'Silent Assassin' to return in Hitman: Absolution

Hope your piano wire is within reach, because Square Enix has just announced the Hitman franchise is coming back. Hitman: Absolution is coming to the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 from developer IO Interactive.

Our last encounter with the 'as intelligent as he is deadly' Agent 47 was 2006's Hitman: Blood Money, which launched on the PC, PS2, Xbox, and Xbox 360. Continuing from the previous title's unforgettable ending, Absolution will see Agent 47 on the run from police and betrayed by those he once trusted.

"For the first time we are taking Agent 47 on a personal journey which allows us to explore other parts of the Hitman fantasy," IO Interactive game director Tore Blystad. "This is both a familiar and yet significantly different experience from other Hitman games; something our silent assassins will relish, as will all those new to the Hitman world."

Though the fifth game in the franchise will bring Agent 47 from his slumber, Square Enix has revealed that the game will be based on IO Interactive's new proprietary "Glacier 2 technology."

Hitman: Absolution combines "classic gameplay with completely new features never seen before in the Hitman franchise."

Square Enix has also announced that Hitman: Absolution will be featured--by invitation only--at E3 2011, in Los Angeles from June 7-9. The publisher has also added the above teaser to the official Hitman website.

Lastly, Hitman: Absolution currently sports no ESRB rating. However, I think it's fair to assume the game will be at least rated E10+.