0
Posted October 6, 2012 by Adam in News
 
 

Hitman: Absolution Difficulty Levels Revealed

Hitman: Absolution's Difficulty Levels Revealed image
Hitman: Absolution's Difficulty Levels Revealed image

IO interactive’s upcoming Hitman: Absolution will feature five seperate difficulty levels which should cater to both hardcore fans and newcomers to the series, as revealed in the preview build by Kotaku.

Previous trailers for the fifth title in the Hitman series have caused some concern amongst long time fans for two reasons. Firstly there is the strong emphasis on action and the downplay of the game’s more tradtional stealth elements, which the developers have insisted are still the core of the game, but don’t necessarily make for great advertising fodder.

Secondly is the addition of “instinct”, a riff on the Eagle Vision from Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed titles. Instinct allows you to highlight dangerous enemies and environmental advantages. Instinct even helps you blend into your surroundings and track the planned movements of patrolling enemies.

However long time fans of the series can take some comfort with the recently revealed breakdown of the difficulty levels which currenty exist in the preview build, and should not be liable to change for the final release next month.

Enhanced: Easy

  • Players can activate additional checkpoints
  • Instinct regenerates
  • Instinct will provide hints
  • Enemies react more slowly than normal

Enhanced: Medium

  • Players can activate additional checkpoints
  • Instinct does not regenerate
  • Instinct will provide hints
  • Normal enemy presence with normal reaction times

Professional: Hard

  • Players can activate additional checkpoints
  • Instinct depletes when used and does not regenerate
  • No instinct hints
  • Additional enemies with improved reaction time

Professional: Expert

  • No player-activated checkpoints
  • Instinct depletes when used and does not regenerate
  • No instinct hints
  • Maximum number of enemies with fastest reacton

Professional: Purist

  • No Help
  • No guides
  • No Interface
  • Only a crosshair

Hitman: Absolution's Difficulty Levels Revealed Image

The first two modes labelled “Enhanced” appear to offer you an edge with guns should that be your preffered method of playing through the game.

It certainly seems that if you’ve been concerned about the inclusion of the instinct feature then the Purist mode is the only way to go which suits me just fine. My favourite way to play any Hitman title is to go through the first time around in a reactive mode. So the aim is to kill with absolute stealth and not get noticed. But if I get cornered or rumbled then I’ll bring out the guns to resolve the situation. Then my second playthrough will be to attain that all important Silent Assassin ranking.

Hitman Absolution is released on November 20th 2012 for PC, 360, PS3 and the OnLive service


Adam

 
Playing games since I'd developed enough motor functions to hold a joystick. From Commodore 64 all the way through to the latest gen. Favourite games to play are FPS games and anything with a deep and compelling story and a world that draws you in. I also enjoy writing, film making and playing bass in whatever band will have me :)