Warning: Minor spoilers for Hitman: Absolution.

The nun’s already got one bullet in her. She begs for her life, but maybe prayer would’ve worked better. The thug pops her again, then walks back down the blood-soaked orphanage hallway as her body flops into an open elevator shaft...where Agent 47 silently waits.

So, no. Hitman: Absolution doesn’t pull any punches.

I'm just going to let some fresh air into that rancid little brain of yours.

Hyper-violence aside, developer Io Interactive’s first Hitman in five years (due later this year on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC) shows they’ve paid attention to every recent change in the stealth-game genre. Bald, barcoded killer Agent 47 used to rely entirely on the silent approach. Disguises and booby traps took the lead, while discovery almost always led to a slow-motion death. Now? Silent assassins can still work their I-was-never-here magic, but less subtle options exist. Such as dual-wielding submachine guns.

At a recent hands-off preview session, I got to see the same sequence played both ways, loud and quiet. The big surprise? It almost feels like two different games in one.

First, a little setup. Set years after 2006’s Hitman: Blood Money, Absolution kicks off with Diana Burnwood, Agent 47’s rarely seen handler, having risen through the International Contract Agency ranks only to find herself targeted for some as-yet-unspecified betrayal. Io wouldn’t talk details, but strong indications suggest 47 completes the contract on Diana…though not before accepting one last assignment from her.

Diana sends 47 to a Chicago orphanage to secure a young girl named Victoria, and naturally, other interested parties get there first. To beat them to Victoria, 47 must restore power to the elevator. Considering that nun’s fate, his current priest disguise won’t help much.

And before you ask, the answer is no. You won’t find a clergyman’s naked body stashed in a dumpster somewhere. Agent 47 starts some levels already in disguise.

The stealth approach

This iteration of 47 moves like a jungle cat, rolling in and out of cover (yes, Hitman now has a cover system) to smoothly bypass a grisly torture scene unnoticed, leaving a bound security guard to his fate. 47 doesn’t carry spare change around anymore, relying on in-world objects (a bible, a toy robot) to create distractions. And these jittery, often-coked-up thugs jump at anything.

Underarm Stink Attack! Always deadly.

All this sneaking around also gives better insight into the new Instinct system, which translates 47’s professional experience into gameplay advantages in familiar ways. Turn on Detective Vision from Batman: Arkham City for a few seconds to see enemies through walls, or spend Instinct to hear what enemies think as you try to blend in among them.

Your Instinct bar doesn’t auto-regenerate, so using it is a tactical choice. You build Instinct back up by doing hitmany things such as headshots and hiding in plain sight using handy props.

More importantly, Instinct lets you see the exact path enemies will take as they walk toward you. It’s a simple, yet brilliant effect. Absolution shows you the rails those drones run on instead of forcing trial-and-error replays...long the stealth genre’s kryptonite. That gives you a second or two to decide how to handle the situation. On our stealth pass, that meant ducking around cover, nerve-wracking pauses, and split-second evasions while tense music whispered in the background.

47 reached the elevator box undetected, dispatching only two villains (out of dozens) with choke holds and a chilling “Shhhhhhh.”

The direct approach

This time, Agent 47 rolls through like an avenging, if amoral, angel. The nun’s killer? Snapped neck. The tortured security guard? 47 finds a fire axe and claps that thing into the torturer’s dome before throwing it across the room into some asshole’s chest. The music ramps up to a pounding beat and a big EXPOSED warning flashes up. Yeah. Guessed that.

Mr. Security Guard gratefully mentions an abandoned shotgun in the chapel. Different paths open different opportunities.

REPENT, YE BITCHES! REPENT!

Instinct comes with agro options, too. "Point shooting" operates very similarly to Splinter Cell: Conviction’s “mark and execute” feature, tagging baddies or environmental dangers for your auto-killing pleasure. 47 swiftly dispatches a patrol who spots the bodies, guns down three rooms full of motherless scum (albeit on God mode), drives a handy crucifix into an offending skull, and finishes by detonating an oxygen tank, ragdolling the last remaining villains. It's over fast. Violence cuts the playtime down considerably.

The effect feels dramatically different, too. Quietly maneuvering through the heavily armed sheep gives off an air of intellectual superiority. Blowing those nun-killing bastards straight to judgment looks immensely satisfying. A lot of stealth games veer too far in one direction or the other, but Absolution's Instinct perks level the field. You're not waiting...you're planning and constantly reacting to keep your low profile. You're not run-and-gunning...you're taking a systematic approach to killing everyone in the room.

While Io has yet to show one of the series' bread-and-butter assassination missions, I'm liking Absolution's balance between loud and quiet so far. If they can build entertaining levels and goals around those yin/yang mechanics and hang an intriguing story on it, I'll definitely accept this contract when it releases later this year.