Payday 3 is playable only on PS5 and offers co-op heist-focused shooting. While it had an awful launch, Overkill Software has since released numerous updates, quality-of-life changes and content. Granted, it’s still not at the level of Payday 2, but it could satisfy longtime fans who want to try something new.

High on Life and Pac-Man World Re-Pac are playable on PS4 and PS5. The former is a first-person shooter from Squanch Games with Rick and Morty-esque humor as players battle an alien cartel to save humanity. The latter is a remake of 2004’s Pac-Man World, a 3D platformer unlike its arcade brethren (though the original classic is unlockable).

All three titles will be available until March 3rd. Check out this month’s offerings here, including Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

Overkill’s The Walking Dead has had a troubled life. The game launched last year for PC, was met with mixed to negative reception owing to a ton of issues, leading to its commercial underperformance– recently, we even had rumors that the console version of the game would be canceled altogether (though 505 Games would go on to deny that).

Now, the saga has come to the expected conclusion with Skybound Games, the license holder of The Walking Dead games (and a part of Robert Kirkman’s larger Skybound Entertainment), announcing today that they will cancel the game entirely, and stating that it did not meet the “standards of quality that [they] were promised”.

“As of today, we have terminated our contract with Starbreeze Studios and will discontinue all efforts on Overkill’s The Walking Dead,” Skybound said in a statement. “Our creators and their stories are the core of Skybound, and since 2014 we have worked hard to expand the world of The Walking Dead into an exceptional Co-op Action FPS.

“We did our best to work with Starbreeze and resolve many issues that we saw with the game, but ultimately Overkill’s The Walking Dead did not meet our standards nor is it the quality that we were promised. We are exceedingly sorry to our fans and share their disappointment in the game. We remain dedicated to providing our fans with the most premium quality content we can offer, and will continue to look for alternative video game options for the IP.”

It seems, then, that the console version will not be coming either. To me, it is mind-boggling that something so obvious, and such a conceptual slam dunk as “The Walking Dead co-op shooter” managed to get mangled up so badly, but here we are.

Overkill’s The Walking Dead is a new Walking Dead game by Overkill, which I am sure comes as a surprise to you. The game is a co-op action game, made in the vein of Payday 2, set in the Walking Dead universe.

That said, there are nuances to the game that should potentially add layers to it that other similar games of its ilk don’t have. These include RPG mechanics such as leveling, and survival mechanics such as crafting. We look at both of those in this guide.

LEVELING YOUR CHARACTER

Leveling your character is actually a fairly easy process. You do need to remember that each character levels separately—which means that EXP is not shared, and you need to actually play with a character for them to grow and develop. You get EXP for completing a mission (more for completing it successfully, but still some for failing it). EXP lets you level up.

Leveling up also gets you Skill Points, which are used to upgrade your character. To do that, go to “Character” from the main menu, where you will see the character’s skill tree. There are two skill trees available to every character:

• Class, which gives them specific perks and abilities that can be used during encounters and missions (these may be passive or active), and
• Core, which is used to upgrade their core characteristics such as stamina and health

Spend the skill points towards whatever skill you want from here, and that’s it. More skills and higher levels are going to make you stronger, which lets you take on later missions with ease.

CRAFTING

While crafting is a survival mechanic, Overkill’s The Walking Dead makes a lot of concessions to playability. You don’t have to worry about any inventory space, which means each map you start on, you can go around scavenging resources from any cabinet or other point of interest you see wantonly.

Crafting is done for items that are tied to your skills—bandages for healing, smoke grenades for distractions, lockpicks for lockpicking, and so on. Open up the crafting menu, and simply craft the item you want by selecting then ability it is associated with on the screen. As long as you have enough resources, you will craft it without issue. And that’s it. Once it’s crafted, you can use it in game. Go you n

The cult hit Payday 2 has been an exemplary instance of post launch support since its launch in 2013 (well, at least the PC version, that is…), and that shows no signs of stopping any time soon. The hit heists based multiplayer action game has received another hefty content update today, that should keep it ahead of the game, even as AAA publishers gear up to launch their own competing products in the genre.

Two new batches of new content were made available today: the Bomb Heists, and the Dragan Character Pack. These include:

The Bomb Heists

• A new contact, called the Butcher, brought to life by actress Mira Furlan (LOST, Babylon 5)
• Two all-new heist where you steal a bomb from a police protected train or a ship
• Pre-planning; plan the Bomb heists beforehand so you can perform the perfect crime
• Four new masks, materials and patterns
• The LEO pistol, a new secondary weapon with accompanying weapon modifications

Dragan Character Pack

• A new crew member called Dragan, the first Croatian member of the PAYDAY gang
• The new Lion’s Roar Assault Rifle with accompanying weapon modifications
• Dragan’s own personal Cleaver melee weapon
• Dragan’s mask that everyone identifies him with
• A new perk deck called the Infiltrator, focusing on using the environment to gain an upper hand

You can find these on Steam, just like the game, so don’t forget to get them, especially since Payday 2 is another example of good DLC.