Payday 3 Has Me Concerned About Its Future
Today's topic.
Y'all, I'm extremely conflicted. The reason being that I was fortunate enough to get invited to play test a game that I've been waiting on for years, but when I actually get into the nitty-gritty of it. I've got a lot of positives but also some concerns, so don your mask and avoid the cameras at all costs as we talk about payday 3.
What is payday 3?
Okay, let's continue for For those who are unaware of the franchise, let me give you a quick rundown. The Payday franchise is an action-filled first-person shooter that lets players take on the role of hardened career criminals executing intense, dynamic heists in constant pursuit of the next big score.
In Payday 3, you take on the roles of Dallas chains, hoxtons, and wolves that have been ripped away from their peaceful retirement of seven years to rejoin the criminal world by a new threat born from the chaos the crew left in their wake. The game is being made by Starburst Studios and published by Deep Silver, the same studio responsible for bangers like Dead Island 2 and career-destroying stinkers like the Saints Row reboot.
10 years worth of waiting.
When I first saw the reveal for Payday 3, I honestly thought I was dreaming, right? Like. Payday 2 had a decade full of content that did a fantastic job of not only generating money for the developers but kept the community engaged for thousands of hours, and, honestly. I didn't think it was going to end nonetheless.
Payday is back. It's looking better than ever, but I have some stuff I need to say about this game while it's in play. Before we dive into the feedback, let me go ahead and do the best I can to describe what the game features as well as what I like about the play test. Also, I'm going to be comparing this to Payday 2 a lot, mostly because that was my first and only payday game I've played so far.
Also, take a shot every time I say Payday 2. The first one that blows five times over the legal limit wins alright; go first.
Payday 3's features & what i like!
The main menu looks a lot better. It's a lot more clean and easier to read compared to Payday 2. Right now there's only one heist you can do, which is still money, but what I love is that now there's a risk of die packs ruining the money and making it basically useless.
On top of that, there's a chance that you'll need to disable roadblocks and the PD setup before you can actually leave on Payday 2. The only thing you have to worry about is either the cops taking the bags or your dumbass teammates not bagging the money because they only want to hit the minimum requirement moving into the loadouts.
The screen that they have now is just so much cleaner; it's easier, and it's just so much better to navigate there. There are also no weapon levels, which I believe are a new concept to the franchise. The higher the weapon level, the more attachments you can unlock. It's a lot different compared to the other games, where a lot of them require you to either complete certain jobs, get certain achievements, or meet other requirements.
What I like the most about this is that, aesthetically, you can see what the gun looks like, not just a white outline of the gun. But what would sell it for me is if the attachments would show on the weapon inside of the loadout screen if there's a way to make that happen, Golden. For example, the only thing you have to do to unlock either weapons, masks, suits, or anything else like that is to level up purchasing.
The items, however, are intriguing, as there are two ways to purchase them now: cash and stacks. Now I first saw the sea stacks, and I immediately thought to myself, Well, they've gone down the paid currency route, but to my surprise, you buy the C stack with money that you acquire in game. The more C stack you buy using cash, the more cash you'll need to spend to convert more of it.
It's definitely an interesting concept and something that bears somewhat of a resemblance to Continental coins and PayDay 2. It's honestly got me wondering how they're going to expand on it during the full release. When talking about mass customization, it feels so much more enjoyable than having to constantly choose three cards and hope you get something lucky from them.
Don't get me wrong. I would love for that system to come back because it does add a little bit of excitement and thrill after a good high ice, but I want them to keep what they got going on in the play test. Currently, speaking of customization for the mask, you can actually buy colors and patterns directly from the screen, which is a huge step forward in my eyes.
The ones that are most notable in my eyes are the shield and the zapper; however, none of them hit harder than an inebriated Uncle watching UFC than the new cloaker outfit. Compare that to its Payday 2 counterpart; there's no damn contest on which one is better. There are also some small things that I like as well, like the new lockpicking system, the fact that you can slide, and the fact that you can now use hostages as a human shield. So now that we've covered what the game has to offer and dived into a little bit about what I like, let me go ahead and tell you what I don't like.
What i don't like about payday 3.
To kick it off, the fact that the play test has only one map and one mode is a little disheartening. I can understand if they don't want to give away too much, but I feel like it would have been better for them to show us more in the play test to continue that anticipation for the game's release.
Another thing I noticed is that the gunplay is sort of meh; you know, it's not garbage, but it's also not as good as Payday 2's gunplay. Outside of that, I don't think there's much else. I have to say the positives definitely outweigh the negatives for me, but I know a couple people who aren't too thrilled and are waiting for the game to fully come out to either play it for themselves or wait for the reviews.
A very promising roadmap!
Let's move on and quickly talk about the content because seeing the year one road map has me stiffer than a granite countertop. When we look at this road map, we've got DLC planned out from the winner of 2023 all the way into the fall of 2024, alongside seasonal updates. Cosmetics, quality of life updates, and so much more.
This is what I love to see. I love to see the developers already coming up with a game plan to keep the game alive, healthy, and thriving when you think about the DLC stacked on top of the additional content. These updates are going to be filled to the brim. I think that's about it. I want to talk about it for now.
