Hitman: Absolution to get rework after taking flack over PVC nuns
Friday, August 17, 2012 3:27 PM
The developer of Hitman: Absolution game has said that it is working on new content for the game after facing a backlash over a controversial trailer.
Many gamers were up in arms over the 'Attack of the Saints' video clip which showed Agent 47 mercilessly slaying a group of sexy, PVC-clad nuns in slow-mo - a scene which seemed to bear little relevance to the series.
At the time, the title's director Tore Blystad of IO Interactive issued an apology, explaining that causing offence "was truly not the intention of the trailer".
Fast forward a month, and the Norwegian and his team are now working on adding context to the game in order to avoid creating any further controversy.
"We learned from the trailer that we really needed to give these characters some context and some back story," Blystad said in an interview with Eurogamer at the Gamescom event in Germany.
"We're working within the game - within that level - to build these characters up before you meet them. That way you know what you're getting and you aren't put off by them."
Slightly worryingly, given the amount of it offence it caused, he also admitted that despite "hundreds" of his team having seen the trailer, not a single one raised any concerns before it was released.
"How could we not see this happening?" he said.
"The game is inspired by Grindhouse-style movies, so for us the trailer was natural way to deal with that subject matter."
Unfortunately for IO, its response to the issue has been met with just as much of a mixed reaction as the trailer.
Some have suggested that buckling to criticism in this way sets a dangerous precedent which might lead to the watering down of future hard-hitting titles, while others said Blystad's comments reflected the male-dominated makeup of the video game world.