From crowded town centres to packed rush-hour train stations, Agent 47's actions directly affect those around him - a quick showing of firearms shocks surrounding individuals, while witnessing gunfire and hand-to-hand combat sends them fleeing in panic.

On top of this, the other main change comes from the Glacier 2 engine's ability to render hundreds of characters on-screen at any given point, creating some densely populated environments in parts of the game.

The lighting model is also engineered using deferred shading techniques, allowing for many more dynamic lights in any given scene compared to IO's previous work. For one, IO eschews the 60Hz gameplay of its last title, instead targeting a 30FPS update in line with most other titles this generation, while a more subtle version of the grain/noise filter used in Kane and Lynch 2 gives Hitman: Absolution a grittier look.

Powered by IO Interactive's new Glacier 2 engine, Hitman: Absolution builds upon some of the artistic and technical choices of the older Kane and Lynch titles while making dramatic changes to the rendering set-up in a number of areas. It's been six years since we last saw Agent 47 in action in the entertaining Hitman: Blood Money, with creators IO Interactive temporarily putting the series on hold to work on its mostly forgettable Kane and Lynch titles.

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