Next Hitman game details revealed

[Joykill]

It's official; a new game in the hit franchise, Hitman, shall be arriving to the next-gen consoles, as well as the computer.
I figured from their Facebook page, that IO-Interactive made an open letter about the upcoming Hitman title, revealing some new stuff about the game. I already updated the Hitman wiki by the way.
What caught me the most in this letter was the fact that they will be introducing 'huge, checkpoint-free, sandbox levels.'
This is the whole letter:

Dear Hitman fans,

We wanted to share this open letter with all of you out there eagerly awaiting more news about what’s happening next in the franchise.

At Io-Interactive right now, we are building the next AAA Hitman game for PC and next-gen consoles. It has our total focus and we wanted to take a moment to tell you a few things about it.

In the next game you will experience a globetrotting Agent 47 at the prime of his career – the apex predator stalking his prey across the world, with the support of his long-term handler Diana Burnwood and the whole of the ICA.

The game concentrates on the core Hitman fantasy of using a wide range of tools to take out a diverse group of targets across expansive, exotic locations around the world. We are building this game on the backbone of the Glacier 2 engine, using the best parts and what we have learnt through Hitman: Absolution and drawing inspiration from past titles like Contracts and Blood Money to fulfil the core Hitman fantasy. That means we’re packing in an extreme level of detail on the largest levels we have ever built for a Hitman game. We’ve adopted an open, non-linear level design approach to the game, ensuring the game will play out across huge, checkpoint-free, sandbox levels. Our aim is to create living, breathing and believable levels which will allow gamers to play around with the AI to create those unique moments every fan of the Hitman franchise loves.

Contracts Mode is back – you will be able to create and build challenges by experimenting with the large levels and possibilities within them. And of course, you can share them with the world and challenge your friends or foes to complete your hits. Your rules, your Contracts.

You will also be glad to hear that we have removed 47’s magic pockets. We believe that’s all we need to say about that subject.

As we get further into 2014, we will reveal more and get into much closer contact with all of you. There are so many things we have planned and we are extremely excited for the future of Hitman.

Thank you all for your dedication. We will share much, much more in the coming months.

The Io-Interactive Team
@IOInteractive

What is your thoughts?

[Barkles]

I have 2 and contracts on ps2
Had absolution for a while.... Didn't really enjoy it though due to bad AI IMO

I like the premise of hit man I'm just not really all that good at stealth games

[Eisenhorn]

Hitman Absolution (aka Agent 47 Splinter Cell edition) was the wrong direction of the franchise, it took the character and the game play away from what we'd come to love. Levels were not intuitive, they ruined the disguise feature, there was little room for freedom of exploration, it was entirely linear, especially with that damn score system.
Now if this games goes back to it's roots like contracts, where the franchise peaked in my opinion it'll be worth a look, otherwise it's gonna have to crap me tiffany cuff links to peak my interest.

[Deriptz]

I'm already pumped for this game I really enjoyed Absolution. Also I like how they removed his 'magic pockets'.

[D0ctor]

And by magic pockets, they mean an arse hole the size of a tardis.

[Barkles]

Where I come from "Magic Pockets" has a different meaning, involving narcotic substances

[BlackDog]

joykill you dont live up to your name, youve brought me much joy via this news.

Now we can hope it follows the older games more so than absolution and were in buisness

[Joykill]

News, I've got.
I was so fortunate to be speaking with a creative director of online from IO Interactive, and got a bit off rail to talk about the next Hitman game. He clearly suggested that you will be travelling to do jobs as Agent 47, and that the sign from the letter released may or may not be relevant in some form to where the game will be happening *hint* *hint*.
Additionally he was the man behind 'Contract' modes in Absolution and gave me a personal pardon for the awful scoring system in the Absolution, with a smile on the face.

Oh well, he made an interesting speech about the game industry and how games work.

[ArcHammer]

News, I've got.
I was so fortunate to be speaking with a creative director of online from IO Interactive, and got a bit off rail to talk about the next Hitman game. He clearly suggested that you will be travelling to do jobs as Agent 47, and that the sign from the letter released may or may not be relevant in some form to where the game will be happening *hint* *hint*.
Additionally he was the man behind 'Contract' modes in Absolution and gave me a personal pardon for the awful scoring system in the Absolution, with a smile on the face.

Oh well, he made an interesting speech about the game industry and how games work.

You got to speak to someone? Great!

OT:
I think if they are returning to what it was like in blood money, a level to do anything you want in rather than the linear levels of Hitman Absolution, that this will be an interesting game. I lost interest in Absolution after a while, just because the levels had one goal and one main path to follow and not many options.