Game Information
Game Title: PAYDAY 3
Platforms:
- PC (Sep 21, 2023)
- PlayStation 5 (Sep 21, 2023)
- Xbox Series X/S (Sep 21, 2023)
Trailers:
Developer: Starbreeze Studios
Publishers: Deep Silver, PLAION
Review Aggregator:
OpenCritic - 67 average - 47% recommended - 18 reviews
Critic Reviews
Cerealkillerz - Nick Erlenhof - German - 7.3 / 10
Payday 3 takes a big step forward in what has been the sole field of heist simulators. The new stealth mechanics are motivating, the gameplay has been improved and the heists are varied. However, there are still some drawbacks in the current lack of content, the AI and the general polish. However, some things are already being worked on, so that Heist fans will soon be able to let off steam here.
Checkpoint Gaming - Omi Koulas - 6 / 10
PAYDAY 3 offers a cooperative gameplay experience with an array of heists and a progression system that has its merits. However, it’s not without its share of issues. AI inconsistencies, unremarkable objectives, and underwhelming audio-visual elements tarnish the experience. While it’s an imperfect addition to the series, it still offers a taste of the criminal underworld. Like any complex caper, it has its moments of brilliance, but also a few unexpected hiccups along the way.
Digital Trends - Giovanni Colantonio - 3.5 / 5
Payday 3 doesn’t shake up its predecessor’s formula much, but a strong batch of initial heists sets the live service shooter up for success.
Game Rant - Dalton Cooper - 2 / 5
Not only can fans expect future Payday 3 updates to add more unlockables to the game, but more substantial content like new heists are in the pipeline as well. Future updates will likely iron out Payday 3’s matchmaking problems and immersion-breaking graphical mishaps, resulting in a smoother and more consistently entertaining experience. With future updates, Payday 3 may even be a game that surpasses its predecessor, but it has a seriously long way to go. Those still curious should consider checking out Payday 3 through Xbox Game Pass instead of buying the game at full price.
Gamer Guides - Paul McNally - 7 / 10
Payday 3 is a great version of Payday, which in itself was a whole lot of fun. At a decent price and with frantic heist action when things go wrong there is such a lot of fun to get out of the game but we are left wondering whether we could have seen more new stuff after a decade of waiting for this follow-up. It will live or die on the loyalty of the playerbase which hopefully means it will do well.
Gamerheadquarters - Jason Stettner - 6.7 / 10
Payday 3 does play it safe, it feels like Payday 2 with some refinements and modern elements while not greatly expanding upon the core concepts of play.
Generación Xbox - Javier Bassols - Spanish - 85 / 100
PayDay 3 is the next logical step in the room. Without forgetting their place of origin and what made them known and successful worldwide, Starbreeze Studios proposes a new series of heists with great additions. From an advance in the movement of the perosnajes, with options such as sliding, a great gameplay and gunplay and an increase in customization, the studio surprises us again with a very good shooter.
God is a Geek - Mick Fraser - 7.5 / 10
Payday 3 is designed around those emergent moments that only come with friends, when you’re trying desperately to stay in control.
Hobby Consolas - Daniel Quesada - Spanish - 68 / 100
It offers shocking moments and its proposal is very attractive, but it is too outdated in the technical and sometimes the development is unnecessarily convoluted.
IGN - Travis Northup - 7 / 10
Payday 3’s cooperative heists are off to a strong start, even if the vault is a bit bare at the moment.
Press Start - Harry Kalogirou - 6.5 / 10
While PAYDAY 3 will no doubt please series veterans and newcomers, it’s still a few updates a way from being definitively better than PAYDAY 2. When everything is working seamlessly, it offers some of the highest highs in the series thus far, but frustrating omissions and questionable progression design restrain PAYDAY 3’s ability to be consistent.
Push Square - Simon Fitzgerald - 5 / 10
Payday 3 has its enjoyable moments, bringing its well-known cooperative heists into a new game engine. However its lack of content, outdated gunplay, underwhelming AI, and unfinished cutscenes leave a lot to be desired. If you’re a series fan looking for a substantial step-up in this sequel then this isn’t it. However, if you’re after a multiplayer title to clown around in for a few hours, this will suffice.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Alice Bell - Unscored
Payday 3 has some good, complex levels to do your co-op heisting, but the matchmaking and levelling systems make it harder to have fun with other players.
