Payday 3 brings back the iconic clown heisters for another set of big scores across America. With so many banks and money-making opportunities available to the clowns in 2023, it’s inevitable that some might wonder how many heists are there in Payday 3, and which are accessible to owners of the vanilla game.
There are a total of eight heists available upon the release of Payday 3, each featuring a distinct location, objective, and challenge that is required for players to complete them. Whether that’s online or by themselves. Payday 3 offers a modern heisting experience with revised mechanics, bringing heisting back into the hands of players for 8 unique heists with infinite replayability.
Is There Payday 3 DLC?
Starbreeze has confirmed that Payday 3 will receive heist DLCs in a Season Pass fashion, providing players with additional content post-release. If players purchased the Standard Edition of Payday 3, then they will need to purchase the Season Pass separately. However, those who have the Silver Edition can enjoy 6 months of the Season Pass, which features 2 new heists. For Gold Edition players, they will have a 1-year Season Pass which includes 4 new heists.
This year 1 roadmap has been revealed by Starbreeze, featuring 4 DLCs under the title of The Bad Apple. This roadmap is set to release as early as Winter 2023 and as late as Fall 2024, providing players with 4 new heist experiences with details currently scarce for their contents.
- DLC 1 – Syntax Error (Winter 2023)
- DLC 02 – Boys in Blue (Spring 2024)
- DLC 03 – The Land of the Free (Summer 2024)
- DLC 04 – Fear and Greed (Fall 2024)
Information on these new Payday 3 heists is scarce, but players can expect to see not only new heists, but new enemies, weapons, cosmetics, characters, skills, and more thanks to a growing delivery of content. Fans familiar with Payday 2 might recall just how much DLC Starbreeze gave to that game, so it’s safe to say that before long, Payday 3 will have more content than just eight heists.
No Rest For The Wicked
The first heist in Payday 3 is No Rest for the Wicked. It features a classic bank setup, in which players will head to the Secure Capital Bank in an attempt to steal its large cash supply secured in the vault. Players can treat the No Rest for the Wicked as the standard heist, to better learn the mechanics of Payday 3 due to its ease of access and different styles of play.
Players can enter this heist with stealth or mayhem in mind, and it’s a fairly simple one that involves players disabling the security systems to walk away with bundles of cash, or killing their way through the bank to burn a hole into the vault with thermite. The choice is the players for this one.
Road Rage
Road Rage is the second heist in Payday 3 and is relatively straightforward. Instead of robbing a bank or an art gallery, players need to escort themselves to an armored truck, which is transporting a valuable rare-earth element that could be worth a pretty penny to certain black market buyers. Road Rage is a heist that can only be completed in loud, so it’s best to bring the safest and most deadly equipment for survival.
Players can start the heist in a stealth-like fashion, but it’s only a matter of time before the SWAT escort of the transport realizes what’s going on, and that’s when the police assaults will start piling in. Road Rage is relatively quick and filled with action, so those who want their adrenaline fix can get it from this heist.
Dirty Ice
Dirty Ice brings back the classic jewelry heist with a modern Payday 3 twist to it. Although the Ashton Fine Jewelry store may look like a humble and family-owned store, it’s actually far deeper than that and is an integral part of the corporate machinery that keeps money flowing. Luckily for the Payday gang, all that jewelry makes for a potential easy score, and a golden opportunity worth taking.
Players can enter the third heist, Dirty Ice, in either loud or stealth, but stealth is the preferred way to go in many of the Payday 3 heists, due to the fact that Starbreeze wants to make these mechanics work. However, for those who prefer to go guns blazing, there is nothing stopping them from doing so, except for the fact that a police assault is inevitable if players take too long. Either way, Dirty Ice can be completed pretty quickly with an efficient team working together to loot the jewelry store dry, leaving not a single stone unturned.
Rock The Cradle
For the fourth Payday 3 heist, Rock the Cradle, players are tasked with a stealth-only heist. Players have to commit to stealth in this heist, otherwise, they will lose out on a better paycheck, and they will need to start again. This heist takes players to the Neon Cradle, a powerful club where the heisters will need to find access to the VIP area, but not for the drugs and illegal gambling. Instead, players are going to go scouting for the cryptocurrency stored inside the Neon Cradle and enjoy a crypto-wallet filled with cash.
This heist requires keen thinking and a sharp eye for objectives and details because the player is not allowed to be caught. If the alarm sounds, then the crypto-wallet is wiped, and all potential profits are gone in a flash, so Rock the Cradle is reserved for the true stealth experts out there who want to give it a shot where failure is not an option.
Under The Surphaze
The SURPHAZE Art Gallery is a perfect opportunity for Payday 3’s fifth heist, where players will be tasked with stealing some precious displays of expensive paintings for their own gain. The heisters need to steal these paintings so that their chosen buyer can enjoy a healthy collection of stolen and expensive art. Yet, the exhibition owners won’t be fooled again, and this art gallery heist in Payday 3 is more difficult, with a new level of safety measures and tighter security. It might not be the easiest heist for solo players.
Players can take the time to overcome and override these security measures, or, they can simply go in loud. Under the Surphaze gives players the choice between two routes of stealth and loud, but sneaking may not be for everyone. Either way, a gun is essential for getting through this difficult heist.
Gold & Sharke
It doesn’t get more classic than this. The Gold & Sharke heist is the 6th heist in Payday 3’s original release, and it features a bank heist in Lower Manhattan that may be familiar to some of the original heisters from this series. Gold & Sharke features the classic bank design of old but with a Payday 3 bolstering. Players can find some story fragments in this heist, including the fact that this bank is owned by the hostile Patricia J. Sharke, the person who forced the Payday gang out of retirement in the first place.
Like most other bank heists, players have the freedom to play how they like, and they can go through the Gold & Sharke heist by either sneaking or by having their guns flourishing to those who dare get in their way. This is one of the longer heists, especially in stealth, due to the size of the heist itself.
99 Boxes
A fortunate awaits the 7th Payday 3 heist. The 99 Boxes heist is great for a team, as players will need to infiltrate a shipment yard to search for experimental electronic equipment. Within this cargo dock in the New York harbor, players can find an assortment of financial goods worth stealing for their own gain. With the necessary boxes found, players need to take good care with their loot, due to the fact that they need to be kept cool. If players are careless with these electronics, then they will deteriorate and their worth will collapse. Players might need bots to help with this one.
Players have the freedom to complete this heist through sneaking or shooting, or a little bit of both. The speed of this heist is dictated by the player’s actions, and they can either rush through it for the essentials or follow through with the objectives for the best set of loot possible.
Touch The Sky
Touch the Sky is the final Payday 3 heist that players can find upon the game’s release. The 8th heist to the game involves the Payday crew infiltrating a penthouse belonging to the mysterious Mason Laurent, who players might be shocked to learn was heavily involved in the Murkywater PMC, which fans of Payday 2 might remember as one of the largest threats.
Inside the penthouse, players are going to need to locate a digital encryption key to secure their digital funds and remain untouchable. Players should reserve Touch the Sky as their last heist, as it will put to the test their stealth skills learned prior to the final Payday 3 heist. Alternatively, they can just go guns blazing once again.
Payday 3 is out now for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.