Payday 3 Impressions: A crash course in crime with Starbreeze Studios

The security guard doesn't see us as we smash a lock and sneak into a backyard. We make our way to the roof and pry open a window. Quietly, we then make our way down a flight of stairs, each step slowly bringing us closer to the well-guarded safe deposit box that is our target. Everything is going smoothly. But suddenly a scratchy voice comes over the headset: "Oh fuck, I accidentally threw a grenade!" A second later, the screen fills with light. Customers and staff start screaming. Security guards open fire. Now only a rain of bullets can ensure a good score.

I've travelled to Stockholm to try my hand at Payday 3 - a four-person multiplayer game where you work together to commit armed robberies that in almost all cases turn into dramatic gunfights against endless amounts of police. If the formula sounds familiar, you probably know Payday: The Heist and its sequel Payday 2. The latter has sold over 30 million copies and generated more than $300 million in revenue. After the journalists in attendance have been given roughly the same brief summary, we are thrown into a bank robbery with the expert assistance of one of the developers.

Now, I've never stolen more than a candy bar and a pen here and there, so I'm by no means a bank robbery specialist. But I do know that it requires more than five minutes of preparation, and our first attempt ends up being a bit of a failure.

To break into the vault, we need to make a hole in the floor on the second floor using some kind of industrial torch. However, the bank's sprinkler system threatens to dampen the fire, so we have to make sure to switch it off and find additional incineration material in selected locations. Quite a challenge, as at this point we can barely find the main staircase that allows us to navigate the bank. Finally in the vault, we fail to deactivate the exploding colour cartridges in time, destroying some of our loot, and during our escape, we encounter new problems. The police have blocked our getaway car with bollards, and while we desperately try to lift them, we end up succumbing.

I wish our initial failure could be attributed to the improved AI that the developers repeatedly boast about during the initial presentation. Unfortunately, it wasn't easy to spot, and it's not just because half of the NPCs were on the floor trembling in fear, which obviously makes it hard to show any signs of intelligence. No, the problem is rather the police, who, as in previous games, quickly turn up in comically excessive numbers. Simple tactics such as flanking the enemy or taking cover under fire are apparently still not part of the curriculum at the police academy, and it takes a bit away from the bank robbery fantasy that the enemies have such a low survival instinct.

A funny moment occurred when we had made a hole down to the bank vault. The enemies, like suicidal lemmings, kept jumping down one by one, and of course it was no problem for us to plough them down. But okay, maybe I'm not the right person to point fingers. Shooting has never been my greatest strength, and the fact that I made it through alive a few times is mainly due to my teammates and an extremely generous life bar. And admittedly, I was also the one who accidentally threw a grenade during our next, otherwise far better executed heist.

My less impressive performance illustrates the challenge of designing a tactical shooter for up to four players. It only takes one clumsy or headless player for the best laid plans to go awry, and this presents particular challenges when it comes to a more cautious approach. Still, Starbreeze Studios has placed a greater focus on the game's stealth. For example, there are more options for averting possible confrontations, as guards will search further on their own before raising the alarm and calling for reinforcements.

We got a good opportunity to test this in the second level of this preview - a spectacular art theft at a modern and well-guarded gallery. Let's just say that we didn't manage to get to our loot unseen this time either. Again, this is probably mainly due to our lack of improvement time - and perhaps a lack of skill on our part. But even so, it also felt like there was a lack of tools to infiltrate with, despite a generous amount of skill points and virtually unlimited access to the game's full arsenal (which must be slowly unlocked in the full game). We did, however, get to play with a mountable tactical camera and had a few passive bonuses that made it a bit easier to move around unseen.

Although our night at the museum quickly turned into another showdown between robber and police, we still had a lot more to do than just hold the trigger. The paintings we had to steal were only indirectly described on a computer, which gave us an unexpected opportunity to play art critics. And to find the right paintings, we also had to use UV scanners, gas torches and all sorts of other equipment. Many of the small activities, such as picking locks and hacking panels, are now designed as small mini-games, and it seems the developers have tried to strike a better balance between the initial stealth phase, where interactivity is limited, and the wild and chaotic action once the police have been alerted and players have donned their masks.

During the roughly two-hour preview, I found myself longing for the more advanced infiltration options of Thief, or the colourful levels filled with creative potential of the eminent Hitman 3. But these are unfair comparisons, because at its core, Payday 3 is still about pure action, and it's here that the game really excels. The combination of having to keep a cool head and make tactical decisions, while special forces come crashing through windows and into every opening, is still as wonderfully immersive and adrenaline-fuelled as it was in Payday 2. And once again, the experience is accompanied by an intense and pounding soundtrack.

What's more, the developers have also adjusted the aim of the shooting part of the game. There's more weight to the way you move and your weapons, and it all feels more precise and responsive than its predecessor. In short, Payday 3 feels like a modern and well-functioning console shooter in the style of Call of Duty, and this is hardly a coincidence as the game is being released simultaneously for console and PC for the first time.

The graphics have also been given a much-needed overhaul. The NPCs still look a bit raw and move clumsily, but perhaps it's a good thing that you can't see the horror in the eyes of the poor hostages. Instead, the brutality comes primarily through environments that are now more destructive, leaving a trail of carnage in its wake. However, don't expect to use creative destruction to stop the police by blowing up a wall, for example. It's purely cosmetic, the developers explain.

Payday 3 seems like a more polished version of Payday 2. Based on my time with the game, there are no killer features or ground-breaking innovations. But maybe it's not necessary, because the original concept is still as fun and intense as it always was. The question is, will it be enough to get the millions of bank robbers to switch to the new version? We'll find out on September 21 when Payday 3 is released for PC, Xbox Series S/X and PlayStation 5.