Seasoned Gaming - Alex Segovia - 7 / 10
The caper fantasy experience that the series continues to provide always makes it a good time even when the messy technical aspects threaten to derail it.
Stevivor - Hamish Lindsay - 7.5 / 10
It’s an easy recommend for series fans, just don’t expect it to be the lumbering behemoth that was Payday 2… yet.
Try Hard Guides - Erik Hodges - 6 / 10
Beyond the new enemy types, fancy new graphics, and a handful of well-designed levels, I’d say it’s business for usual for the Payday series. With improvements over the second game and the promise of continued dev support for what could be years, I’d definitely say it’s worth upgrading to the new title if you’re a big fan of the second. However, these promises are blindsided by serious server issues and simple quality-of-life problems that need to be addressed first, so I suggest you keep Payday 2 installed for the time being. If you aren’t a die-hard Payday fan and you’re looking into an entry into the series, I’d give this one a pass and hit up Payday 2 until these problems are addressed.
VideoGamer - Amaar Chowdhury - 8 / 10
As any larcenist knows, all the best robberies begin discreetly before snowballing into a wild frenzy soundtracked to upbeat electronic music. Payday 3 does this with brimming style, before running away with the money.
ZdobywcyGier.eu - Bartosz Michalik - Polish - 7 / 10
PAYDAY 3 is by no means a reskin of the second game, but a true flesh-and-blood sequel, introducing a ton of new features and improvements. The game takes many steps forward while going several steps back. In terms of content, PAYDAY 3 is like a very well-made skeleton that lacks muscle, blood and skin. Empty with just the basics, but with the potential for more.
There are a million reasons for this kind of thing, cited for years now. These reviewers are exposed to more truly awful games than most of us, they’re less likely to latch on to one or two gripes in a score, they’re more likely to put the person in charge of the review who’s most likely to understand the game’s strengths (meaning they put the Dark Souls fan on the Dark Souls review and the Madden fan on the Madden review, for instance), and all sorts of other reasons. Were it me reviewing any game, I’d immediately dock tons of points just for the sheer act of requiring a server connection, because it can only ever make the product worse, but that hasn’t stopped people from loving Fortnite, Diablo IV, or any other live service game. It’s really just as simple as they came away from the game with a different opinion than you would have or expect. It’s not a conspiracy or incentives influencing it; not from real review outlets anyway. Actual review outlets don’t sweat it if they get cut off from codes, as it’s happened plenty of times, and they review the games anyway.
Depends on the scale of the reviewing site. I was a game reviewer for a few years and am now a game developer for the past 10. Reviewing sites absolutely want to keep those review codes and some sites don’t review games that don’t send them codes. Maybe with big titles they will go buy a copy but there is a race to have a review out by the time the public can purchase the game. It’s not money but time. That’s why review codes are important.
That said it’s also about appeasement of the game studios and the player base. 7 is “still good but could be better”. Many review sites are worried about angering the player base or studio and will be very cautious on giving anything less than a 5. For the longest time giant bomb was hated for giving lower scores as a popular review site. Now they hardly do reviews anymore because it’s not worth it.
That all said a lot of review sites are looking at simple recommendation blurbs instead of putting numbers to it. It avoids the whole issue of angering anyone just because number is too low or too high. Additionally as long as the blurb isn’t just the word “don’t” most published and studios will be content with it.
Being the first one out only matters to a few publications. You’re not competing with IGN and Gamespot just by being out first, so it doesn’t matter to most of them. Review scores tend to fall a few points after the first day the embargo breaks, because those are all the outlets the publisher bet would review it worse. I play Fantasy Critic, and you can observe this happening with just about every major release. That doesn’t mean the ones reviewing it with early review codes are any less honest about it.
Being the first and having a review out in the first day a person can buy it are different. Very little care about first. Lots care about being available for when the players can buy it.
Also embargo only applies to those getting review copies. So clearly those studios value getting the game for free rather than buying the game without embargo. A lot of time goes into a review. It could be a week or 2 of work. So still getting the game early is more valuable.
That said the reviewers without embargo are still the ones not trying to get embargoed. So the early reviewers are more likely to say nicer things.