Evidence of a new Hitman game is mounting.

Members of the Hitman forum have been on a wild goose chase following a trail of cryptic ARG clues all pointing towards Hitman and its star, Agent 47. At one point the inquisitive thread-starter was sent a picture showing a script (possibly for a game) on a table and a pair of black leather gloves.

The next clues point to the Berlinale film festival. Given that the trail began with a picture of a box of doughnuts at the Sundance film festival, the link makes sense.

The community expects a reveal at the E3 show in June.

Eurogamer was told, last summer, that a new and fifth Hitman game was being worked on and would be "most likely" released sometime this year.

There hasn't been a Hitman game developed from the ground up for PS3 and Xbox 360. The last game, Blood Money, was ported and upscaled from Xbox to Xbox 360. Eurogamer awarded Hitman: Blood Money 8/10.

Since Blood Money, IO has gone on to make Kane & Lynch - a series that started promisingly but got worse. A return to IO's flagship Hitman IP is long overdue.

Video: Hitman: Blood Money.

The voice actor who plays Agent 47 in the Hitman series has only gone and confirmed the heavily-rumoured Hitman 5.

"I have been overwhelmingly gratified and humbled by the sheer dedication to the Hitman franchise that the fans have expressed," David Bateson said in an interview with The Gaming Liberty.

"For all the kind things that have been said, I am truly thankful. That kind of dedication and appreciation of the game deserves repayment... with an even more gob smacking instalment in Hitman 5. I don't envy IO Interactive for the pressure they must be under to deliver. I am utterly convinced they will!"

This morning Kane & Lynch developer IO Interactive responded to Bateson's comments.
"This is rumour control," it said on its official Twitter account.

"While Bateson's comments are flattering, they are a surprise - we are currently not working on projects with him."

Note IO fails to deny the existence of the game.

This isn't the first we've heard of Hitman 5. In July Eurogamer broke the news that IO was hard at work on the game and that it was set to be released Christmas 2011 at the very earliest.

In the four years since the release of Hitman 4, IO has put out third-person action game Kane & Lynch, its sequel, and cutesy third-person action game Mini Ninjas.

Square Enix told Eurogamer: "It's flattering to see so many fans are eager for another Hitman game. Unfortunately we have nothing to announce at this time."