New Hitman asks players to improvise, but have they forgotten how?

Tore Blystad, director of Hitman: Absolution at IO Interactive, tells Gamaustra the team is struggling to teach players that they have freedom to choose -- “are we teaching the players everything that they need to understand about the gameplay and the possibilities of the game?” The core of the Hitman franchise is improvisation -- players are encouraged to find their own solutions to the game’s missions. This is a challenge with today’s audiences, says director Tore Blystad. “it's quite difficult, actually, to educate players that this is what the game is trying to serve you, because people are increasingly used to games where you're told to do one thing, and if you stray from this line, there will be nothing else around,” says Blystad. “It's like, you have this experience, and that's it. So we're telling people, actually, ‘No, no, no. You choose by yourself.’” The team, says Blystad, is striving for a feeling that “you could try and you could fail, and then you could improvise from there and try something else.” He believes this sense of “playfulness” is very important -- “it's so much about your experience, and you trying to find your own way -- your own kind of way of solving the game.” The game changes from player to player, says Blystad, but only “when you understand that you have the choice.” The full interview with Blystad is live now on Gamasutra.