As of writing this, the game is currently launching for everyone

I've got about 30 hours as I had access to the early launch and boy, I'm impressed, but there are definitely some things to improve upon.

PROS :

- Stealth has been majorly improved, it's more forgiving, more intuitive and more open (no more detection stat, any build can be used to stealth if you can pull it off)

- New mechanics are a welcome addition (using civilians as shields will push the cops to change their strategy to get the civ out of harm's way before attacking you.), negociation phase is also great to buy yourself time and ressources

- I personally like the armor rework, it feels more useful and important now, you seriously want to keep those chunks full and make use of your surroundings to avoid any amount of damage.
Additionally, the new armor choices are pretty neat, you either have low armor but high mobility, the middle ground, or high armor, but low mobility, as an armor enjoyer, I approve :)

- Feels like each weapon has a use now, but again, you might find a favorite or two because of your playstyle.

- OVERKILL difficulty now REALLY MEANS OVERKILL, you will NOT be able to get through it loud on your own, seriously, they upped the ante on the difficulties, and that's without even increasing the AI's HP, nope, they're more accurate and coordinated, as it should be.

- Special enemies have had quite a change in designs, they tend to blend in more with your basic cops, especially the dozer, taser (who's now called zapper in this game, don't ask me why.) and the brand new grenadier, who I personally quite like.
I feel it's a neat change in my opinion, making the use of pinging much more important in regards to team cooperation, especially as there's now a skill line focused on that, the new weak points are also a welcome addition, it's a great way for casual players, who might not be too keen on always aiming for the head, to be able to deal with these threats, they're pretty easy to spot if you pay attention, so kudos to the designers.

- The maps and heists themselves are great, each have their own gimmick and all can be done either stealth or loud (except Road Rage being only loud), with both options feeling special in their own way, environnement design is next to perfect, you can seriously turn any of the maps into a pure warzone, making use of anything as cover, and using nearby extinguishers / propane tanks as opportunities.

- Skill trees and perk decks have been combined into one single skill line system, feels more simple, but some might disagree, overall it seems to do it's job for now.

- Tutorial seems to be good enough for whoever's getting into the game for the first time, or for any returning player / veteran, great job on that !

- The tools you have can be used both in stealth and loud just as efficiently (expecting the ECM jammer), which I find is a great design choice imo.

Overall if you're looking for a mix of Payday 2's RPG elements / weapon & character customisation with PD:TH,'s more grounded and medium-paced gameplay and gritty setting, you'll love it here.


CONS :

- No Offline play, I get it's likely necessary, with the Nebula account gimmick and all that, but please look into making one for the future.

- UI could use some work, specifically the "Vendor" section, I dunno who thought mixing the primary & secondary weapons in the same place was a good idea but they gotta go back to the drawing board.
Same for the pre-planning, if you're into that sort of stuff, you'll find that PD3's pre planning is a MAJOR downgrade from even PD2's pre planning back on it's launch, really hope they'll also rework it entirely post-launch.

- The matchmaking system is a little scuffed, there's no "CrimeNet", you simply pick a heist you wanna play, a difficulty and the game will put you in any lobby that fits what you picked, after the heist is done, there's no option to stay with the randoms you were given, kinda defeats the whole purpose of "making your crew along the road".

- Whilst I LOVE the overkill weapons, only having two to pick from seems quite underwhelming, don't get me wrong, they're great, but please give us more options-

- C Stacks are a good concept, but personally I have little to no use of them, unless there's a preset you like, you'll never bat an eye to it, especially when some of the charms cost a 100 of these, which is uh, a lot of dosh for just a lil trinket on your gun

- Kinda associated with the UI issue again but WHY DO WE GOTTA BUY FAVORS FROM THE VENDORS ??? WHY IS IT IN THE "ARMS DEALER" CATEGORY ?? WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IMPROVEMENT ?? HUH ?

- This one is sort of a personal nitpick, but I ain't a fan of how the stickers look, yeah that's it.

- The challenges are great, but we need more ways to know how to do them, simply going to a menu and reading through hundreds of these (most of them being just 'higher levels' of previous ones) is not a good way to incentivise people to care about them unless they REALLY want to level up, I get it's the point of the new Infamy system, but please look into more options to make it more accessible to the more "casual" part of the playerbase

- Why is the "Quit game" option in the "more" section

- No more "dodge" builds, personally I don't mind it, but I know many people who will find it to be an issue.

I know there are more cons than pros, but I'm mainly being nitpicky because I want this game to perform to it's expectations, it's meant to be a successor, and I very much hope my review will help with that.

I think that's pretty much all I gotta say about the game, it's got the potential to be a gem, but it's got some corners that need more polish, and quite a bit of rework on certain aspects before it can get there, I still very much recommend you buy this game whenever you can as I'm sure you'll enjoy it a lot if you're into FPS grounded coop experiences.

My rating, 0/10, can't climb in the back of the van anymore, please fix now >:(

8/10, I can definitely see this game as one I'll put a good few hundred hours into, if not a thousand-