Hitman Absolution's Attack Of The Saints trailer aimed to provoke, but the unexpectedly outraged response was enough to first force game director Tore Blystad to apologise and now cause the game to be tweaked.

Speaking to Eurogamer , Blystad said: "The Saints trailer is based on a level within the game. One way to go about that level is to go in all guns blazing, but of course it's not the smartest way.

"We learned from the trailer that we really needed to give these characters some context and some backstory. We're working within the game - within that level - to build these characters up before you meet them. That way you know what you're getting and you aren't put off by them."

Blystad said that the response to Attack Of The Saints had come as a shock, as the trailer had been viewed by hundreds of people internally and no concern was raised.

"We were surprised by the reaction to it. We've been trying to find out, y'know, how could we not see this happening? If we knew it would get such a negative reaction we would have done it in a different way."

The in-game footage that IO Interactive have released since that nun trailer have looked much more promising, largely because they demonstrate how Hitman: Absolution will play. I'm struggling to imagine how the nun trailer would map onto a level, though. Can there ever exist a context in which those rubber habits make sense?