PS3 Informer

Hitman: Absolution Breaks Cover

It's been five long years since we last saw Agent 47. Blood Money, the fourth in the Hitman series launched way back in 2006. That's a long time between kills for the bald-headed, cold-blooded assassin. The wait will soon be over though, with studio IO Interactive recently announcing the fifth installment, Hitman: Absolution, to be released in 2012.

Taking a page from the Splinter Cell play book, Agent 47 finds himself out in the cold, betrayed by those he trusted and hunted by the police. The studio claims they are taking Agent 47 on a 'personal journey' as he searches for the truth.

That journey includes a facebook page. Sure; facebook might seem like an oddly public place to hang for an assassin on the run. Perhaps it's all part of his 'personal journey. Just so long as he doesn't go gifting Farmville animals.

In the proud tradition of gaming sequels, IO Interactive are promising bigger and better this time around, thanks in no small part to IO's new Glacier 2 game engine. IO Interactive, Game Director, Tore Blystad says, "This is both a familiar and yet significantly different experience to any of the other Hitman games, and something our silent assasins wil relish, as well as those who are new to the Hitman world."

You can take a sneak at the official trailer here. The short trailer shows a silencer being attached to a gun barrel, a snake curled menacingly around a revolver, and a bar code showing the numbers 11/07/06, 04/01 and 47. Spin that first date around and you have the first day of this year's E3 Expo, where, in a fashion more fitting a stealthy assassin, IO Interactive will showcase their new game behind closed doors at an invitation only event. That second string of numbers could indicate an April 2012 release, while the 47 of course is the number of the good agent himself.

With E3 only weeks away, we'll know more soon.