Payday 2 Is Still An Incredible Game
From the cinematic movie Heist evocative of Hollywood such as crude Awakening to the small time hits on local banks in high streets, they all exist to ground and immerse you in this world and come together to form an intricate tapestry of heisting perfection, you appreciate that time you ended the rat who betrayed Hawton or stole the presidential pardons from the White House not in spite of those petty jobs you slaved away on to progress through the ranks of infamy, but because of them, with each high success being just as satisfying as the last.
Payday 2 as it stands after those 10 years of updates has Heist that caters for everybody's taste, and you'll still find yourself even playing through those that don't, as that's what the addictive flow of Payday 2's Heisting Loop is all about. Again a Hot Topic at the moment but this is why crimet Heist browser and fix lobbies work so well as you just find yourself stumbling into each heist with a gleeful ambivalence and sticking with a crew just to see what else you can help out with heists are fully community-driven but that connection is lost without crime net, and that isn't even touching on the fact that all 87 unique heists in the game are incredibly replayable, not just due to the randomization of objectives and pre-planning, but also because of how variable resistance is on each Heist, from one run to the next cop spawns will never be exactly the same, recently I was gunned down by a pair of doses early in one heat Street attempt yet the next had open roads for the first half of the heist before swap van turrets spawn to make the escape on the second run much more difficult whereas it was completely possible that the first might have just front loaded its crippling challenge.
Because there are these potential RNG curve balls and cop spawn logic is completely open from the start, no heist ever feels quite the same as the last time you completed it, bringing it back to a Payday 3 example. With special enemy spawns being tied to objective progression and only changing from one assault wave to the next, everything becomes painfully predictable, but in Payday 2, you can never really get used to the enemy types; you'll be forced to face down every stage of the heist unpredictability.
I don't think there are any games out there in this genre with as many weapon and build options as Payday 2 has. The perk deck system works incredibly well alongside its gameplay loop, generally speeding up gameplay and taking it down a more arcadey path that I'd say most fans of the game appreciate.
With 22 individual decks, at least 15 of which are viable, and higher difficulties, there are already dozens of bass play styles without even considering your choice of weapon or skill. Payday 2's skill system itself is nothing revolutionary. But is a great examp example of how not Reinventing the wheel can work to keep things easy to understand and accessible, it's a five archetype system with each base concept offering three different branching stars of play brilliantly it doesn't limit you to a single tree or archetype instead allowing you to mix and match to create your own hybrid play style that works for you whilst a few skills have risen to the top to become Staples in almost every build that's inevitable for a game like this and almost every skill setup you create will save at least half its points for flare and role playing skills instead of just having to stick to some pred find mattera, build optimization is huge and satisfying in Payday 2 but so are those unconventional, skills that can be played out for Laughs or just fit unique Niche like the endless hilarity Badgers seem to e out of just whacking a drill back into action using Kickstarter.
Skill and perk synergies are very real and should be considered adding some Nuance to the building process as it feels as if every build you create has some sort of power option that really defines how you play and which situations you're well suited for skills such as Inspire Joker graze Iron Man or body expertise, can enhance the way you play and save Heist from failure whilst there's always something satisfying about specializing in shotguns pistols or snipers and seeing your bill bring out the best in those weapon categories, speaking of the weapon variety pay 2 offers there's very few tastes that aren't cated for every historic subcategory of shotgun sniper or assault rifle Under the Sun is considered whilst the game's General disregard for realism has opened up the addition of a Kimbo options alongside the even more ridiculous choices such as RPGs or even medieval crossbows.
More recent DLC editions have really opened the floodgates for weapon variety as grenade launchers received new ammunition types, secondary snipers were added to the roster, and class hybrids were created to evolve the LMG. SMG, and assault rifle categories. After 10 years of iteration, Pedy 2 has ended up with one of the widest-ranging weapon and build combinations in all of gaming, catering to gun nerds and lovers of absurd setups.
In equal parts, few games build customization better, and the soft RPG themes fit perfectly into the complete experience. Mods are also a surefire way to keep that experience fresh. Payday 2 has one of the best and most prolific modern communities in all of gaming, with your options ranging from complete gameplay overhauls to new DLC-quality additions, custom Heist weapons, and custom Dallas.
There's currently over 21, 000 mods for the game, and they're all bloody brilliant. H mods alone have kept me playing the game for over 10 years, and if you somehow still haven't given modding your copy of Payday 2 a go, look no further than my mod showcases over the last few years. I neglected to make one for 2023, and I'm already regretting that decision when legends like Matt Helor are still putting out some of their highest-quality creations in 2024, recently modernizing the payday gang's face models to fit what's expected from games in the current year.
One area where stars have absolutely gotten things right in the past has been their financial support of this subsection of the community, as I believe they have a lot to thank them for after propelling Payday 2 into the incredible and customizable game it is today. The value behind making mods accessible and throwing substantial weight behind their most talented creators is evident for all to see.
Finally, though what makes Payday 2 just that bit more special than a regular game in my eyes is its atmosphere and impeccable theming, few games are able to immerse you in such an inaccessible fantasy as being a master criminal, as this one is. It's not that we all want to go outside and commit crimes.
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