Payday 3 review – another shot on target

Crime Boss: Rockay City, released a few months ago, showed the world how not to make shooters focused on robbing banks and various warehouses. This was a disappointment for many fans of the genre. But now there may be a title that will give them something to whet their appetites for. There is another part of the famous Payday brand. You can read about how things are going in the cooperative FPS Payday 3 in the following paragraphs of our review.

• Platform: PC (reviewed), PS5, Xbox Series X/S
• Publication date: 09.21.2023
• Manufacturer: Starbreeze Studios
• Genre: Co-op first person shooter
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: Yes
• Download data: 65 GB
• Game time: 10 hours+
• Price: 980 CZK (flow)

The old gang is back in action in Payday 3

At the end of the last part, we were introduced to a bunch of rich people for whom robbery was no longer particularly important, because they managed to get so much cash that most ordinary people could practically exist without much difficulty. until the end of my life. But after the end of the whole story, not everything went as the gang of robbers imagined. In the course of previous events, he managed to upset a truly diverse circle of people, for whom revenge became a more important factor than money. So in Payday 3 you start with no money and a head full of questions that make you wonder what’s really going on around you.

Here the story is revealed to you gradually as you go through a series of maps, which are offered here for “visiting”. Completing an area always unlocks additional story cutscenes that provide additional information about how your entire party got to where they are now. The narrative format is not bad at all. It’s essentially a classic concept featured in many heist action movies. However, I don’t think this is the factor that will really attract players, or that most of them will find the Payday 3 line to be breathtaking in its thoughtfulness. But Prim plays here the same way she does in most similar card co-op events.

In total you will take part in eight events. The creators of Payday 3 managed to create a series of maps with a unique design, so that you do not have to fear a situation similar to that in Crime Boss: Rockay City, where your target was the same bank several times in a scandal, or an electronics warehouse, in which your gang, after a series of robberies, already felt at home. The assortment of locations includes a small bank, a nightclub, a jewelry store, a gallery, or a heavily guarded New York banking institution, which is very different in complexity from that of the first destination. player, for example. Therefore, it is useful to go through individual scenes of this story in a convenient step-by-step manner.

The design of locations in Payday 3 has been honed to perfection. As mentioned above, each one essentially offers a truly unique experience, forcing the player to adapt to the environment that is in front of them. You approach work a little differently in a small bank, and you operate differently in a nightclub full of guests. I really liked, for example, the event in the jewelry store, which gave quite a lot of scope for imagination. All but one of the destinations are actually extremely creative, so you’ll be able to get through seven of the eight parts with little to no bloodshed. Some work better than others, but I’m not afraid to say that each of them can make an impression.

Sometimes you can’t do without blood

To avoid giving away too many secrets of individual Payday 3 cards, I’m going to talk a little bit about just one destination here. Visually, I was very attracted to the nightclub. This place comes alive when you arrive. Music is playing. People are having fun. Only you are here for a different purpose than most. Once you manage to blend in with the crowd, you can start climbing, where you try to sneak into places where no one wants you, so you need to play with the speakers, get access cards to individual doors, and generally maximize your chances. as much as possible to avoid detection, after which several more steps must be taken. But no one forces you to pass without a mask; you can easily become a silent killer, clearing places of cameras and people.

In the competitive portion of Crime Boss: Rockay City, I had a huge problem with the way the game handled the disappearance of guards on the quiet side of progression. Although I eliminated all the guards without witnesses, they could always raise an alarm without dealing with any real factor that sometimes people just ignore the disappearance, or when they actively notice it, their reaction is definitely not very fast. I was a little worried that the creators of Payday 3 would not be able to cope with this element. But in the end they succeeded. The game reacts to the disappearance of boys and girls from the security guard, but somehow logically. Everyone has a walkie-talkie with them, which you, as a robber, can control after the death of its owner, and thus prevent the world around you from turning into a hell full of bullets whistling around your head.

However, you will not complete a single mission without killing, and it is during this mission that you have the opportunity to fully see what the artificial intelligence is up to in Payday 3. Her main trump card is that she has a really large number of units that she is capable of put into action, so that when the alarm is raised, the tension does not decrease, but continues to increase, and small waves of the enemy turn into a constant stream of living targets. New forms of enemies appear on the scene, and more than once you have to fight not so much for money, but to protect your own existence. After a while, regular police officers will be replaced by armored vehicle specialists, guys with gas bombs, or martial arts specialists, whom you really don’t want to be around. Unfortunately, the AI ​​is relatively dumb in combat, so you can’t expect much tactical maneuvering from it. However, she can put up decent numbers.

At first, you aim at vehicles only with a pistol, next to which you carry a machine gun or shotgun. But the range of weapons is relatively varied, so you can expect a variety of sniper rifles and submachine guns, which you unlock as you travel through 150 levels, at the end of which you will find an unsharpened double-barreled shotgun. Each piece of equipment can be modified, but they all require the player to work with them and thus unlock individual upgrades associated with that tool. There are sights, barrels, magazines and a number of other factors on the menu that shape the behavior of the deadly toys you use in a variety of ways, and there’s really nothing to complain about in their handling. In addition to items that affect your survivability, Payday 3 also has some that are purely cosmetic, and there are quite a few of them. The player can gain access to them using in-game currency received for tests.

All operations are a test in which you can work a little more actively with the hostage. Trade it in different ways or even use it as a shield. But the death of civilians will not benefit your accounts, because you are the good guys who want to secretly pay off the survivors. With the money you have left after the event, you buy weapons, but they are not the only factor influencing your progress. There is also an evolution format that gives you up to seventeen evolution lines that you unlock with experience points as you play Payday 3. It’s a good idea. Thanks to this, you have the opportunity to become a pro at silent destruction, lockpicking, or a tenacious burglar who can withstand some kind of projectile. In terms of gameplay, there’s nothing much to complain about, especially since the graphical side shows that the development of this game really didn’t start “yesterday.” Luckily, with the exception of the opening scenes, the optimization was perfect.

Heists haven’t lost their charm in Payday 3

The new entry in the Payday series is a highly successful co-op shooter, following in the footsteps of its predecessors. The old gang is back and they have to go on a heist again. Essentially, there are eight unique operations awaiting you, which you can revive through various challenges. How you approach most of them is entirely up to you. However, the equipment and options are varied enough that you won’t have to do anything twice in the same way as you did on your last visit. However, there are undoubtedly procedures that are more effective than others, and a situation can always turn into a disaster in a matter of seconds. So you won’t get tired of sneaking in Payday 3.

I really liked how the AI ​​was handled outside of combat, where it actually reacts logically to situations as they happen. Once the action begins, it largely abandons tactics and relies entirely on brute force and virtually endless hordes thrown your way. Personally, I don’t find this to be such an extreme problem, although I wouldn’t mind too much if instead of having a bunch of ducks to shoot down, I had the special unit format from Rainbow Six Siege in front of me. The visualization could also be more expressive. The right team is very important to the overall experience in Payday 3, if you have one you can easily add an extra point to your ranking, but the opposite is also true. Without friends, these games are more difficult to play than others.