Everything We Know: PAYDAY 2
Posted by Chris K on March 12th, 2013 | 9 Comments | Tags: PAYDAY 2
If you have been reading this site for anytime in the past two years you are probably quite aware that all of us are huge fans of PAYDAY: The Heist. When Overkill started teasing the upcoming plans for PAYDAY 2 we could barely contain our excitement. Today a whole grip of new information and gameplay footage was released and I am here you talk you through everything I have seen.
The first thing I noticed today was that the core elements that made PAYDAY so much fun are still around. Missions continue have that randomness that made PAYDAY replayable time and time again, Bain is still there chirping mission details in your ear and it of course it still has that killer soundtrack. There were a bunch of things that I noticed that changed and most of it seems to be for the better.
Each time you hop in a heist you can now select traits from 4 different classes. These range in type from a stealthy Ghost class which allows you to pick locks or jam alarms to a Mastermind who can make police surrender or even fight along side you. This seems to be the evolution of the Upgrades system from the old game. Now there is a RPG-like skill tree that you can gain attributes from.
The HUD has also been overhauled, though I am not sure how much of this is placeholder art seeing how the game is still early in development. New additions seem to be a stamina meter, which will be affected by sprinting and while carrying objects. Overall it is a much cleaner look with all of your equipment and ammo being shown in a readable format that doesn’t take much screen real-estate. There are also some new ways for the game to display when a police assault is happening and if you have been spotted.
Some of the biggest changes come in the ways that missions are now given out. Instead of the 8 heists of the first game, now you are given missions through CRIMENET. Here you will be given different contracts from different clients here. Each of these may differ in length or the amount of cash you get on completion and they can be assigned randomly. From the preview at Gamespot it was said that missions are based on your level and that there can even be rare missions which give better loot.
Loot is another thing that is new here with PAYDAY 2. The developers felt that the cash rewards and leveling in PAYDAY: The Heist were good, but really didn’t give players that sense of accomplishment. Now after each completed contract players will be given a “payday”. Some examples for rewards were different masks with “millions of combos” as mentioned to Gamespot. The developers went on to say that you remember what you had to do to get a mask or a gun more so than just getting a rank up. I definitely agree with them there.
The game’s AI director is still around this time and it seems that even more police behaviors have now been added. From the looks of the gameplay, officers can now steal loot bags which offers up a new twist. These loot bags can now be carried around and dropped, which is an improvement from the first game. Now not only will you have to manage the crowd but also your spoils.
I couldn’t be more excited and I really hope PAYDAY 2 lives up to all this hype in my head. It seems that they have really learned lessons from PAYDAY: The Heist. We will be sure to provide more details about the game in its run-up to a summer release on PSN.