Tore Blystad: It was very much up in the air actually, because we had these four games in succession, and they were pretty much evolutions. We came to the conclusion that we had to stop and look at everything, pick it all apart and put it back together again in a way that would work better. Because as much as we love our old games, we also know that they have a lot of flaws, and they’re very archaic in many ways.
We wanted to make it so that more people could get into it, rather than constantly having to hammer your head against a wall trying to figure out what the game is about and how to control things.
SPOnG: So the sequence where you grab the cop and walk out the door, that always plays out the same way?
Tore Blystad: No, if you didn’t take the human shield and snuck behind them all things will play out differently, and there would be other opportunities. It’s very important for us to show the depth of the game’s freedom in the game at E3 this year, and that comes at the expense of making our hardcore fans very worried. But we’ve just not shown a lot of the hardcore stuff, that’s all.
We have a special group working inside the Hitman team purely focused on making it more hardcore, adding what we call a ‘purist’ mode. That’s just for the guys who like to be punished. You’ll be punished like never before, and throughout the entire game. We know that we have to cater for them as they’re very vocal and loyal. We have a number of these hardcore players on our team actually, and they’re keeping us in check! On the higher difficulty levels, expect all of the different aids to switch off and leave you alone in your element.
Tore Blystad: The freedom of choice, and the ability for players to choose the kind of Hitman they want to be. That’s very central for us at any given time. And allowing the player to express themselves within the game is what we always look very carefully on, both in mechanics and level setups, as well as the environmental side. Everything is about expressing yourself and making your own story, taking your own path.
SPOnG: What can you tell us about the engine?
Tore Blystad: We made an engine completely from scratch, built to support this game alone and every single part of the mechanics, art and sound... I don’t know if you noticed, but the music is now much more flexible and very cinematic. Every single situation has its own little soundtrack depending on how you play through it. So we really want the player to feel like the hero in their own movie.
We’re bringing all these things together in an engine that is also real-time edited. So we can create all these moments that are made to work as you progress through without being intrusive.
Stay tuned for Part 2!