00:19Siamo qui allo stand di Square Enix, abbiamo appena finito di vedere la presentazione di
00:23Hitman Absolution, il reveal, il nuovo Hitman che finalmente esce dalla scoperta.
00:27Siamo qui con Cristian, il gameplay director del gioco e gli faremo qualche domanda così
00:32anche per spiegarvi di più cos'è Hitman.
00:35Hi Cristian!
00:36Hello!
00:37So, just to start, what is Hitman Absolution?
00:41Hitman Absolution is a new game coming out from IO Interactive.
00:45It's built on our new Glacier 2 Engine.
00:48Yeah, and speaks about the new engine.
00:51Yeah, Glacier 2 Engine is the engine we created from scratch to build Hitman Absolution.
00:56It is the first game coming out on that engine, basically allowing us to look at all the previous
01:03Hitman titles, all the elements that were in there, both gameplay and how it looks and how
01:08it feels and just say how would we want to improve that.
01:11So, that's the work we've been doing with the Glacier 2 Engine.
01:14Yeah, and the last Hitman, if I remember well, was about three years ago or something like that.
01:19A lot of money, yeah.
01:19Why all this time to develop a new Hitman?
01:24I mean, we built a technology from scratch because we really knew we wanted to do more with the games
01:29than we've done previously.
01:31So for instance, we wanted to create an AI that is much more nuanced than it's ever been before.
01:37So, let's say that in the old games, when you got spotted, it's kind of, you got this more binary
01:42reaction,
01:43like it's either you're stealthy or you are kind of in combat.
01:47So we wanted the AI, for instance, to be able to have a lot of in-between states, there are
01:51a lot of grayscales.
01:52So let's say, for instance, someone discovers you, you're kind of discovered by the police, let's say from the E3
01:58example.
01:59Then they will not necessarily just jump out and pull out a gun.
02:02The AI is aware roughly of what has been happening.
02:05So if no one was killed, for instance, but they know you are kind of, they're looking for you,
02:09they will try to arrest you first, which is what a typical police officer would do.
02:13Now, that allows Hitman to react.
02:15He can either try to disarm the police officer or he can try to back away from him,
02:18maybe lure him into a corner and then kill him off.
02:22And well, if no one else notices when you're off again, right?
02:24And the game is still in this kind of ambient stealth mode.
02:27So this is really what we wanted to achieve, that the AI can kind of go full circle from stealth
02:32to alerted states to combat.
02:35And if you disengage back again, so a way more nuanced behavior than ever before.
02:39Yeah. The first Hitman was completely revolutionary.
02:43Then after that, the other titles were a little worse going on.
02:49And what about Hitman Absolution? I mean, what will change with Hitman Absolution?
02:56I think in a lot of ways, I mean, you can say almost the entire game will change.
03:01On kind of on the surface, we are doing a lot of stuff to the new gameplay systems and all
03:05that stuff.
03:06But on the other hand, you can also say nothing will really change because we really, I mean, when we
03:10built Hitman Absolution,
03:12we were looking very closely at our DNA for Irons Active, the Hitman franchise has always kind of been very
03:17close to us, right?
03:18So we looked a lot at all the titles we created, the Hitman titles.
03:22And then kind of looking at cinema and how can we make this happen with our new engine?
03:27Yeah. So I forgot the question.
03:30No problem. It was okay to answer.
03:32The game appears to be, I think, an open-world game to have a gameplay.
03:37Or do we have the missions like the old Hitman and we can just do them in the way we
03:44want?
03:44Or is it really an open-world game?
03:47It's a little bit of both, I would say.
03:49On one hand, it's pretty story-driven.
03:51We really wanted to go in and tell a little bit of more of a personal story for Hitman.
03:55But you call it open-world, we kind of called it the microcosm, if you will.
03:59That we have these super detailed environments with a lot of different opportunities for you.
04:03Take the library, for instance, that we showed in the E3 demo.
04:05That's at least one example of a kind of a medium-sized...
04:08There are some puzzles, there's a different path to take.
04:12We're not really dictating what you should do.
04:14We are a little bit setting the stage for you at this time.
04:16And that's specific for that scene you just saw.
04:19But you're free to choose. I mean, going left, going right, going up, going down.
04:23Do you take a disguise? Do you find some improvised weapons?
04:26What is your kind of overall strategy?
04:28Do you want to go for the Silent Assassin trademark?
04:32Or do you allow yourself to be a little bit more messy?
04:35Or do you even, I mean, from the get-go try to attack the cops?
04:39That's all up to you this time, right?
04:40But you kind of choose your style.
04:43And we will kind of have an AI that is flexible enough to provide for that.
04:46So would it be possible to not have a stealthy approach to the missions?
04:51Or the game will oblige you to move always stealthy?
04:55No, I mean, you're free to choose what you want to do.
04:58What we will do is that we will make sure that, you know, you don't get any choice that is
05:02easier than the other.
05:03So, I mean, it's not like you can just go in and shoot everyone and that will be easier.
05:06You will actually have to fight quite a bit for it.
05:08And also, we kind of want to, if you really want to go one way, let's say you go for
05:12Silent Assassin.
05:13And you really want to be super silent and stealthy.
05:16Well, we will tease you a little bit by maybe there will be a shotgun in a corner and something
05:20that can explode or stuff.
05:21So, really wanting you to kind of, should I, should I not?
05:23So, you kind of can say, ah, but I'm the good Hitman. I will remain, you know, clean.
05:28On the other hand, for the action-oriented player, we will try to encourage you to be stealthy.
05:32Or at least think a little about how to kind of maybe back away from the enemies, lure them into
05:37a trap you built or something like that, right?
05:39So, it's really about kind of encouraging a lot of different play styles.
05:43Yeah, just explain us the instinct.
05:45Yeah.
05:46Well, in the Hitman Absolution, we created a new feature we call Instinct.
05:50And basically, it allows you to do a lot of things.
05:54You can kind of see the world through 47's eyes, which will mean that you can sense enemies that are
05:59nearby.
05:59And more importantly, you can also predict the path that an AI is going to take.
06:04And this is super useful if you are trying to be stealthy.
06:06Obviously, you can kind of eliminate a lot of trial and error by simply being patient and looking at what's
06:11going on.
06:11But also, if you screw up a little bit, you kind of, you can say, okay, is someone coming?
06:16Okay, someone is coming.
06:17They're coming from this angle.
06:18So, do I want to try to take them down fast before they can alert anyone?
06:22Or do I want to try to escape this situation?
06:24So, again, eliminating trial and error and kind of moving the player choice.
06:29So, you're kind of thinking about what to do.
06:31And on top of that, Instinct does a lot of other things.
06:33It's kind of, it's also empowering a lot of your abilities.
06:37So, as you saw in our E3 presentation, if you're dressed as a police officer and you kind of get
06:41very close to other police officers,
06:43you can use your instinct power to blend in and fool them.
06:46And this is also a big part of what Instinct is in the game.
06:49So, when the game will be out?
06:51The game is coming out in 2012 and it will be on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and on the PC.
06:57Okay, thank you very much.
06:58Thank you.
06:58Thank you.
