Players can choose between stealth or full-blown murder with Hitman: Absolution

IO Interactive has reiterated that player choice will continue to be the running gameplay theme when Hitman: Absolution is released.

For instance, according to game director Christian Elverdam, stealth "purists" may find the Instinct Meter a bit like "cheating," but if you don't like using it, you can easily turn it off.

"The first thing is, if you don't like it you can turn it off," he told PSM3, via CVG. "But we're getting feedback from user sessions, even people who have played all our games, and they actually like Instinct.

"It has less of an impact when you play it than you think; it just removes one layer of thought and puts it onto the game, so you're looking at what's going on right now, instead of thinking about other stuff."

Elverdam went on to say the team had a bit of go trying to balance player freedom along with a cinematic storyline, but it will be accessible for everyone, and if you want to play Agent 47 as a "noisy thug", you'll apparently be able to do so.

Game’s out this year for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.