PAYDAY 3 Review (PS5) | Push Square

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Payday 3 is the third entry in the always online, one-to-four-player, cooperative heist FPS series from Starbreeze Studios. Returning from retirement, the Payday crew have not only moved to terrorise a new city, from Washington DC to New York, but also moved game engine from Payday 2’s Diesel into the more robust Unreal Engine 4.

From the get-go, it’s clear the game hasn’t been designed with consoles in mind, as on load up you are faced with creating an account for Nebula Starbreeze via the PS5’s built-in browser. It’s not ideal but mandatory, and can be a lengthy and cumbersome process when you just want to get into a heist.

Payday 3 plays almost the same way as its predecessors; you’ll be briefed on your mission, tasked with scouting out your surroundings as an inconspicuous member of the public before masking up and raiding your objective building, stealing its valuable contents. The big difference here is the improved focus on stealth before having to mask up.

This time around, you must sneak through various increasingly restricted areas, public, private, and secure, pickpocketing and lock-picking as you go. If detected in a private area, you'll be escorted out by a guard. Fail to follow their instructions and you’ll be put into custody, and forced to spectate the rest of your team. Get detected in secure areas, however, and you'll be shot on sight, initiating a police raid. You can delay this raid by trading in hostages to the police for a little extra time. It’s nothing revolutionary, and surprising it’s taken until the third entry in the series for an access level system to be implemented.

The heists themselves are relatively interesting and enjoyable, if a little outdated and on the short side, lasting roughly 15