The very first screen in the hands-off demo of Hitman: Absolution we saw at a pre-E3 event last month tells the story of what the fifth interation in this stealth assassin series is trying to be. The logo of the game appears over an extremely detailed window pane, with rain beating down on it from outside, and a blurry view of the Chicago skyline at night in the background.

The image could easily just be mistaken for a menu screen -- in high definition view, it looks just plain gorgeous, like a live action piece of art. But as soon as the player presses start, you discover that it's actually an in-game shot. A body flies through the window, shattering the glass, and the camera pans down to reveal Agent 47, inside what appears to be a library of some kind, hiding in the dark from Chicago police.