There’s one thing fairly poetic about Payday 3. The story of the sport follows veteran heisters getting the gang again collectively for one final job – a retirement plan they actually didn’t see coming. However, within the eyes of Almir Listo, world model director and head of group at Starbreeze Leisure, that narrative additionally works as a clear and tidy analogy for the studio. And the gamers, as nicely, really.
“The story of the Payday gang follows the story of our viewers,” says Listo, in an interview with VG247 at Gamescom. “And even us, who’re making the sport. Give it some thought, proper? The Payday gang has been away for 5 years, most of them are unaccounted for. For no matter motive, they’re being drawn again into a lifetime of crime. Although we nonetheless have a number of concurrent gamers, a number of Payday gamers have additionally left their lives behind – Payday 3 would be the first time in a few years that they’ll return to a lifetime of crime.”
Payday is known for its group. Even now, some ten years after the final sport within the collection was launched, we’re seeing a number of gamers flock to Payday 2 (and people numbers have solely gone again up because the Payday 3 advertising marketing campaign started in earnest). Provided that it’s a PvE title – the place gamers should cooperate to infiltrate safe places, steal helpful objects, and extract them with out an excessive amount of trouble – having a superb workforce to play with is important. It’s lucky that the participant base is so welcoming, then. Which they must be, even to the inevitable Xbox Recreation Cross scrubs.
“We’ve seen it earlier than when Payday 2 got here to Epic Video games Retailer,” says Listo. “It was an enormous success for us; the inflow of recent gamers have been supported, welcomed. The identical was true of the Swap model of Payday 2, too.”
And the distinction with Payday 3 is that it’s going to begin as one group; the sport involves Recreation Cross, day one (with cross-play and cross-progression), and Listo really believes this will probably be an incredible start line for brand spanking new gamers, lapsed gamers, and veterans alike. “The third sport is the proper time to get into this collection – and you’d know, you’ve simply been enjoying it!”
At Gamescom, there have been cubicles for media to attempt the title out. And Listo is correct; he performed on my workforce and noticed how a lot I loved it. To coax stomach laughs, sweaty palms and hijinks out of a workforce of hungover journalists on the final day of an occasion isn’t any imply feat, however Payday 3 delivered in spades. I’ve restricted expertise with the collection, and – due to my CoD, Future, and Halo expertise – knew precisely what I used to be doing as quickly as I picked up my pad. The UI and directions are clear, the aims and heisting as intuitive as any objective-based CoD mode you’ll play, and the presentation of all of it is tight. Polished. A refinement on what’s come earlier than, a stable launch package deal ten years within the making.
However, today, a shooter isn’t simply good for its launch window. It must have a tail. And Payday 3 is planning to stay round for a protracted, very long time. Listo acknowledges that the DLC marketing campaign (and a slew of gaffes and controversies) muddied the model with Payday 2. However Payday 3 is a “resurrection”, to him. It’s a reset. “I feel what occurred with Payday 2 was that we went overboard. You recognize what I imply? We did so many alternative collaborations. Some tremendous thrilling, some very bizarre. It was like a testing floor.
“However, with Payday 3, we’re going again to our roots, you realize? Beginning up from a way more grounded place. Once we designed the IP initially, it was a really heavy, grounded, mature expertise, aimed towards adults.” Payday 2 turned pretty notorious for its… obscure… collaborations: Hardcore Henry, Yakuza, Level Break, Tony Montana, Ron Perlman, Hotline Miami – there have been some pretty out-there flirtations with different media, and never all of them labored.
That is the place, for me, the Name of Obligation comparability is available in – with so many collaborations which are actually taking away from the concept of a boots-on-the-ground shooter, CoD has turn out to be one thing of a parody of itself. Nicki Minaj working across the Gulag is it? OK, positive. The horrible doll from Noticed teabagging you? Nothing you are able to do about it, loser. These collaborations usually threat having a extra detrimental cultural influence than a constructive one, and that’s one thing Listo is conscious of.
“In my capability as model director, we do not need to dilute the standard and the integrity of that concept. Of a mature, critical sport. And the worst factor that may occur is that our gamers really feel that we introduce a brand new character collaboration or no matter, they usually really feel it negatively impacts their expertise or takes away from the fantasy of being a profession prison.”
Listo admits that Payday 2 “did a number of good issues, and a number of shitty issues” and that, in the end, the developer has realized from the expertise. After over 200 updates in a single sport alone, you’d be silly to not. Payday 3 is a contemporary begin for Starbreeze, and you may see it’s executed the work to make the muse for this sport as stable as potential. It performs nicely, it seems nice, it’s straightforward to select up and tough to grasp, and it has every thing it is advisable be your new ‘Friday night time and a few beers’ sport together with your buddies.
“The group will welcome the Recreation Cross gamers with open arms,” concludes Listo. “You may by no means get sufficient folks once you need to commit prison actions.”
An open technical beta is scheduled for Payday 3 this weekend. Payday 3 releases on September 21 for PC by way of PC Recreation Cross, Steam, and the Epic Video games Retailer. It can even be launched on PS5, Xbox Collection X/S Recreation Cross, and GeForce Now.
