Ten years ago, first-person heisting perfection on a crappy racing game engine was achieved. Payday 2 is one of those games you either play once and never really give a go again, or you have hundreds upon thousands of hours in it. I'm the latter. I first played this game in August 2013 when I saw the beta go up, and I gave it a try and absolutely loved it while I was waiting for GTA 5 to drop, I played the crap out of it but sadly after that didn't really manage to find a copy of it, so I stopped until in October they dropped a demo for it, and I downloaded that and ATE. IT. UP.
I must have at least 100 hours in that demo alone. It only featured two out of the tens of heists, less weapons and customization but I did not care, I played that demo and grinded the game so damn much. I finally bought the game early in 2014 and played along watching it grow into something bigger and bigger with each year that passes. I played up until 2015 then stopped, then started again in 2018 on PS4, then stopped then started again in 2022 on PC, I must have 1000+ hours on it by now.
Payday 2 grew from a simple first shooter where you rob banks and jewelry stores into a batshit insane narrative about ancient aliens species, demigods controlling the world, overthrowing governments and reincarnating your dead friend as the president of the United States, and it was a once in a lifetime experience seeing it develop before our own eyes.
The mechanics of the game started off rough but got better and more polished with time, the sheer amount of different ways to enjoy the game is amazing, from dual-wielding leech builds, to dodge builds and so much more, what I love about the weapons as well is that they are all entirely customizable meaning you can make any gun you like cater to your level and build, new guns that come out don't make the old ones obsolete, they just give you more ways to play. That, along with the heists themselves and all the enemy types and difficulties, and the heists becoming more and more huge in spectacle to the point that you go from robbing small banks and jewelry stores to robbing Scarface's Mansion, a military jet, a Russian human experiment lab, a Lovecraftian mansion, and the damn White House itself was just amazing to witness in real time.
The game has had its rocky moments, from the Crimefest 2015 fiasco to the June 2023 Epic Games Store release disaster, but through it all, the team we all love did their best, I mean c'mon how can ya not like the game when you're robbing the damn WHITE HOUSE while the leader of your crew who's dying but pulling himself together to make sure he sees you through to the end of the heist, also sings you THIS masterpiece. It's a love story really. and now with Payday 3 out, I can't help but feel a little sentimental about the past and sad that Payday 2 is no longer getting any updates, of course I'll still be playing it for years to come alongside the sequel but y'know how it is. On behalf the entire Payday community, thank you to everyone who worked on this game so hard.
Firstly to the entire team of Overkill who developed the game on a terrible engine with a low budget in 2013 and transformed it into a legendary generation defining franchise, Almir Listo, our lord and savior who is the reason so many of us are still here, Ulf Andersson who played one of my favorite characters in Wolf and worked on the game for a long time,
Simon Viklund, our watcher, Bain, and the creator of one of my favorite soundtracks in any media ever. Your talent is beyond what words can describe, and I wish you only the best and wherever you go next. Gustavo Coutinho, who took the helm and made even more absolutely amazing music and continues to do so,
Eric Etebari and Simon Kerr, who gave us our beloved medic bag loving protagonist in Dallas, and all the amazing actors who gave us so many more iconic characters, Damion Poitier, Josh Lenn and Pete Gold, Derek Ray, Giancarlo Esposito, Dash Mihok, Sharlto Copley, Mira Furlan, Ilia Volok, Ian Russell and many, many more. This isn't nearly enough to describe how much I love this game and hold it near and dear to my heart but It'll do. Thank you all for making Payday 2 and giving me the time of my life with it. To the Greatest Heist of All!
It's PAYDAY fellas
I must have at least 100 hours in that demo alone. It only featured two out of the tens of heists, less weapons and customization but I did not care, I played that demo and grinded the game so damn much. I finally bought the game early in 2014 and played along watching it grow into something bigger and bigger with each year that passes. I played up until 2015 then stopped, then started again in 2018 on PS4, then stopped then started again in 2022 on PC, I must have 1000+ hours on it by now.
Payday 2 grew from a simple first shooter where you rob banks and jewelry stores into a batshit insane narrative about ancient aliens species, demigods controlling the world, overthrowing governments and reincarnating your dead friend as the president of the United States, and it was a once in a lifetime experience seeing it develop before our own eyes.
The mechanics of the game started off rough but got better and more polished with time, the sheer amount of different ways to enjoy the game is amazing, from dual-wielding leech builds, to dodge builds and so much more, what I love about the weapons as well is that they are all entirely customizable meaning you can make any gun you like cater to your level and build, new guns that come out don't make the old ones obsolete, they just give you more ways to play. That, along with the heists themselves and all the enemy types and difficulties, and the heists becoming more and more huge in spectacle to the point that you go from robbing small banks and jewelry stores to robbing Scarface's Mansion, a military jet, a Russian human experiment lab, a Lovecraftian mansion, and the damn White House itself was just amazing to witness in real time.
The game has had its rocky moments, from the Crimefest 2015 fiasco to the June 2023 Epic Games Store release disaster, but through it all, the team we all love did their best, I mean c'mon how can ya not like the game when you're robbing the damn WHITE HOUSE while the leader of your crew who's dying but pulling himself together to make sure he sees you through to the end of the heist, also sings you THIS masterpiece. It's a love story really. and now with Payday 3 out, I can't help but feel a little sentimental about the past and sad that Payday 2 is no longer getting any updates, of course I'll still be playing it for years to come alongside the sequel but y'know how it is. On behalf the entire Payday community, thank you to everyone who worked on this game so hard.
Firstly to the entire team of Overkill who developed the game on a terrible engine with a low budget in 2013 and transformed it into a legendary generation defining franchise, Almir Listo, our lord and savior who is the reason so many of us are still here, Ulf Andersson who played one of my favorite characters in Wolf and worked on the game for a long time,
Simon Viklund, our watcher, Bain, and the creator of one of my favorite soundtracks in any media ever. Your talent is beyond what words can describe, and I wish you only the best and wherever you go next. Gustavo Coutinho, who took the helm and made even more absolutely amazing music and continues to do so,
Eric Etebari and Simon Kerr, who gave us our beloved medic bag loving protagonist in Dallas, and all the amazing actors who gave us so many more iconic characters, Damion Poitier, Josh Lenn and Pete Gold, Derek Ray, Giancarlo Esposito, Dash Mihok, Sharlto Copley, Mira Furlan, Ilia Volok, Ian Russell and many, many more. This isn't nearly enough to describe how much I love this game and hold it near and dear to my heart but It'll do. Thank you all for making Payday 2 and giving me the time of my life with it. To the Greatest Heist of All!
It's PAYDAY fellas