IO Interactive is getting ready to pull the curtain back on its next project, and the Danish studio is doing its best to whip fans into a frenzy before it does. In a pair of messages posted to its official Twitter account on Monday, the developer confirmed that a new game is on the way and that an official reveal is not far off.
The first message was brief but clear. Writing about the unannounced title, the studio said “It’ll be cool and we’ll officially announce it fairly soon.” A follow up message went considerably further, cheekily comparing the upcoming game to a famous little blue pill for your gaming libido and promising that satisfaction was guaranteed. Subtle, it was not.
Hitman 5 Or Kane And Lynch 3
What IO did not say is which game it is talking about, and that silence is doing a lot of work. As PlayStation LifeStyle noted when picking up the tweets, the obvious candidates are a fifth Hitman or a third outing for Kane & Lynch. The studio is behind both series, and it is hard to imagine it hyping anything else quite this hard.
Our money, and the hopes of a lot of fans, is on Agent 47. The last main entry in the stealth series, Hitman: Blood Money, came out in 2006, which means the bald assassin has now been missing from consoles for close to five years. Blood Money is still regarded by plenty of players as the high point of the franchise, thanks to its open ended contracts, its accident kills and the way it let players plan a hit their own way.
Kane & Lynch, on the other hand, is much fresher. Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days arrived only last August, making a direct sequel this soon seem less likely, though nothing is impossible. IO has also spent time away from its two flagship series in recent years, releasing the more lighthearted Mini Ninjas in 2009.
A Big Reveal Under The Square Enix Banner
The studio has been part of Square Enix since the Japanese publisher bought Eidos in 2009, and a new Hitman would be one of the bigger Western releases under that banner. Hitman has long been one of the most recognisable names in the Eidos catalogue, spanning four games since Hitman: Codename 47 in 2000 and a Hollywood movie in 2007.
For now, though, everything beyond the tweets themselves is speculation. IO has not confirmed a title, a platform or a release window, and it has not given a date for the announcement beyond promising that it will come fairly soon. If the studio is as confident as its Twitter account suggests, it presumably has something substantial ready to show.
Whatever it turns out to be, the tease suggests a full reveal is close. We will bring you the details as soon as IO Interactive makes it official, and we will be crossing our fingers for a barcode and a pair of Silverballers.