Payday 3: Release Date, Crossplay, New Features, Combat…

Payday 3 is an upcoming cooperative first-person shooter game that takes you and your friends on exhilarating heists. Prepare for high-stakes action, strategic planning, and thrilling escapades. In this article we summarize everything you need to know about the game, including the release date, crossplay, new details about the combat and more.

Payday 3 Release Date Gameplay Combat Characters — Payday 3 is the next installment in the beloved Payday franchise. | © Overkill Software/Early Game

Payday 2 released back in 2013 and is still played by many people. The Steam 24-hour peak is at around 45,000 players right now. For a ten-year-old game it's astonishing how well it still performs. It's naturally all because of you, the players - and myself as well since I love hoping in on a heist every now and then.

After the official presentation of Payday 3 at the Xbox Showcase 2023 the devs are taking us on a tour through the world of the game and their thoughts. With the Dev Diary we're getting a lot of information, and we'll summarize everything from those videos and other official announcements in this article - pretty handy, right? Let's get started!

Payday 3: Release Date And Platforms

The official release date for Payday 3 is September 21, 2023, and it's coming to PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Skipping the last-gen platforms and joining the Xbox Game Pass on the same day as well.

Payday 3: Story & Setting

The heists in Payday 3 pick up where they left off and mainly take place in the buzzy and bustling town of New York City. With large skyscrapers for the upper class and business matters, the town itself has a dark and twisted underbelly, with crime and heists on the rise.

Step out of retirement back into the life of crime in the shoes of the Payday Gang, the envy of their peers and the nightmare of law-enforcement wherever they go. Several years after the crew’s reign of terror over Washington DC has ended, they assemble once again to deal with the threat that roused them out of early retirement.

Payday 3: Playable Characters

Dallas
Chains
Wolf
Hoxton
Pearl
Joy

Payday 3: Post-Launch Content

With only a few days left, the developer announced the planned post-launch content for Payday 3 themed as "Year 1 - The Bad Apple". And things are about to become lively, as they already included some downloadable content for the future, but also following things:

Seasonal Events
New Playable Characters
New Enemies
New Weapons
Unreal Engine 5 upgrade
Cosmetics
Quality-of-life improvements

Since this isn't enough, the devs will add more to come.

Payday 3: Cross-Progression and Crossplay

With the new Starbreeze Nebula service, cross progression and crossplay features will be implemented in Payday 3. For the transferring feature, you only have to register at the website, and you're good to go.

At the moment the service is only available for players on Steam, but on launch the Starbreeze Nebula will be available for PC (Epic), PlayStation and Xbox as well.

Payday 3: Gameplay and Combat

The general gameplay and combat aspect in Payday 3 is similar to the predecessor. You plan heists and attempt to execute them to perfection in single-player or up to four player Co-op mode. You are given the freedom to determine your approach to the heist.

You can choose to be stealthy or go in guns blazing, release hostages or keep them as pawns, and tackle the mission alone or with the company of friends. Cosmetic items are also confirmed.

Improvement is made through all out the gameplay aspects:

Stealth

New ways of tracking down the guardsmen who are moving around
Mini cameras can be placed on the back of the guardsmen or any other places
ECM jammers can be attached to any power-based device. Those handy gadget locks the enemy to alert reinforcement.

Assault

Weapons getting improved with every usage, and you unlock new ways to play them
Even using the offered new preset weapons with different mods, let you upgrade the base weapon

The skill tree is improved with new added ways and play styles. The developer gives you the chance of trying out new ways of solving the heists with different skills. Every skill matters in a way, and it's up to you which way is more suited for you.

For example: If you're ready to go all out on the heavy armored based type of enemies with only a few shots? There is a way the skill tree offers this kind of power. But with great power comes great responsibility, locking you out from different ways of approaching the mission.

Payday 3: Difficulties and Enemy Types

Payday 3 enemies — Payday 3: There will be three different enemy types in this game. | © Starbreeze Studios

One of the bigger changes in Payday 3 is the different approach to the difficulties. This time, the enemies won't get a massive health boost. The developer rather plays with the enemy numbers and their accuracy and damage.

One other thing that people will notice is we don't actually change their health values between the difficulties. This is because we want to encourage people to be able to play with each other. We want to avoid a situation where you have to play in an easier difficulty and be bored, or they have to play in a harder difficulty and be overwhelmed.

Different enemy types you're dealing with: