Lifting the lid of the new Bond Game 007: First Light, developer IO interactive wants to make it clear that it hasn’t been done yet Hitman: The World of Assassinations. At the summer Game Fest, we spoke with Martin Anzdal, a senior-level designer who is working mainly on the elusive target missions of stealth games in limited time. Another way with publisher Square Enix, IO worked briefly with WB Games on Hitman 2, and after a turbulent nine years of stretching that he eventually self-published in his third entry, Ansdal says there’s still more to come.
Mads Mikkelsen recreates the role of New Hitman: World of Assassing Evuribur Target as the infamous casino Royale antagonist. As the stealth game trilogy wrapped in an essentially singular package and joined a stunning, roguelike-inspired freelancer mode, it moved from an early episode format to a platform where thousands of players could return every day, years after the last major release.
There are more celebrity cameos in the film, and Ansdal naturally touches on who is involved, but he says, “There are no plans to reduce my ambitions. I think there are few ambitious things in the past, but that’s you a hitman. That’s what you need to be ambitious. Moving forward, IO announced that he is working on a cooperative mode with Stone and Knight. Ansdal says it has been “a focus of our technological development for a long time.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdpc6lp8wxi
Anzdal says he believes the unique blend of mechanics that Hitman brings to the table will give him a shelf life that could last for years to come. “There’s more experience than we’ve ever done. I have a backlog of what I want to do (do). We’re nine years from the world of assassination. In other games, I think you’re running out of ideas. As long as the audience is there, I’d rather do that than work on most other games.”
Ansudall appears to be moving away from the traditional sequels in favor of a world of attack structures. “I think Hakan (IO interactive CEO) should feel very galvanized. They had that idea for the world of assassination, and that’s an approach that wasn’t received very well at first.” The first episode model of Hitman in 2016 took time, but ultimately proved to be one of the most successful examples of the form.
Ansdal has also worked on the IO path through multiple publishers and various economic issues over the past few years. “At this point, it’s been a struggle for the gaming industry, being strong as a company that opens multiple studios is something that’s very enthusiastic at this point, because someone made a really good decision over a decade ago and it’s rewarding.”
“If you were trapped in that way of thinking about (your) products, you might be dead at this point. It’s fun to be (working for Hitman), but in this industry you don’t need to keep making fun.
Can’t wait for the stones and knights to arrive? This introduces the best co-op games you can play now and the best single-player games if you work better on your own.
You can follow us on Google News’ Daily PC Games News, Reviews and Guides. There is also a lively community of Discord Server. You can chat with team members and fellow readers about this story.
Additional reports by Jamie Hore at Summer Game Fest.
