Skip to main content

Hitman 3 coming to Epic Games Store as a timed PC exclusive

Hitman 3 is coming to PC, but with a catch. IO Interactive’s upcoming stealth game will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store for 12 months when it launches in January.

IO Interactive announced the deal in a blog post which revealed new details about the game.

“As an independent studio, our partnership with Epic has given us the freedom to create Hitman 3 exactly as we imagined and self-publish the game to our players directly. It’s also important to us that we honor the time our existing PC players have spent in our previous games.”

IO confirmed that PC players will be able to transfer their Hitman 2 progress and unlocks from Steam to the Epic Games Store. Players can import locations from both Hitman and Hitman 2 as well.

To celebrate the deal, players can pick up Hitman for free on the Epic Games Store starting Thursday, August 27.

Hitman 3 is the latest major title to sign a timed exclusivity deal with the Epic Games Store. Previously, titles such as Borderlands 3 and Fallout 76 were only available on PC through the storefront. Both titles finally came to Steam earlier this spring.

Hitman 3 - The Thornbridge Mystery (England Location Reveal) | PS4, PS5

The announcement came alongside a trailer for the game, which showed off the game’s second mission. Set in Dartmoor, England, the Thornbridge Mystery mission features a “murder mystery” element. IO says players will disguise themselves as a detective and solve a family murder in a large manor (similar to whodunits like Knives Out), all while committing one of their own.

“Every member of the family is a possible suspect, and it’s been quite the challenge to make sure everything doesn’t fall apart just because the player wants to play around,” explains lead writer Nick Price. “In fact, that sort of behavior should be rewarded in a Hitman game, so we have been working hard on making sure that depending on what a player discovers during their investigation, outcomes might differ.

Pre-orders for Hitman 3 will go live later this month. In addition to the Epic Games Store, the game will be available on Playstation 4, Xbox One, Playstation 5, Xbox Series X, and Google Stadia. The game is slated for a January 2021 release.

Editors' Recommendations

Giovanni Colantonio
Giovanni is a writer and video producer focusing on happenings in the video game industry. He has contributed stories to…
Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 1 improves the game in over 1,000 ways
Karlach in Baldur's Gate 3.

Larian Studios released Patch No. 1 for Baldur's Gate 3 today, almost a month after launch and following several hotfixes. It brings over 1,000 gameplay improvements and bug fixes to the highly successful RPG.

Baldur's Gate 3 has been a massive success since its August 3 release on PC, but it definitely hasn't been free of bugs and some other weird quirks. Four hotfixes have addressed some of the most pressing issues, but these patches are much larger in scale when it comes to what they add and fix. Larian says Patch 1 is primarily focused on game balance and flow tweaks, as well as bug fixes. There's nothing too glamorous or game-changing, but it should make playing Baldur's Gate 3 an even smoother experience. 
A couple of these fixes have to do with the game's romance system. A bug causing the conclusion to Shadowheart's romance to not activate properly has been fixed, and animations have been added so taller characters don't awkwardly kiss or hug shorter ones anymore. Fixes have been made in preventing bugs at the Morphic Pool, an issue where loot wouldn't appear on corpses in multiplayer, and some Game Over screens problematically appearing where they shouldn't have. There are way too many tweaks and bug fixes to list here, so we recommend going to the Baldur's Gate 3 website to check out the full list.
Unfortunately, game performance improvements aren't part of Patch 1, as Larian Studios is saving those for Patch 2. But it says that we "won’t be waiting long" for those. Baldur's Gate 3 is available now for PC, comes to PlayStation 5 on September 6, and will launch on Xbox Series X/S before the end of the year.

Read more
Is Baldur’s Gate 3 coming to Xbox?
A mage holding a flaming object.

After years in early access only on PC, Baldur's Gate 3 is finally here in its final state. This CRPG has the internet buzzing about just how long and varied the experience can be. What's even better is that it can be played in co-op, though with limited cross-platform features. Those looking at the game may notice that there is only ever mention of a PC and PlayStation 5 version, which obviously raises the question about Xbox consoles. Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't have any exclusivity deal with PlayStation, so why isn't it on Xbox, and will it ever be?
Will Baldur's Gate 3 come to Xbox?
https://twitter.com/Cromwelp/status/1685821620756021249?s=20

The latest update from Larian states that it will be able to release Baldur's Gate 3 on Series X and S sometime before the end of 2023, but with the S version not having split-screen coop.

Read more
Baldur’s Gate 3 makes gaming’s most complex genre more player-friendly than ever
A party of four adventures walking through a mushroom forest in the Underdark

With Baldur’s Gate 3 now out, I can't help but feel a surge of excitement. A game that I have been playing, --and loving -- since its early access back in 2020 is finally in the hands of the general public. Its reception is overwhelmingly positive and it is truly great to see people sink their teeth into such a fascinating and complex game. That is, if they aren't too intimated to start.

Computer role-playing games (CRPGs) are notorious for being a complicated and daunting genre, especially one like this that draws so heavily on Dungeons & Dragons rule sets. I couldn't blame anyone unfamiliar with the genre who just feels too intimidated by its scope. That being said, don't let Baldur’s Gate 3 scare you off; this is the best introduction to CRPGs ever made.
Start small, start slow
The CRPG genre has a bad reputation for being unwieldy for new players thanks to all of the intricate layers of systems that tend to populate them. You usually have to deal with spells, weapon attacks, environmental stats, verticality, and so much more. It can give a new player stage fright as soon as they are given control of their character. Baldur’s Gate 3, on the other hand, does an excellent job of onboarding new players to the genre with its streamlined rules and systems.

Read more