Payday 3 – Test of Boys in Blue, the second DLC of Payday 3

It's time to break it

As I indicated, here is the official content of this second DLC:

• The Heist Pack, including Payday 3 : Chapter 2 – Boys in Blue.
• The Weapons Pack, with 3 new weapons, 26 mods and 2 cosmetics.
• The Tailor Pack, with 4 new masks, costumes and gloves.

The skins and weapons are still cool, but what interests us the most, what justifies the purchase, is the new map offered.

The objective of the mission is to go to a police station and unlock the evidence room. For this it is necessary to enter the captain's office and then find the prints and the card necessary to open that day. It is possible, in passing, to place cookies.

The formula is interesting. However, it suffers from a number of problems.

First of all, while the map is quite large, the main area of ​​the mission is much less so… and it is overcrowded. You also have to make many trips back and forth, avoiding detection each time, one mistake can ruin everything… it's quite frustrating. This is obviously often the case in stealth missions in Payday 3, but the fact that most of this mission takes place in the same room makes it even more unpleasant.

Also, in the absence of stealth, why not go there directly? The advantage is that this approach takes advantage of another part of the map – the parking lot – which is rarely used otherwise. However, we are then faced with many stages, always interspersed with attacks by the police, each time with a feeling of excess.

Last but not least, this DLC highlights the flaws of Payday 3, already mentioned in my review. First of all, this map could have been found perfectly in the first game: the variations are minimal and very few objects are interactive. Secondly, this mission would have been much more enjoyable in the 2, thanks to the much better thought-out skill tree of the second opus. Indeed, the mission could be simplified by several skills, which are either not available in the 3, or difficult to access due to the failed progression system.

And solo?

Besides the heist itself, I was most interested in the mode solo arrived in beta. It is still necessary to log in at the beginning and end, but this allows you to skip matchmaking and pause during the game, which is nice. No backup on the other hand (too bad, that would have been practical) and the companions AI are still just as useless.

This addition of Starbreeze is really appreciable, but for the moment in any case, it does not radically modify the experience.

It's time to checkout.

I'd like to tell you a story of redemption, that of a game that failed to launch and was able to improve thanks to the work of the developers. Unfortunately, nine months after its release, it's clear that this is not yet the case: the problems of the base game are still present. There are now four new missions – two paid, two free – but the problem with the game is its quality, not – or not only – its quantity of content. The single-player mode, in beta, is enjoyable, but it is not enough to completely reverse the perception.

Last but not least, this DLC is sold for €12 or integrated into the pass Gold of the game, which costs €45. It is also possible to buy the base game and the pass for €90, excluding sales. We'll have to see the rest of the content offered in the pass, but in any case, €12 seems very expensive for this mission alone.

Test carried out by Alandring using a version provided by the publisher.