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WHERE MY HEISTERS AT???

(*All images used are screenshots I have taken from the game via PS5)

Honestly when I had the opportunity to cover this game, I was SO HYPED!! I loved both PAYDAY 1 and 2, and had high hopes for the third installment. 

Once again, I would love to thank Luisa and the wonderful PLAION team for the review code! They’re honestly the best and have supported me so much as a creator! They also have a Twitch account too, and highly recommend giving them a follow on all socials!

And apologises for this review coming slightly later than normal, there’s been a lot of personal stuff going on and writer deadlines, BUT with that said, LET’S GET INTO THE REVIEWWWW!

Ready to rob a bank?

If you didn’t know already, PAYDAY 3 is a fun co-op heist game that follows a gang of criminals that have grown infamous across America for their crimes. However, after never being caught a single time, they suddenly cease from existence and America fell quiet once again. . . Until now. DUN DUN DUNNN!

PAYDAY 3 is a first person shooter by Starbreeze Studios and published by Deep Silver.

May the heisting begin!

First of all, PAYDAY 3 wouldn’t be the same without the return of the OG gang, Dallas, Chains, Hoxton and Wolf. We also had Joy return, as well as a completely new character called Pearl. Of course, I was ecstatic to have another female heister join the gang. Now whilst the story itself wasn’t anything special, the fun that the game brings makes up for it, and honestly, I don’t play PAYDAY 3 for the story, so someone else may have a stronger opinion than me.

The first mission really started out really strong for me, in that it was just a classic rob a bank but with much smoother controls and refined graphics! 

I love that Starbreeze Studios started out like this, and what a mission it was! If you haven’t already, you can actually see a clip of me playing it on my tiktok.

The controls themselves aren’t complicated at all, and like I said before there are major improvements from PAYDAY 2. You can now slide, use civilians as human shields and even the special weapons and gun shooting feels much sharper and cleaner than before. If there’s one thing you have to give PAYDAY 3 is that it’s definitely an improvement visually and control vise compared to its predecessor.

In terms of strategy, I do believe that PAYDAY 3 allows for more stealth action than PAYDAY 2, in that there feels like more options for strategy in how you handle each heist. Although, there are a few missions that doesn’t really allow for that, for example, the second heist in which you are required to help escort and protect a vehicle down a tunnel with at least one player next to it.

There’s 8 different heists in total, and whilst I do wish there were more (which is mostly likely to happen in the future) I did enjoy each and every one, and so long as you and your team are all on board with the same strategy you’re down to have a lot of fun, but more of that in a bit!

All guns blazing or sneak and conquer?!

So, there are lots of different ways to go about your heists but that does heavily rely on the team you’re playing with, because if you’re not all I’m agreement, things could get messy!

You can choose to go all guns blazing or take a more stealthy approach to your heists and PAYDAY 3 definitely leans more into allowing more of a stealthy approach than PAYDAY 2 did in my opinion.

There’s new features such as being able to pickpocket a key card from security guards or use alarms or other objects to lure them away into certain rooms, which I don’t believe you could do in PAYDAY 2. Of course if you also choose to be stealthy there are more rewards, which are indicated by diverting into mini side missions, such as searching papers for codes to a mini safe.

In my opinion, the rewards for stealth in PAYDAY 3 far outweighs that of its predecessor too, which makes replaying each mission all the more fun.

Of course, going all guns blazing can also be so much fun and often my preferred approach too, but variety is always welcomed, especially as the AI themselves have also been enhanced and I found that out real quick in my first mission.

Upon first seeing you in a restricted area, security guards will escort you out, but if you don’t follow them or they see you again, it’s all guns blazing and they’ll attempt to arrest you. They’ll also try and intercept and stop your heist by pulling a fire alarm when you’re upstairs trying to burn your way into a vault with thermite. 

When you’re masks on, in full heist mode, you can negotiate when the police arrive by freeing civilians one by one to gain more time while your teammates get to work. 

There’s just so much variety that Starbreeze Studios really outdone themselves with PAYDAY 3.

Of course, there are things that weren’t so great that aren’t really linked to the gameplay mechanics per say, but link more to the matchmaking and co-op design of the game.

Sometimes you wanna go it alone.

One of the only things I found that was missing from PAYDAY 3 was the lack of a proper offline single player mode. Whilst you can still play the same missions alone with AI bots, it’s all strictly online, which means that if the servers are messed up like they were the first couple of days, you were unable to play the game even with no other players.

Which is why I do have a slight gripe when it comes to online only games, but still, Starbreeze studios is working on its first patch, and whilst it was delayed, hopefully by the time I post this review it will be out. 

Despite the previous stress tests done for the game, Starbreeze studios were evidently taken aback by just how many people would be playing this game at launch. I mean, SO MANY people were hyped for it to come out, I certainly wasn’t surprised there was an overload on the servers.

Of course if there was an offline mode then at least players would’ve had that. However, after doing a bit of research, it does appear that whilst there are no currently plans to bring an offline mode, it is on the table but whether it’ll be too late to add such a mode to bring back players that’s to be seen.

So hopefully the matchmaking issues won’t be a problem for too long.

Creating your ultimate criminal persona!!!

The character customization in PAYDAY 3 is A LOT better too in my opinion. There’s more mask options, more outfit choices, and weapon skins are great too. You can literally create a unique criminal persona that suits your playstyle. 

The skill tree system has also been revamped, but I wouldn’t say the difference in that is as great compared to PAYDAY 2 (Mind you, it has been years since I played PAYDAY 2, so maybe I’m remembering wrong) BUT it does allow for deeper specialization and strategy when it comes to missions with your crew. Once again allowing for a variety of ways to create your ultimate heister!

Conclusion

PAYDAY 3 is a strong sequel and improvement from its predecessors, the improved AI, and more variety in the ways in which you can heist makes PAYDAY 3 a strong addition to the franchise. 

Whilst the story may not be anything spectacular, the fun and enjoyment you get from playing with your friends is definitely worth it. You don’t need to play any of the previous games to enjoy this one and if they add an offline single player mode it would make the game even better than it already is.

Matchmaking issues aside, I think people have been harsh in rating the game just because of this and those who are considering PAYDAY 3 should definitely give it a try, especially if you have three friends to play it with. Plus, the price of the game is decent too!