Hitman 3 launches to 'mixed' Steam reviews because it's $60

After a year of exclusivity on the Epic Games Store, Hitman 3 is now out on the store that most of us launch our games from, Steam. It's an excellent game that you should definitely play, but the early reviews on Steam suggest otherwise. As of January 21, Hitman 3 has a “Mixed” rating on Steam with 435 total reviews, but not because it's a bad game.

Over half of the reviews are negative, and price is a common theme among them. Hitman 3 is $60 on Steam, the same price it launched for on Epic a year ago. Many reviewers are angry that there's no launch discount to coincide with the Steam release, with some citing Borderlands 3's 50% off Steam launch as a precedent. Some see a launch discount as a deserved gesture for waiting a year for the Steam version. Several reviewers also believe that, regardless of the exclusivity window, a 1-year-old game should not be full price.

“The price tag is insulting considering many of us have waited a whole year for this to arrive on Steam, just so we could have the entire trilogy on the same client,” reads one negative review.

“60€ for a game that's a year old. No discounts for any of the games, no franchise sale, no discount for people that own H1 and H2 on Steam. Nothing,” wrote Samurai 47.

“My positive review is locked behind a one-year timed exclusivity deal,” wrote CaptainSavvy.

Many disgruntled Steam buyers are also miffed that Hitman 3 was heavily discounted during Epic's holiday sale—it was available for $23.99, but you could cash in Epic's free $10 coupons to get it for $13.99. Now it's back up to $60 on both Epic and Steam.

Reviewer gripes aren't all about the price, though. Several point out that Hitman 3's many editions are confusing and under-explained, especially for those who just want to transfer their Hitman 1/2 progress to Hitman 3 (you only need to buy the Standard edition and use IOI's progress transfer tool for that). Others are disappointed in the limitations and performance issues with Hitman's new VR mode. VR is currently at the top of IOI's known issues list and a hotfix was deployed today aimed at improving performance.

The minor uproar has also permeated the Hitman subreddit, where most of the top posts are about Hitman 3's Steam price or its confusing editions. One fan has even created an extensive flowchart to guide players to the edition they want.

While much is being said about how Hitman 3 is packaged, few negative reviews have anything to say about the game itself. Those who do talk about gameplay largely say it's great, but decided to leave an overall negative review because of its stint on Epic and its price. To be clear, the $13.99 Epic discount was available for anyone at the time, but those reviewing the game on Steam clearly refuse to use the Epic app for one reason or another.

Thankfully, there's an even better deal on the entire Hitman trilogy right now, if you don't mind your access being dependent on a monthly subscription. All three games just arrived on PC Game Pass. That version is apparently crashing on launch for some, but IOI has a workaround on its official issues tracker.