PAYDAY 2 Review Summary

Highly praised gameplay mechanics: The game is celebrated for its engaging and addictive gameplay, including stealth, tactics, and dynamic action. Players appreciate the variety of missions, weapons, and customization options that keep the experience fresh and exciting.

Enjoyable co-op experience: Players highlight the fun and engaging cooperative gameplay, which is enhanced by teamwork and strategy. The game is particularly enjoyable when played with friends, creating memorable and chaotic moments.

Extensive customization options: The game offers a wide range of customization for weapons, characters, and gameplay styles. This includes diverse skill trees, builds, and a vast arsenal of weapons and modifications, enhancing replayability and player engagement.

Modding support and community: The game supports extensive modding, which enhances gameplay and adds to its longevity. The modding community is active and creative, providing a wealth of additional content and customization options.

Affordable and worth the price: Players find the game to be a great value, especially when purchased on sale. The affordable pricing, combined with the extensive content and enjoyable gameplay, makes it a worthwhile investment.

Poor AI behavior: The AI in the game is often criticized for being unintelligent and unreliable. This includes both AI teammates and opponents, which can lead to a less enjoyable gaming experience.

Unbalanced and difficult gameplay: The game is noted for its high difficulty and unbalanced gameplay mechanics. Stealth mechanics are particularly frustrating and often feel luck-based, while the skill tree and weapon balance are also criticized.

Poor optimization and outdated graphics: The game has outdated graphics and suffers from poor optimization, leading to performance issues and visuals that do not meet modern standards. This can detract from the overall gaming experience.

Frequent crashes and bugs: The game suffers from frequent crashes, bugs, and performance issues. These problems can occur during missions, in the main menu, or due to conflicts with old MOD files, leading to a frustrating experience.

Excessive reliance on DLCs: The game heavily depends on DLCs for content, with many weapons, heists, and equipment locked behind paid DLCs. This makes the game feel incomplete without additional purchases, leading to frustration among players.

Co-op and multiplayer focus: The game emphasizes cooperative gameplay, allowing players to team up with friends or AI-controlled bots to tackle heists. It supports both single-player and multiplayer modes, with a strong community and stable player base for online multiplayer.

High difficulty and strategic gameplay: The game is known for its high difficulty, requiring strategic thinking and teamwork. Players must plan and execute heists carefully, with different difficulty levels offering unique challenges.

Stealth and loud gameplay mechanics: Players can approach missions using stealth or loud strategies, with different mechanics and challenges for each. The game offers flexibility in mission approaches, allowing for varied gameplay experiences.

Extensive weapon and build variety: The game offers a wide range of weapons, including special ones like the MA-17 Flamethrower, and extensive customization options for builds and weapons. Players can choose from various difficulty levels, including Death Sentence, and enjoy diverse heists and missions.

Character and enemy details: The game features characters with specific health points and abilities, such as the HEAVY SWAT unit with varying HP and damage. There are also mentions of specific enemy behaviors and interactions.

Performance and optimization issues: Players report various performance issues, including poor optimization, lag, and the need for a good computer to run the game smoothly. Some users also mention that the game can run on low-end PCs but with noticeable glitches and bugs.

High system requirements: The game has demanding PC requirements, including a large amount of storage space for the game and all DLCs. This can be a barrier for players with older or less powerful computers.

Bugs affecting gameplay: The game suffers from numerous bugs, including those affecting mission progression and causing desynchronizations. These bugs can be frustrating and impact the overall gaming experience.

Mod compatibility issues: There are instability and compatibility issues with certain mods, which can lead to crashes and other problems. Players have attempted fixes with mods and settings adjustments.

Outdated game engine: The game's engine is considered old and has rough edges, which can contribute to various performance and stability issues.

Great for cooperative play: The game is highly recommended for playing with friends due to its teamwork-driven gameplay and cooperative heist mechanics. It offers a fun and engaging experience, especially for those who enjoy working together in a team.

Recommended despite flaws: Despite some issues like the amount of DLC and occasional gameplay problems, the game is still highly recommended. Players find it enjoyable and worth playing, especially with friends.

Fun and replayable: The game is noted for its high replayability and fun factor, especially when played with friends. The cooperative heist gameplay keeps players engaged and coming back for more.

Challenges with solo play: While the game is enjoyable with friends, solo play can be less ideal due to limitations with bots and increased difficulty. Players might find it less fun as the difficulty ramps up.

Prefer Payday 2 over Payday 3: Many players recommend choosing Payday 2 over Payday 3 due to its deep gameplay, better cooperative experience, and overall enjoyment. Payday 2 is seen as a more polished and complete game.

Steam Deck: The analysis of user feedback reveals significant issues with the Steam Deck experience for this game. Key problems include the lack of an offline mode, frequent crashes, poor controller support, and issues with Linux compatibility. These issues collectively contribute to a frustrating user experience, with many users expressing dissatisfaction and considering the game unplayable in its current state.

Monetization: The analysis of user reviews for Payday 2 reveals significant concerns regarding the game's monetization strategies. Key issues include the price increase of existing DLC without prior announcement, the introduction of a subscription service for a 12-year-old game, perceived greed and monetization tactics, pay-to-win dynamics, and community backlash. These themes highlight a pattern of predatory practices that have led to a negative perception among players. The introduction of a subscription model and the increase in DLC prices are seen as particularly exploitative, designed to push players towards continuous spending. The pay-to-win dynamics and the community's strong negative reaction further exacerbate the situation, indicating a significant impact on the user experience.

External guides: The primary issues identified from user feedback include a significant lack of in-game guidance, forcing players to rely on external resources for basic information. Technical issues, particularly related to alt-tabbing, are also a major concern. Additionally, the complexity of game mechanics and the need for external research to understand builds and strategies are notable barriers for new players.

Game purchased on sale: Some players mentioned that they purchased the game during a Christmas sale for a reduced price of 1€.

Personal life impacts mentioned: A few reviews discussed how the game affected their personal lives, though specific details were not provided.