Is PAYDAY 3 worth buying in 2026?
SKIP
No — PAYDAY 3 is not worth buying in 2026. It is the rare sequel where the genre’s crowd has already held the vote: the game sits at Mixed on Steam while PAYDAY 2, a decade older, sits at Very Positive with a library of heists the sequel never approached. The heist night you want is the older game.
Mixed — 45% positive across 65,227 Steam reviews · Released 2023
official store today 14,24 €offer last seen 2 Sep 2026
The case
PAYDAY 3 is the deliberate skip of our Deep Rock Galactic guide, and it is there for the reason the note spells out: the sequel launched requiring always-online, shed features the previous game had, and shed its players along with them. A four-player heist game with nobody waiting in the lobby is not a game; it is a menu.
The Steam labels make the case against PAYDAY 3 in one line: the sequel’s overall rating is Mixed, its predecessor’s is Very Positive. That is not nostalgia — PAYDAY 2 has collected reviews for over a decade and the overall verdict is Very Positive. When a series’ own past beats its present this clearly, the purchase decision makes itself.
What to play instead of PAYDAY 3 depends on which half you wanted. For the heist itself, PAYDAY 2 is the answer and it is in our guide. For the four-friends-against-the-odds evening, Deep Rock Galactic, Left 4 Dead 2 and HELLDIVERS 2 each do it better, and every one of them is ranked in the guide linked below.
Buy it anyway if
- Your fixed crew of four has already agreed to buy it and you only care about the new heists
- You want the newer stealth and gunplay model specifically and know the heist library is thin next to PAYDAY 2’s
Skip it if
- You want a heist game with years of content — PAYDAY 2 is that game
- You play with random lobbies; the player base the sequel shed is the loudest complaint
- Launch-era always-online and missing features put you off — the Mixed rating is that history
FAQ
Is PAYDAY 3 better now than at launch?
Updates have shipped since launch, but the overall Steam rating is still Mixed at the time of this build. That rating is the crowd’s lifetime verdict; when it moves out of Mixed, this page updates on the next build.
Should I buy PAYDAY 2 instead of PAYDAY 3?
Yes. It is a decade of heists, a Very Positive Steam rating and a modding scene, against a sequel that offers a fraction of it. Our Deep Rock Galactic guide ranks it for exactly that reason.
Would a deep sale change this PAYDAY 3 verdict?
Only for a crew that has already committed. A heist game is only as good as the people in the lobby; a low price does not bring them back.
What to play instead
Want a co-op night that delivers? Our Deep Rock Galactic guide ranks PAYDAY 2, Left 4 Dead 2, HELLDIVERS 2 and more — and names PAYDAY 3 as the one to skip.