You play one of up to four players in a co-op FPS where you tool up and pull off a heist. For now let's put aside the 1200+ achievements, 82 DLC, and the lore, and just focus on the core game.
Heists can either be done quiet or loud. In loud you arm up with heavy weapons, kill the guards, and fend off the police and special enemies for the duration of the heist. In quiet you take everyone hostage and try not to let anyone raise the alarm, but since quiet goes wrong easily and ends up loud anyway most people just play loud. In either case one player often has to bring and manage a safe drill until the safe opens, then the team has to transport the money bags to the exit point and escape.
Each successful heist grants you cash which you can spend to unlock new weapons, weapon mods, and equipment. You also gain XP which works towards unlocking perks and skills that alter gameplay and give you advantages. All of this combined results in many possible builds with an intricate level of customisation.
The game is quite straight forward in practice but new players are sure to be overwhelmed. The sheer amount of content, options, and intricate game mechanics that have built up over the last 10 years mean you're going to have to do a lot of catching up. Even if you do this game is built for grinding. From generating cash, completing missions, working through the story, collecting coins, xp unlocks, cosmetic unlocks, base progression... it's all built around you playing this game constantly - which much of the fanbase has been doing.
This late in the game's life cycle you'd be better off just waiting for Payday 3 to come out. There's such a mountain of bloat from years of updates that you're late to the party. Personally I was never fond of the grind, all of the unlocks feel shallow and numeric, managing builds is a snorefest, I'm not a gun guy, and it takes forever to get xp and perks.
A good concept but very much built for 10 years of gameplay and spread just as thin. Definitely not my thing but it might be yours.
Heists can either be done quiet or loud. In loud you arm up with heavy weapons, kill the guards, and fend off the police and special enemies for the duration of the heist. In quiet you take everyone hostage and try not to let anyone raise the alarm, but since quiet goes wrong easily and ends up loud anyway most people just play loud. In either case one player often has to bring and manage a safe drill until the safe opens, then the team has to transport the money bags to the exit point and escape.
Each successful heist grants you cash which you can spend to unlock new weapons, weapon mods, and equipment. You also gain XP which works towards unlocking perks and skills that alter gameplay and give you advantages. All of this combined results in many possible builds with an intricate level of customisation.
The game is quite straight forward in practice but new players are sure to be overwhelmed. The sheer amount of content, options, and intricate game mechanics that have built up over the last 10 years mean you're going to have to do a lot of catching up. Even if you do this game is built for grinding. From generating cash, completing missions, working through the story, collecting coins, xp unlocks, cosmetic unlocks, base progression... it's all built around you playing this game constantly - which much of the fanbase has been doing.
This late in the game's life cycle you'd be better off just waiting for Payday 3 to come out. There's such a mountain of bloat from years of updates that you're late to the party. Personally I was never fond of the grind, all of the unlocks feel shallow and numeric, managing builds is a snorefest, I'm not a gun guy, and it takes forever to get xp and perks.
A good concept but very much built for 10 years of gameplay and spread just as thin. Definitely not my thing but it might be yours.