The wildest and coolest feature of the three Hitman games of this World Of Assassination trilogy is that the newer games lets you play locations (levels/maps) of the previous games for free if you own them. If you have Hitman 1 (2016) and Hitman 2, those levels can be played again on Hitman 3.
Supposedly, IO Interactive promised this will still be the case despite Hitman 3 launching as an Epic Games Store exclusive (the previous games were released on Steam). But it’s now apparent that it’s not.
UPDATE 18/01/21: IO Interactive have now said in their updated pre-launch FAQ that PC players can still import their Hitman 2 locations without any extra payment, though it would only be rolled out in the coming weeks.
“We can guarantee that players will NOT need to repurchase the games,” said the statement. At the moment, all PC players that bought Hitman 3 on launch, pre-ordered it, or before January 30 will get access to the Hitman 1 Access Pass- all Hitman 1 content will be playable in Hitman 3.
The original article title “PC Players That Own Hitman 2 On Steam Still Need To Pay To Get Access To Hitman 2 Levels In Hitman 3” has been changed to reflect this. Original story follows:
“We’ve done everything possible to make this process smooth and player-friendly,” a snippet of the long pre-launch FAQ reads. “However, due to various circumstances out of our control, we want to acknowledge that the process is different to our initial plans for PC players.”
The way IO Interactive determines if you are eligible for the Acess Pass DLC (which gives you access to Hitman 1 and 2 content) given for free is via checking your account if it owns Hitman 2 and any of its DLCs, and should it does, changes the pricing to the Access Pass DLC for the corresponding game to free.
“To make this happen, we detect what you already have installed for Hitman 2 and can make the corresponding Access Pass available for no additional cost on the same store,” the FAQ reads.
(And yes, this means for Hitman 1 players that skipped Hitman 2 on disc, you’ll have to follow a tutorial to turn your ownership of Hitman 1 into the Hitman Legacy Pack for Hitman 2, which Hitman 3 will detect to give you the Hitman 1 Access Pass DLC for free. Confusing? Definitely.)
The Epic Games Store and Steam are two different platforms in this case, and can’t be checked cross-platform. So, unfortunately, despite the early promise, if you have Hitman 1 and 2 on Steam you can’t just carry over your ownership to Hitman 3 on EGS.
But if you are all-in on EGS, there’s another issue as well. Hitman 2 is still yet to be released on the store. And the game won’t auto-detect your Hitman 1 purchase as well.
IO is trying to rectify this by three ways:
- Hitman 1 GOTY Access Pass (includes all content for Hitman 1, including the Patient Zero campaign) is free for any Hitman 3 pre-orders, or purchase in the first 10 days after launch (final date: January 30)
- Owners of Hitman 1 on EGS (including those that got through the free giveaway) will get the Hitman 1 GOTY Access Pass for free
- Hitman 2 Standard Access Pass and Hitman 2 Gold Access Pass (which includes all the Hitman 2 post-launch DLC locations) will be 80% off for 14 days after launch, and will be discounted regularly
What entails is a messy messaging and very disgruntled fans that are disappointed by this turn of events. At least, with IO asking PC players to pay a bit more for Hitman 2 DLC on Hitman 3, they’ve also practically giving away the Hitman 1 DLC free for almost all Hitman 3 players.
This compromise still stings the loyal PC fans who’ve bought the games on Steam, but for those new to the franchise, it ends up being a good deal to catch up on all the past legacy content. You can buy Hitman 3 now, get all the Hitman 1 content for free, and pay just a bit extra to complete the collection with all the Hitman 2 content.
And the base price for Hitman 3 is adjusted with local pricing– in Malaysia the game is around $25 USD, roughly RM100+, not the usual RM219 full-price you would expect.
The idea of “if you have Hitman 1 and 2, you’ll get to play them on Hitman 3 for free” is still realised, but the Epic Games Store exclusivity on PC has thrown quite the wrench on what would’ve been a straightforward process.
Hitman 3 will be launching on January 20 for the PS4, PS5, PC (Epic Games Store), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Stadia. It will also launch in Asia on the same date.