Hitman: Absolution To Have Difficulty Level For "Hardcore" Fans

Hitman: Absolution will include a unique difficulty level designed for veteran fans of the Hitman series, featuring stealth-related achievements requiring a more skillful approach to gameplay.

Danish developer IO Interactive is staying relatively mum about it, but lead producer Hakan Abrak does say that that the level rewards players for putting their assassin skills to the test against enemies. “It’s more to pacify your enemies, be undetected, [and] maybe solve the challenges in a smarter way,” he said.

The stealth-difficulty level may be coming as a reaction to gamer criticism of the series, which is often ridiculed for allowing players to easily bypass the assassin aspects of the game to kill the mark.

Regardless of the reason for the inclusion of the new level, Abrak says that Absolution is sure to please old school fans of the Hitman games. 

“Rest assured, the hardcore fans that like to have replayability value in the game or want to have this stealth assassin – you know, I’m the ultimate stealth assassin – that playing style, those achievements, are very much in the game.”

Hitman: Absolution is due out on Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and PC in 2012.

[via Eurogamer]