No time like the present to announce that all PC players will have to pay to import Hitman 1 and 2 levels on Epic

Glad to see them reverse course on this, it would of been silly for PC players to get the short end of the stick here just because of the exclusivity deals that happened with Epic.

As for the above question about this mattering, I'm on console so I'd get them for free to start but I say it matters. I've beaten Hitman 1/2 but having all the levels their and ready to boot up at a reasonable size in 3 is super useful. Hitman is one of those games that even if you don't go back to do a full narrative run, I always find myself booting up once every week or so an old map just for fun to do a run I hadn't yet. I get that for people who maxed all the progressions there may not be an incentive but at the very least you'd be getting your progressions carried over which helps.

@franzlska: Holy shit, that's awesome. That's a benefit I would have never considered.

@humanity: I suppose my original post was responding to how the vast majority of the posts in this thread seem to be from people who have already played 1 and 2. To that end, I was curious what other people's replay behaviours are actually like, versus what they would like their library to reflect. For people who see Hitman 3 as a perfect opportunity to dive into several (or all) of the Hitman games for the first time, the inclusion of 1 and 2 for free is a tremendous selling point. I would feel the same as you.

@devise22: Yeah, I definitely understand the appeal, then, for your play style. For me, the only irritating part of this was not being able to carry over unlocks - to an extent. I mean, if I start Hitman 3 with all the poisons, for example, or the keycard skeleton key, because I unlocked them in a previous game, I might actually be a little miffed that so much of the game has been trivialized already. So even then, I'm not sure I'd be that bothered. I'll definitely take all those costumes, though...

Not a fan of "coming weeks" but I guess this helps to avoid the question of what I focus on: Yakuza 3 (gampeass) or Hitman 3 (PC).

@kcin: Unlocks are a weird thing. In theory that would give you advantages. In practice? You won't know what maps have what opportunities until you explore a bit. If all you want to do is speedrun with a duck then cool. But with or without unlocks, the first few trips to an area are the same. Probably go in with coins and a lockpick. Figure out what opportunites there are. Do one of the low gear ones. Potentially come back later.

The unlocks are really for mopping up achievements and doing escalations/sean bean.

On PC, we are continuing to work on a solution with our partners to allow PC players who own HITMAN 1 or HITMAN 2 to import locations from those games into HITMAN 3 at no

additional cost.

We can guarantee that players will NOT need to repurchase the games.

I'm doubling down on my stance it's Warner - as Hitman 1 is now Officially published by IO Interactive, and if you buy the game on any Store- boom, it's IO Interactive as publisher.

Warner and Epic Games however, only Batman games are on the Epic store, and they were all free-give aways as part of an Event, No Hitman 2, no Shadow of Mordor, no Injustice 2 or Mortal Kombat XL.

There is a chance it's due to Valve not playing nice, but with the trend of Epic buying exclusives, the lesson might be not to trust Valve in the first place, as Epic has been undercutting them on sales due to the Coupons, but the way Valve would likely fight back is letting you "upgrade" Epic games to their Steam versions.

My bet would be Warner Bros Games - the company that sells random loot boxes for single player RPGs, and makes sure every game has a $100 version and will rerelease the game at $60 with the DLC added about 1.5 years later as the safe bet on the company playing mean.

I'm still not clear how this affects the progression carry over. Their faq says you can only do it once and you have to do it before starting Hitman 3 otherwise your progress in 3 gets reset. Not sure if this means will have to wait for this Hitman 2 solution ("in coming weeks") before doing the progression carryover and even starting the new game

@rabidlamb: Yeah, I am continuing to search for a definitive answer, which I guess there won't be until Warner/Epic and IOI work out their access to H2 deal out. At the worst, it would seem like if you were to hold of with the importing progress unlit the H2 stuff is sorted you will reset any mastery and unlock progress for the levels of H3, at best you it sounds like you could import the progress from H2 day one but not have access to the levels until they sort out the deal.

Either way, it's as clear as milk.

