10 Video Game Blunders We'll NEVER Forget
7. Murdering Nuns, Real Or Not, Is Bad
The church and gaming has always had a bit of a tumultuous relationship. So has gaming and depiction of violence against women.
So what did IO Interactive think was the best course for the Hitman: Absolution trailer? Have Agent 47 systematically kill a group of hit-women... who are wearing religious garb.
Well, liberal definition of the word "religious", what with the PVC and all but still, the intent was there.
Hitman games, prior to Absolution, were more subtle affairs that focused on the stealth, mainly. But Absolution went all grindhouse-y, and this was the result: sexified killer nuns, taken out with extreme prejudice.
As you can imagine, the backlash was insane. Cries of sexism, glorified violence against women and many more came forward, with IO having to apologise and that it "wasn't [their] intention to offend".
Well, offend they did, and whilst the subsequent mission was still kept in the game, it was massively toned down. You still took them out, as this is a Hitman game, after all.
But that trailer left an unpleasant taste in everyone's mouth. No wonder they rebooted the series after this game.