without mistake)
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47 can now apparently hang on to ledges and move and can also grab NPCs above him when he does so and pull them over the edge, killing them. He can also shoot while standing on a ledge and pull down NPCs near windows.
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47 can now hide multiple bodies in the same container and also hide in containers already containing bodies. Additionally, closets can now be used to hide bodies in, and 47 can also hide inside a closet that already contains a body.
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47 can use shadows as another way to hide.
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47 can navigate through vents, allowing him to travel undetected while also scanning the environment for enemies.
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47 can now pretend to surrender, useful for deceiving opponents. He can apparently then grab guards who approach him, disarm them and take them as a human shield.
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47 can no longer walk around completely safely wearing a disguise that NPCs wear since they will not recognize him. If he walks too close to them for too long, they might blow his cover and sound the alarm. To prevent this, 47 can briefly conceal his face with his hand when walking past them at the cost of Instinct or simply keep his distance.
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47 can now interact with his environment to hide at a safe spot, such as in theRun For Your Lifetrailer, when he stands by a box of donuts pretending to eat one while disguised as a cop, and in The King of Chinatown, where he stands by a food stand and pretends to read a menu.
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47 can now trigger car alarms by hitting or shooting the car to create a distraction. Previously, this was only possible by shooting the cars. Also, unlike inBlood Money, cars are now explosive.
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If 47 is caught trespassing or doing some other suspicious activity by guards, the rest of the NPCs won't be alerted immediately like inHitman: Blood Money. Instead, he will be held at gunpoint and will have a moment to gain control of the situation by killing them or knocking them out before they alert each other on the radio.
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There are multiple objectives/achievements to unlock for each level, done through Challenges. Most of these deal with the way a target is eliminated or how many disguises 47 uses during a playthrough. The objectives are so varied that it's impossible to get them all during a single session, and some of them directly oppose each other (such as Suit Only and Chameleon, the latter being collect all disguises), encouraging the player to replay levels and try different tactics.
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The game now has a score system which gives points for actions such as killing discretely, hiding bodies and doing headshots and takes points for infractions like being spotted and killing civilians. The score is then apparently uploaded to leaderboards.
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If 47 triggers a full scale alert, the level's guards might call for backup, not unlike the FBI in theBlood MoneymissionNew Life.
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It was suggested in the Introducing Disguises trailer that 47 can assume certain poses while wearing disguises to blend in. The trailer showed him dressed as a scarecrow while hanging on a wooden cross like an actual scarecrow.
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It was shown in the Living, Breathing World trailer that biometric locks will appear in the game and that 47 can unlock them by knocking out or killing certain NPCs who can do so and drag them to the scanner.
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Crowdshave been drastically improved, and can react to violence and will also alert guards.hitmanwikia
Weapons
Not only can 47 disarm and knock opponents out, he can also melee kill them with his bare hands now. In the King of Chinatown demonstration at E3, which used the PlayStation version, the player uses the Square button to grab a target and pull him to the ground and then taps that button until the target is rendered unconscious. During the tapping, the player is given the option of pressing Triangle to break the targets neck, without the need of the Fiber Wire(though it and other garrote weapons are still used).
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Some melee weapons, such as the bust, the bottle and the bong, will apparently break after being used.
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Dual-wielding has been greatly expanded upon; now 47 can switch from carrying two of the Silverballers to only carrying one and vice versa mid-mission, unlike inHitman: Blood Moneywhere the player had to choose between carrying one or two Silverballers before the mission started. In a screenshot, 47 is also seen dual-wielding a pair of handguns other than the Silverballers. Also, in a video recorded from PAX Prime 2012, 47 is able to wield two different types of handguns at the same time, similar to Max Payne 3.
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In theTools of the Tradetrailer, 47 is also seen dual-wielding a number of one-handed weapons, including handguns and SMGs.
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The circular inventory system has apparently been removed and replaced with a D-pad-like one that doesn't pause the game when brought up. 47 can also no longer carry an unlimited number of weapons but has to drop a weapon he has if he picks up one too many.
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47 can now find poison and sedatives in the levels.
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There are now items that make noise and can be picked up and dropped and used to create distractions, such as radios (Streets of Hope) and toy robots (Rosewood Orphanage level).
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The throwing mechanism has been improved with a lock-on system, at least when 47 throws weapons such as knives and axes. Apparently, when he throws other objects such as blunt weapons and explosives, the game now shows its trajectory to make aiming easier.
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When using the Fiber Wire, 47 can now drag the targets with it immediately after killing them. hitmanwikia
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