Payday: The Heist
Payday: The Heist is a cooperative first-person shooter game developed by Overkill Software and published by Sony Online Entertainment. The game was released for the PlayStation 3 in North America on 18 October 2011, and in Europe on 2 November. It was released then for Windows on 20 October.
Payday: The Heist runs on the Diesel game engine. The game contains seven different missions, with each mission containing random elements which alter the gameplay in subtle ways with the aim of enhancing replayability. The Wolf Pack DLC was released on PlayStation 3 and PC in August 2012. This DLC added two heists, additional weapons, increased level cap, and a player upgrade tree.
Gameplay
In Payday: The Heist, players use a variety of firearms to complete objectives. The game plays from the first person perspective, but offers a few twists on the standard FPS formula. Killing civilians is punished, instead players may take a limited number as hostages. Should any player get taken into custody during the heist, one of their teammates may release a hostage, allowing a trade to take place which allows a single player to be released. While playing the levels, players will notice a lot of variation in a single level, as there are often a large number of random events programmed in. An example of this is the location of the bank manager in First World Bank.The game focuses on four robbers who team up. Their first heist took place at the First World Bank, where they entered a vault by using thermite hidden on the inside of a photocopier and stole a large amount of money.
Downloadable content
Overkill Software released two DLC packs for the game; the first one is the Wolfpack DLC, which was released on 1 August on the European PlayStation Store and on 7 August for the North American PlayStation Store and PC. The new content included a new Technician skill tree that gave players access to the AK, the GL40 and the Stryk pistol as well as adding in a deployable sentry gun. Also included were two new heists, Counterfeit and Undercover. On 25 July, the No Mercy Hospital DLC was released, establishing a link between the Left 4 Dead and Payday series. This DLC included the No Mercy heist as well as the Infected mask set for players with Left 4 Dead installed on their computers.Payday: The Heist was free on Steam for 24 hours in October 2014.