With a decade between Payday 3 and its immediate predecessor, it’s fair to say that Starbreeze Studios squad-based, heist action threequel has been a long time coming. A co-op heist actioner with a real tactical backbone, Payday 3 shifts the action from Washington DC – the locale of the previous game in the series – to the vibrant sights and sounds of New York City, where the Payday Gang must marshall their skills to not only loot everything they can get their hands on, but also seek out a mysterious underworld group that threatens their very existence.
Be sure to keep this guide in your favourites as we cover everything you need to know about Payday 3 including the release date, gameplay details, latest trailer, PC specifications and more.
Payday 3 Release Date
The Payday 3 release date has officially been confirmed as September 21, 2023. Payday 3 is set to have a full release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X consoles and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. It has not been confirmed for a release on the last generation PlayStation 4 or Xbox One consoles as of right now.
Is there Early Access?
Payday 3 does indeed have early access for those who want to perfect the planning and execution of their heists ahead of the official release date. Payday 3 early access kicks off on Monday, September 18, 2023. To enter the early access period, you must own either the Gold or Silver Edition versions of the game. Beyond entry into the early access period, the Gold and Silver Editions of Payday 3 also pack in a season pass too. The Payday 3 Silver Edition season pass packs in six months of forthcoming expansion content, while the Payday 3 Gold Edition season pass gives players a full year of additional content.
Pre Order Bonuses
The Payday 3 pre-order bonuses are the Obsidian Gitz Outfit and the Venomous Verdigris Mask. Regardless of which edition that you pre-order, both of these bonuses will be available to you on day one.
Payday 3 Gameplay
Sticking with the co-op, stealth and action beats of its predecessors, Payday 3 is very much an adherent to that old maxim ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, broadly speaking. That said, Starbreeze Studios has hardly rested on its laurels and have introduced a number of new features and made a broadly welcome sweep of improvements to the core mechanics.
As before, the overarching goal in Payday 3 is to complete your objectives which often revolve around looting as much as you possibly can from a single location. In previous games, each heist was typically split into a number of phases and while that approach remains, the developers have added in additional phases to make things a little more varied and fair. The first of these is the new ‘Search Mode’ phase, where if a sentry discovers something amiss, they’ll begin carefully searching the area for the cause of it and will return to their own patrol patterns should their search not bear any fruit.
If however, the Search Mode is triggered again shortly thereafter, another all-new phase kicks into action. This new negotiation phase is where, if you have the hostages available to bargain with, you can essentially trade their number with the authorities to gain some precious extra time before the tactical teams break in and generous amounts of the brown stuff hit the fan. Implementing these two phases is arguably to Payday 3’s benefit, not least because it underlines the Michael Mann-esque spectacle of its heists and related shenanigans.
Another new mechanic that has been introduced to the mix this time around are Overkill weapons. Supplementing the loadout of the Payday Gang, Overkill weapons – as one might well infer from their moniker – provide players with high powered weaponry with which to inflict devastating damage on their foes for a limited time once a number of enemies have been felled.
When it comes to the core of the Payday experience, Stabreeze’s threequel has made ample strides here as well. As well as more than 100 new skills to buy and leverage, in addition to a range of new buffs, it also introduces Private Security modifiers which change every week. Providing additional challenges that are tied to the level of difficulty chosen, these Private Security modifiers are built for Payday veterans and include such new challenges as extra sentries, harder devices to hack and more besides.
Where Can I Watch The Latest Trailer?
The latest trailer is available to watch right now and you can catch it above. Like the previous games before it, the latest instalment places a sizable emphasis on stealth and subterfuge, and this latest trailer shines a spotlight on just that. In the trailer, we see our team of specialists sneaking their way into an opulent art gallery, before neutralising the threats that lay within and making their merry way with bags of precious loot. It’s the stuff heist dreams are made of.
Payday 3 PC System Requirements
Thanks to the ample scalability provided by Unreal Engine 4, Payday 3 will run handsomely on just about any PC gaming rig from the last five years or so. There is a twist in this particular tale, however. Developer Starbreeze Studios has openly stated that during the post-release period, the game engine will be upgraded to Unreal Engine 5 in order to take advantage of the cutting edge rendering features that are enabled by that engine. The knock on effect of this though, is that the PC specifications stated below will almost certainly be increased on account of increased processing power demanded by Epic’s latest offering of graphics processing technology.
Minimum:
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Intel Core i5-9400F
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1650 (4 GB)
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
Recommended:
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Intel Core i7-9700K
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1080 (8GB)
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
Shop Payday 3 for PC
Now you’re tooled up with details, it’s time to head over to our store and grab Payday 3 for PC. We reckon you’ll find a deal so good, you’ll think it should be illegal.
(but it isn’t).
