Payday 3 is finally almost here and it looks like it’s going to be worth the nearly ten-year wait. Payday 2 has enjoyed a decade of continuous support, allowing fans to really squeeze as much juice as they possibly could out of the incredibly successful co-op shooter. However, it was pretty clear within just a handful of years that a sequel would be necessary to give the gameplay the extra punch it really deserves. That’s more or less exactly what Payday 3 is, a refined version of a game you’re likely already very well-versed in.
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Payday 3 will bring players to New York City for a series of new heists after the crew was attacked in their retirement. The formula of the game remains largely the same, however. I got to play two heists from the game, one of which is a traditional bank robbery and the other was a more elaborate art museum heist. Our group pulled up to the bank for our first heist and cased the place. Players will be more than familiar with this part of the game, but there are a bunch of new layers that veterans will appreciate. For instance, the bank has large blinds that can be pulled down over the windows of the bank, allowing you to essentially avert stealth within the bank and hold everyone hostage, but avoid having the cops called due to a lack of prying eyes outside. It adds yet another dimension to how you execute your heists, your planning, your coordination, and ability to sustain a high-stakes situation without alerting the entire NYPD.
As you might expect, there are a number of other approaches that allow you to sneak in through the back, the roof, the fire escape, and much more, but they all come with their own risks as security is heightened in restricted areas. However, if an employee in one of these areas sees you, they won’t alert anyone as they’ll assume you just work there (so long as your mask isn’t on yet). It’s up to you to avoid guards and cameras at that point. If a guard does happen to see you but hasn’t necessarily spotted you outright and alerted the police, they will search for you before sounding the alarm, meaning close calls during stealth become far more dangerous.
If you’re opting to go loud, hostages will be essential. In between assault phases, the police will stand outside and try to negotiate with you for the hostages. This will buy your crew some time to progress the heist by opening locked vaults, bagging up money, and preparing to make your escape. Hostages can also be traded for “dead” members of your crew as well used as meat shields.ย
The police won’t shoot you without a clear shot if you’re holding a hostage in front of you. We quickly learned you can also basically block doors with hostages and mow down guards as they come down the hall. If they get close enough, they will attack you and free the hostage from your grasp, but it does give you a good window to do a lot of damage with little risk to yourself.
The AI are incredibly intelligent beyond all of the aforementioned points. At one point, I threw a grenade at a cop that was holding a riot shield. Like any other video game, I expected him to be totally oblivious to it and just walk over it, blowing him up from his vulnerable backside. However, he quickly reacted to the grenade and positioned his shield toward it to block its blast while his allies took cover behind him. It really requires you to be more thoughtful with how you fight and also feels like a greater incentive to try and not go loud.
When things pop off, the core gameplay feels far more fluid. There’s less bulk when it comes to movement, punchier gunplay, and new mechanics that can be pretty life saving. One of these added mechanicsย allows you to slide on the ground which is great just for quickly moving around in action, but can also save your life when trying to slide into cover after running outside into a storm of bullets. These intense situations have also been heightened thanks to the addition of environmental destruction. This isn’t exactly Battlefield levels of destruction where you’re busting massive holes in walls, but the glossy, premium bank offices will look like they’ve been the center of a warzone after a shootout with wires and lights dangling from the ceiling.
Overkill has also made a great deal of effort to future-proof Payday 3. During a presentation, the developer noted that they have 18-months of post-launch content planned for the game (though it seems like there’s room for more should they find success here). Payday 3 was designed from the ground up with this in mind, so skill trees have been developed in a way so that more skills can be added on based on player feedback after release. Overkill is also aware of the disparity between the console versions and the PC versions of Payday 2 and have promised to make sure this isn’t a factor again. All versions will be updated simultaneously which will also allow for crossplay and even cross-progression if you want to buy the game on multiple platforms.
Ultimately, Payday 3 may not look like a big jump at a glance, but it is a much more refined experience. The gameplay is smoother, has a great deal of more depth, and feels like it addresses almost all of the flaws of its predecessor. It’s a great example of “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it”, allowing for a familiar game that builds upon a sturdy foundation for something that feels new and improved.
Payday 3 will release on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC on September 21st, 2023.