I'm not particularly angry at anyone specifically for this - the rights/publisher ownership journey IOI and this franchise has gone through makes it understandable that there were going to be issues far beyond their initial optimistic plans. It just sucks massively for the PC fans who want to just play the game in the way that IOI clearly envisioned would be the best way and that console owners get to do from day one.

I am still very much looking forward to playing it but the shine has certainly be tainted somewhat.

@stantongrouse: They did reply to someone with this question it seems. Seems OK to transfer and start playing right away

@rabidlamb Nice - I had presumed progression wasn't directly linked to downloading the content but it's best to know these things first. Cheers duder.

So I am correct in my understanding that what they are working on is allowing transfer of hitman 2 level access on Steam to Epic?

As shitty as it is, Hitman 2 access is on sale right now and I don't want to be mistaken and then end up having to pay full price to play hitman 2 levels.

@reap3r160: IOI has this quote on their website:

"On PC, we are continuing to work on a solution with our partners to allow PC players who own HITMAN 1 or HITMAN 2 to import locations from those games into HITMAN 3 at no additional cost.

We can guarantee that players will NOT need to repurchase the games.

Until we roll that out in the coming weeks, the HITMAN 1 GOTY Access Pass will be free to own for all PC players who pre-purchase or purchase HITMAN 3 in the first 10 days after release."

So. If you've got 3 on the EGS get the H 1 GOTY AP (ouch, that hurts to look at) now since it's free (for, what, 5ish more days?) and why not. Hang out on the H 3 AP H 2 S or H 3 AP H 2 G purchase because that "guarantee" word up there sounds like, well a guarantee.

Was a bit sad seeing that your unlocked items from Hitman 1 and 2 didn't carry over. Having it only be your level and stats was kind of alet down.

Will be interesting to see how or if they keep their word on the "if you own them on Steam, you don't have to pay" statement.

So I paid the 7$ thinking I wouldn’t have to wait for this steam/epic store transfer rigamorol to play 2’s levels and they’re still locked. Still just points me to the store to a DLC item I now own. Has anyone else experienced this?

@tunnelman: I'm waiting, but have you clicked "Manage Add-ons" and made sure it's enabled?

@pajamariot: yeah it’s enabled, I guess now I’m just not sure if I have to reach out to Epic or Io for tech support

Please excuse me if I'm off-topic here. How would it work on consoles if I own Hitman 1, but not Hitman 2? Would I have to buy Hitman 2, import the Hitman 1 levels to Hitman 2, and then import those to Hitman 3?

@rustymagus: I *think* you have to download Hitman 2's free thing(I think they have the first map free?), import Hitman 1 into that for free, then you can import it into 3.

@rustymagus: nope, if you own the goty versions of the game it shows up in 3.

Its such a mess. I had 2 but only the original version of 1 which isn't free in 3. So to get the full thing the cheapest way was to go into 2, buy the 1 upgrade so I can play it in 3.

Its more of a puzzle than the actual game itself.

@sarcasticmudcrab: Hmm.. I don't own the GOTY version of Hitman 1, though. Fingers crossed there's a way around it!

@rustymagus: ye I was very reluctant to fork out the extra cash after just paying full price for 3, I needed to see those levels in vr though and it was definitely worth it for that!

They don't specifically name Hitman 2, but this "known issues" post on the Hitman forums makes it sound like Hitman 2 imports will be ready no later than the end of the month.

The Hitman 2 import process is live now. You can do in through your IOI account on their website.

https://account.ioi.dk/

@pajamariot: Thanks for letting us know. I just claimed Hitman 1 and 2 content. It was really easy.

I've been in the mood for Hitman so I started reinstalling season 1. What occurs to me is the whole importing content doesn't really .... get you much. In some cases, it gets you less with 1 --> 2 having less in the way of mastery stuff.

I'm not even sure the gameplay additions are that different. There's the convenience of having them in one launcher but the fact they've been released as three separate products undermines this.

@shindig: Someone else mentioned in this thread that Hitman 3 is a much smaller installation. Hitman 3 with all levels is around 1/3 of the Hitman 2 install size. Also, I think the mastery stuff they changed/removed in the 1 levels were just shuffled around into the mastery of the 2 levels.

That's good to know, once I get round to 3.