PC gamers will need to redeem levels from Hitman 2 to bring them to Hitman 3

IO Interactive’s plans to allow PC gamers to Hitman 3 the “transparent” import of Hitman and Hitman 2 in the new game hit a snag.

Hitman 2 remains unavailable on the Epic Game Store, where Hitman 3 will be offered exclusively for the year following its launch on January 20. This game is only available on Steam. “Due to various circumstances beyond our control,” IO says, it is impossible for PC owners of the two games to link them together and bring in Hitman 3 as expected.

But IO Interactive offered a workaround, of sorts, for the next two weeks. Hitman 3launch.

• First, the Hitman 1 GOTY Access Pass will be available, free of charge, to anyone who has Hitman 3 on Epic Games Store. This pass will be made available for the first 10 days after launch to those who purchase (or pre-order) Hitman 3.
• Then the owners of Hitman on the Epic Games Store – including those who bought the game for free when it was available in August – get a Free Hitman 1 GOTY Access Pass during the purchase Hitman 3.
• Then the Hitman 2 Standard and Gold Access Passes will be offered at 80% off for the following 14 days Hitman 3‘s launch on the Epic Games Store, “and will continue to be reduced regularly.” IO Interactive has not yet priced access passes, which offer Hitman and Hitman 2contained in the third game.

In August, when IO announced the Epic Games Store timed exclusivity for Hitman 3, the studio said PC gamers could “import locations from the previous two games into Hitman 3 on Epic Games Store. This ended up being true on all platforms – but importing is free on consoles and costs money on PC.

This is because players have to import their levels from Hitman 1 in Hitman 2 first. On PlayStation 4 (and 5) and Xbox One (and Series X), Hitman 3 will automatically detect if the user already has any of the previous games on that platform and allow them to download their levels from Hitman 3in the game store. Hitman 2 is not on the Epic Games Store, this process does not work for PC players.

As for advancing their progress since Hitman and Hitman 2, which is accomplished through an IO Interactive website, and is unaffected by Hitman 2Unavailability on EGS.

On ResetEra, angry customers and fans have said they will request a refund and / or wait until the end of the year until Hitman 3 launches on Steam.

“I was just wondering whether or not to bite the bullet and buy it on Epic,” one wrote. “I guess I’ll actually wait until it hits Steam next year. It’s a shame because it looked really good, but I’m not buying back everything I already own.

Polygon reached out to an IO representative for more information on the cost of this operation and additional comments on the snafu. As it stands, players who already have Hitman and Hitman 2 on Steam still have to pay Hitman 2the levels to unlock everything Hitman 3 on Epic Games Store.