Payday 3 travels to New York, and the plots become modern focus

Payday 3 travels to New York, and the plots become the digital modern focus.

As part of the Payday franchise's 10-year anniversary webcast, Overkill reveals some early setting and premise information for Payday 3.

Image credit: Starbreeze

Overkill Software launched Payday 2, a co-op first-person shooter in which players attempt and execute increasingly difficult robberies and heists, nearly eight years ago. Overkill is currently working on Payday 3, with a tentative release date of 2023. But a lot has changed in eight years, and not only in-game creation. Overkill recently showed how it's bringing Payday 3 into the current era using digital currencies and security technology in a webcast.

While Overkill wasn't able to show any Payday 3 gameplay during its Livestream, it did provide some interesting information about the impending sequel. Payday 3 will be situated in New York and will center on heists that take place in a more modern, technologically advanced setting. Overkill specifically notes that in Payday 3, players will have access to a new set of gadgets in order to carry on heists that may incorporate bitcoin, themes related to mass surveillance, and even the Dark Web.

Overkill didn't provide any context for its intended modifications, but it's easy to see how the concepts could function in practice. For example, a player's heist proceeds may be held as bitcoin, which they could then use to purchase weapons and gear on the Dark Web. Mass surveillance may be linked to heist casing when players hack into cameras and other systems to reveal information about an imminent robbery. Everything fits together perfectly.

The fact that Payday 3 is also set in New York adds to the excitement of the new game. Locations such as the New York Stock Exchange trading floor, Penthouses, hotels, or any other significant New York City location could be targets for heists. The Payday 3 crew is fencing everything for cryptocurrency, so heists don't have to be for traditional stuff.

Dallas, Hoxton, Chains, and Wolf, the original four Payday characters, have been forced out of retirement and back into a life of crime by old acquaintances. The world of heists they discover is now infused with current issues: the media can readily cover the gang and sensationalize their actions. There's also the surveillance state, the black web, and a slew of new gadgets to employ with ubiquitous smart technology. Wonnevi mentioned tech titans and cryptocurrency as hot button themes that will be addressed in Payday 3's tale.

Without saying it specifically, Overkill may be implying that it will go big with Payday 3. That means bigger settings, greater heists, and a bigger frame so gamers can feel like they're actually among the world's top thieves. Overkill should up the ante on the experience because a larger game is something Payday fans would most certainly prefer to see from the franchise.

There's still a long way to go before Payday 3 is anywhere close to being launched, and thus a long time before Overkill is ready to start providing more information about the game in-depth. It's odd that Overkill would reveal anything this early, but it only goes to show how thrilled Payday fans are and how eager Overkill is to discuss what it's working on.

Payday 3 has had a long development history, with its future jeopardized due to financial difficulties at publisher Starbreeze in 2019. By February of this year, the issues had been fixed, and the game was back on schedule. We learned in March that the new publishing partner was planning a 2023 launch.

H/S: OVERKILL Software