Few games have been as open-ended as those in the Hitman series. Through brutality or cunning, you could assassinate your targets and given multiple ways to accomplish your mission.

Its developer IO may have been distracted with the development of the Kane and Lynch series, but a new series of images that have cropped up hint towards a revival of the Htiman series.

A series of images referring to Agent 47's signature barcode which recently surfaced have been extensively documented on the fansite, Hitman Forum, with contributions even from IO's community manager.

The first image(below) appeared in a mysterious ad in a catalogue at the Sundance Film Festival, showing a box of donuts and a barcode ending in "47". Inquiries from a curious fan resulted in a forum member being sent an image of some paperwork, another barcode, and Agent 47's signature black gloves. This inquiry lead to even more materials, more or less confirming that IO is using an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) to promote a possible Hitman 5.

IO's community manager continues to fan the flames on the forum, but refuses to confirm anything with the fans, who suspect that an ARG is in progress.

Further details of their ongoing investigation can be found at the Hitman Forum. Check out the images below.

via OXM