I have many fond memories of playing Payday the heist and Payday 2 with friends and saw the looming release of Payday 3 as the signal to bring the old gang of friends together.

Disappointment waited ahead however….


Gunplay
I really appreciate the slower gunplay of Payday 3, it is more in line with the slower (but still intense) gunplay of Payday the heist. Cops use shields intelligently, staying behind shields and peek out to shoot at the player. The faceshield of Shields can be shot out to kill the shield, which is a nice addition to avoid the unkillable shields of Payday 2. Bulldozers are actually scary! They can take a ton of damage and will eat through your armour like a fat kid at mcdonalds.

Stealth overhaul
Stealth gameplay now feels more natural and rewarding.
Not having all interaction locked behind masking up is a nice change. You are now able to lockpick, carry bags, ect without a mask. Areas of Heists have been divided up into different categories, which limits which actions you can take without arousing suspicion.

Public Area: Your presence is perfectly normal

Private Area: Guards will become suspicious if they spot you, and will escort you out if caught (this will not force you to go loud) Civilians will not mind you unless they observe you doing something suspicious (turning off power ect)

Secure Area: Guards will restrain you on sight if spotted and if caught will cause others guards to patrol more.

This adds a lot more to stealth runs and is a good addition.



Soundtrack is amazing!
Gustavo Coutinho went above and beyond with the soundtrack. “No rest for the wicked” still gets my pulse going, even after 15+ runs. Each music track has both a Stealth and Loud version, with the stealth version increasing in intensity as you complete objectives without triggering the alarm. A worthy successor to the tracks of Simon Viklund!



Progression
All progression, levels, unlocks, weapon attachments, EVERYTHING can only be unlocked through infamy points, which are only obtained through challenges.

This means you can complete a heist. On OVERKILL, fully Stealth, and receive 0 XP.

This baffles my mind. Challenges should be supplements to the progression, not the core of it.

The progression system forces you to play the game in a way which you may not enjoy, all to unlock the gun you want.

Server stability
If you follow Payday just a little bit, you will be aware of the major server issues that have plagued the game since before launch (yes people who payed to play the game 3 days early could barely play it)

The issue is not as prevalent now (28-09-2023) but the fact that the game is always online and requires you to log into your nebula account means that players run the risk of not being able to play the game they paid for if the servers go down.




The gun sounds?
I kinda feel like I had to put this here. The guns feel good and impactful, cops dock for cover and react to getting shot, but the guns sound like nerf guns and create a disconnect for me between the impact I’m having on police vs the sound the gun is making.


The UI
It just screams “made for consoles”. Not that I have a problem with the game being released on consoles, but for god sakes! Make the UI on the pc something not painful to navigate? Me having to combine keyboard and mouse clicks just to select which loadout i want to use in lobbies, and modify my gun is not okay on a pc.

Heist selection is on a scroll bar….WHERE IS CRIME.NET?

(Turns out both an offline mode and a version of CRIME.NET is in the files, however it was removed for some reason during development, what the f?)

Lack of communication

You are not able to chat with teammates while in lobby, which makes it impossible to know if people want to stealth or loud, this can cause players to leave the match once you get in-game and realise half want to stealth while you want to go loud.


The gameplay (both Loud and stealth) is solid and fun! However it is held back by server problems, an annoying UI and a progression system which boggles the mind of anyone who has played a single progression based shooter before.

The game has a lot of potential to be a worthy successor blend of Payday The heist and Payday 2, but some serious changes MUST be implemented in order to meet the quality one expects from a third game in a series priced at 39,99 euros.

I Recommend:
Do not buy - Check back in a year