First of all, I’m not going to talk about the server issues because they are going to be fixed and forgotten anyway soon, but be aware from the 4 days this game has been out it is not an overstatement to say that more than an entire day was completely unplayable.

The game itself feels and plays amazingly. Guns handle and feel just right, making the core gameplay fun no matter how many times I play. The heists all seem very unique, every single one being well thought out and complicated enough to be a little challenging, which I consider to be a big improvement from the previous game. The enemy ai is much smarter than before, using cover more often, moving as groups behind shields and just genuinely feel more threating than before. But the biggest improvement is definitely the stealth. No more sit in a corner and wait until the drill is finished. It now feels like you are always active during stealth, instead of having a ton of downtime like in PD2, which makes stealth now my preferred option to do heists. Skills seem ok. I miss the wackiness of the skills in the second game, but they are fine as they are for this game.

On to the negatives and oh boy there are a lot. Exp is a mess to say the least. Gaining exp is tied to challenges like “kill x amount with y weapon” and so on, which forces you into playstyles you normally wouldn’t want to play just to level up faster. Also do you remember how I just said that I prefer stealth? Well, stealth gives nearly no exp at all, making it practically useless when it comes to rewards. I really thing this whole system needs a rework.

Leveling weapons up seems needlessly grindy. Not a single weapon I have is close to being on the max and it just feels so unnecessary. Just let me buy my attachment like in PD2. There is no reason to have a level system at all. Or at least up the weapon exp that you earn.

Worst of all though is the solo experience, which practically does not exist. To play solo you must create a multiplayer lobby and set it to “invite only”, which means real solo play does not even exist. Which also means that heists are not scaled down for solo playing, meaning they have the same number of enemies as if you played with four people and the same objectives. In no “rest for the wicked” for example it is not possible to disable all dye packs alone, making a run with all bags impossible on this mission. Most of this would not be a problem if the bots you get as teammates were good enough, but they are useless. In stealth they are inactive and in loud they die on repeat because they are as dumb as a brick. You cannot even customize them, meaning they always run around with the worst weapon, making even their dps output pathetic. Most of the time they do not even shoot at snipers and just stay in their line of sight the entire time. All of this is just disappointing, as I really enjoyed playing solo in PD2.

In situations like these I really wished steam has mixed or neutral options, but I’m still giving it a recommendation, as I do thing the core gameplay is fantastic and that all problems can be easily fixed. At least some communication about these problems in the near future would be appreciated.