Before we begin, I'd like to point out that this review is being done by someone who is having their first contact with the franchise—of course, I knew the Payday series before, but I'd never experienced gameplay.

First impressions

Initially, I was very confused about how to feel because there were many things that interested me and, for me, had great potential, but there were still other issues that bothered me, and that ended up leaving the experience below what it could have been.



Starting with the gameplay itself, Payday 3 offers a very good mix of stealth and action, which fits perfectly into a cooperative game mold. Each player can take on different roles and be useful to the progress of the heist in different ways, whether it's silently breaking in and tying up, securing all the hostages, or setting up an abseil to get all the money out of the place more easily. Overall, depending on how players want to progress, it's possible to have more arcade or simulation-oriented games, and both styles are a lot of fun. I personally prefer to play more intelligently and quietly..., but in the end, it will depend on what the whole team prefers.

Although the gameplay is a lot of fun, let's move on to what I saw as issues and points that could be worked on a bit more. The first is the game's server and matchmaking: my game had crossplay turned on—I was playing through Xbox Gamepass, so it allowed me to play with Xbox players—and I still couldn't play on a Latin American server, as I always had a ping of 140~170 ms. I don't know what the game's matchmaking is like, but being in its launch week, I highly doubt that there weren't enough Latin American players to form a lobby.

Another discouraging point is that Payday 3 doesn't allow you to play offline or solo with the addition of bots. So, if you add the problem of not being able to find matches so easily with the problem of getting players from other regions and with lag, you end up with no escape since you can't play alone. On the game's forums and communities, many people are having problems finding matches.



As a result of the first point, because there are no players from the same region, in-game communication is weakened, which ends up spoiling one of the game's strengths. Also in this context, I'd like to point out how much playing a party with known friends and other random people changes the experience of the game. I think that, in general, games focused on the cooperative experience suffer from this, but Payday 3 suffers a little more. The game's social side is vital, and I feel that interacting with your partner is the icing on the cake needed to make the game stand out. After all, you may well want to carry out the robbery quietly and with less "dirty work", while one of your random allies may end up shooting everyone. On my first run, I accidentally put on the assault mask, and when I pulled out the pistol, the civilians around me saw it and had already triggered the police to go on alert. I ended my partners' game... -.

A closer look...

After a few more robberies, I was able to better understand why I felt so confused at first. Although the game had several high points, it also continued to have issues that prevented the game from becoming truly great.



With the exception of the second heist, which is truly terrifying. Far below the others, mainly because it doesn't have the stealth factor and is all about fighting, all the heists are very well developed, with maps, objectives, and routes that are very well designed. It makes you feel like you're actually on a heist. They are very different or unique locations that provide different experiences. When you're in an art museum, the architecture and design of the map are very different from those of a bank, and that makes all the difference to the gameplay. In the end, despite the fact that Payday 3 shows us greatness in its heists, there is an issue that ends up dampening our excitement a little: there are only 8 heists to play through. So, in a maximum of 6 hours of gameplay, you've already finished them, and from then on, you'll have to grind, repeating the 8 maps.

Still, in the context of the eternal grind, I feel that the game doesn't have an economy that is captivating for the user. As I said, there are eight maps to play that are extremely fun—maybe seven—but you quickly finish them. From then on, the whole game progresses by getting perks, weapons, accessories, and appearance items, either with the money acquired from robberies or by leveling up. The point is, you finish the "stages," and you haven't even unlocked half the items. In a way, from a certain point onwards, you only carry out the robberies and continue to grind to unlock some items that don't make your run that much easier. After all, you've already finished the game a while ago with the basic weapons and perks. It's an economy that doesn't keep up with the amount of playable content the game gives you. It's not an economy that really encourages you to want to consume more of the game.



Now, back to the point I made about how I prefer to play stealth games: I feel that the game gives a boost to those who opt for intelligent gameplay. Combat is a bit punishing, and having hordes of armor-clad cops on your tail doesn't make it any easier to accomplish your objectives. So it ends up being much more intuitive to carry out your objectives on the sly in order to leave the combat until the end, when you escape. This also affects the number of cops who come after you; as you are identified, the hordes only get harder and harder. So it makes a lot more sense to play the game by avoiding combat early on.

What's more, I didn't feel very confident in the gunplay. I'm a lover of first-person shooters; I love exchanging an honest shot, but I can assure you that I'd rather play the naughty Payday 3. I feel as if the recoil and the impact of the bullets don't feel right. I think the combat has become much more arcadey, and I don't like that, but, of course, that's my opinion, and I'm sure there are players who will enjoy spending 12 bullets on each opponent when the hordes are coming with armor.

Some technical details

Now, getting away a little from my experience and what I felt playing the game, let's move on to some more technical and impartial details.

First of all, I'd like to start with the story. It's quite clear that the game wasn't developed to have a plot and make you fall in love with the characters. That's not the focus of the game. Although a well-developed narrative and context always add to the gameplay, Payday 3 manages to give us a setting for the robberies to take place. Is it simple? Yes, but it provides what is necessary through narrated photographic cutscenes.



Making the link with the "narrated cutscenes", I'd like to talk about the game's soundtrack, starting with the voiceovers: during the narrative, they're great, with good movie quality. During the gameplay, the characters interact with each other, and the dubbing is also of good quality. Once again, it's not a game that explores the characters or the plot that much, but the voice acting does what it takes to immerse you in a robbery, making you feel like a psychopathic bad guy.

As for the sound effects and setting, everything is great. Each environment and map gives you different sounds; the weapons have good samples too. But the most important thing is the quality of the soundtrack. It's eerie when you're in stealth, all naughty and with very tense music, and you end up making a slip-up and are noticed by someone. A heavy soundtrack starts up, full of energy that first gives you a wake-up call and a scare, realizing that the spy antics are over, and then makes you feel like a crazy killer badass wanting to shoot everyone. More than just songs that give you the energy and vibe you need to carry out the heist, they are compositions with different phases that develop as you progress through the robbery. There's a musical build-up during the stealth part that increases the energy as you accomplish the first objectives, and when it's time to put on the masks and go into combat, there's a transition that takes you into the heavy part, combining the beginning of the fighting with a heavy track.



Let's move on to the graphics: The maps are beautifully detailed, with structures and designs that really immerse you. The weapons are also beautiful and have very realistic textures. The masks, for that matter... Wonderful designs, all with a very cool aesthetic. The only thing I found a little weak are the NPCs, which are very basic and lack texture. This even includes the opponents; they looked like a bunch of dolls or mannequins.

Overall, the graphics are very nice and pleasant. However, given that we're talking about Unreal Engine 4, which is no longer the most up-to-date engine, I found the game a little heavy or poorly optimized. I had some difficulty running the game comfortably with the graphics at maximum. When compared to other games, including those that use the same UE4, I think it could be better optimized.

Concluding the review, it was possible to see Payday 3's strong points in various aspects, especially when it comes to the gameplay. Both the audiovisuals and the level and world design contribute greatly to the enjoyment of the game. However, some technical issues, such as the lack of content (it's a short game) and the problems involving the server and matchmaking, end up undermining the quality of the release.

For the purposes of this review, Payday 3 was played on the Windows platform (PC) via Xbox Gamepass.