Payday 3 Has Four Difficulty Options, Overkill Will be “Brutal” and “Unfair”

Starbreeze Studios’s Payday 3 has a new developer diary available with tons of details, going over the different aspects of combat. Senior game designer Miodrag Kovacevic revealed that there would be four difficulty modes at launch – Normal, Hard, Very Hard and Overkill. Normal difficulty is for beginners who are learning to play.

Hard is considered the “default” difficulty when leveling up, and Very Hard is the next step after you’ve found a comfortable loadout. Veteran players will likely start at the latter difficulty, but there’s an even higher challenge awaiting them – Overkill, planned as a “brutal, unfair difficulty.”

Enemies and their health won’t change between difficulties. Instead, their numbers, accuracy and damage are adjusted. The idea is to “encourage people to be able to play with each other. One feeling we want to avoid is a situation where you have to play in an easier difficulty and be bored, or they have to play in a harder difficulty and be overwhelmed,” said Kovacevic.

Payday 3 launches on September 21st for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. It’s exclusive to current-gen consoles to deliver “the best version of the game” possible, with Starbreeze looking to emulate the feeling of a “Hollywood heist.” Head here for more details on its improvements and setting.