Speaking on the official Hitman forums, IO Interactive developers answered a number of big questions about the game, revealing the direction in which they plan to take the game.
Would you say that the changes being made to the game are additions to the franchise, rather than replacements?
Obviously changes to the game engine will benefit this title and any future titles, so you will see the dramatic improvements to the AI and the graphics in later games. Beyond this though its too early to say what ideas from Hitman Absolution will carry over into later Hitman games. I’m sure we’ll want to listen to the comments from the fans when Absolution ships and we’ll monitor what gameplay features people are enjoying and respond from there…
Will there be rewards for players that play stealthy and achieve Silent Assassin?
Yes. Stealth is still the primary way to play Hitman.
Will we be able to manually save our game at any point, like in all Hitman games so far?
That remains to be seen but currently, no. It could change, however, depending on how play testing goes.
Could Glacier 2 handle the same amount of same sized levels as Hitman 2: Silent Assassin?
Glacier 2 is far superior to G1 so it can do everything the old engine could and more on top!
Is there variety to these safe spots? I don't want to see donut boxes in every table in the game, like in Blood Money there were those body-sized boxes conviniently placed everywhere.
We’re obviously going to create safe spots that make sense to each environment where safe spots would be good to have. You will not see doughnuts all over the place. They will likely be fairly obvious but not I’ve not seen anything glowing. As with most of the gameplay, you should take your time to poke around the environment to identify these places.
Can we recharge the Insinct energy doing REAL Hitman stuff; not by silently killing innocents, but by sneaking around, knocking someone unconscious and taking their clothes?
We will have lots more details on what Instincts is and does later on. But, basically, the idea is that you gain instinct by being a hitman, not by acting like a gun nut.
Will there be more dialogue in the game than previous titles?
There will be more talking this time around, yes.
Why did you decide to remove the newspaper feature? will anything replace it?
That’s very much up in the air right now. We’ll see what works best.
Overall, as the creators of the Hitman series from the very beginning, are you happy with this game so far? (laffo)
Yes. The team is doing everything it can to make the absolutely best Hitman game ever, and I personally think they’re succeeding. It plays incredibly well already.
For those of us that don't want to bother with 'Instinct' will we be getting the traditional satellite map to navigate around the missions?
No. You will have to rely on the mini map and your own judgement.
How does "instinct" work? Is it a power that is limited in some regard, or lessened depending on difficulty?
We’ll get into loads more details on instincts later on, but for now, suffice to say it’s not something you can use all the time (especially on harder difficulties).
Since this is a more "personal" story, will 47 be getting paid for his contracts and buying upgrades like Blood Money, or is it a collection only system like that seen in Contracts and SA?
You will have to wait a little while longer for details on the story.
Do you guys have any ideas for a pre-order pack?
Yes. And special editions. I’m not aware of what the end products are going to look like but I know that the guys are looking to craft some sweet stuff for the collectors out there.
What made you guys pick Chicago as the location? Not that I'm complaining, just the thing I'm most curious about.
It seemed to fit well with what we wanted that part of the game to show. We’ll get into loads more details on the locations later on.
Will there be any daytime missions ? all the artwork and screenshots posted are at night while its raining.
Yes, there will.
Will you guys be at gamescom 2011?
We are looking into it at the moment. I’m not sure we’ll make it but it hasn’t been ruled out yet.
The checkpoint system. Are the checkpoints just going to be used to tie in larger areas together? Say, if you were to remake some H2:SA missions with this forumula, Hidden Valley, At the Gates and Shogun Showdown could be just one larger level in which the old three levels were just areas separated by checkpoints. Something like that.
Yeah, something like that. We’ll talk about it more later on (holy mama, I get to say that a lot today).
Will it, theoretically, be possible to beat the game without ever firing a gun?
Well, honestly, the game isn’t done yet so I don’t really know. I know that the ambition is that you should be able to get through all levels without taking out anyone but your intended target.
Can we expect to see the entire E3 demo at some point in the future?
Possibly. We’re looking into how to best show this to the world.
For pistols with sound suppressors, will there be two variants of the gun (a sound suppressed and non-suppressed version like previous games), or will 47 be able to pull out a sound suppressor and thread it onto the barrel?
Right now, he pulls out a suppressor. That is subject to change, though.
Are bullet-wound decals still in the game? Overall, how much gore (which is always a good thing) can we expect?
Yes and not that much. You shouldn’t make a mess if you’re a Hitman, you know 😉
NPC's sound more individual and emotionally driven than before. If this is the case, is the following scenario possible: you silently cut some cop's throat and then leave the body. A friend of his comes along, finds the body, and gets more upset/worked up than other cops might get, and perhaps start swearing revenge, break down crying, etc?
With the current AI system, yes, I’d say that was possible.
Any female assassination targets?
Yes.
Any hard, ultra-hard, insanely hard to get achievements/secrets/rewards planned?
Oh yes. You don’t get to be a Silent Assassin by playing this casually.
Any "new game+" or special collectibles (i.e. hidden packages in GTA, the cheese locations in every level in Perfect Dark even though they took out the reward at the release) added for fun replayability or longevity of the game?
Well, we have the surveillance tapes and I know that the boys are looking at implementing other things but getting the core game experience perfect is top priority right now. In-game collectibles are more fluffy items. The gameplay and the levels should offer plenty of replayability for you all.
There will still be the rating, but what about the statistics? still there too?
We’re tracking a number of things so, yeah, I’m guessing that stats are also still shown.
When will the e3 gameplay demo be released?
If you mean, when can you try it, the answer is ‘never’. We are not going to release the E3 demo for the public.
If we turn off the instinct mode, will we have a map (via older hitman games) to rely on to know where to go?
No.
Will there be easter eggs like the ghost in Contracts?
There will be Easter eggs, yes.
via neogaf
