Regardless of having a brand new sequel, Payday 2 has maintained a mean of just about 10 occasions as many gamers as Payday 3 on Steam for the previous [period of time]. The ten-year-old co-op FPS briefly swapped locations with its successor when it launched final month, however as Starbreeze continues to work on the checklist of issues gamers have with Payday 3, gamers have returned to a recreation they know is nice.
Payday 3’s first patch appears to be on its manner, however its foundational points, just like the always-online requirement and development system, will probably take a while to iron out. In the meantime, there is a very related heist FPS accessible with 5 yr’s price of DLC and a wholesome inhabitants of gamers. In a time the place our favourite PC video games maintain getting changed by their sequels, it is a reduction you could nonetheless play Payday 2 whereas 3 stabilizes.
Survivors of the transition from the unique Overwatch to Overwatch 2 will know the way it feels to be pressured into enjoying a sequel that did not fairly have all of it found out but. Server points plagued the primary few days after its launch and bugs prompted Blizzard to quickly take away a number of heroes. It did not take very lengthy for Overwatch 2 to enhance, however no quantity of patches can repair the lack of a whole recreation that, for a lot of, was nonetheless enjoyable to play. Possibly much more enjoyable.
“Each time I study one thing new about Payday 2, I get disenchanted in Payday 3,” I wrote in my Payday 3 overview. Proper now, Payday 2 is not simply the extra steady and dependable co-op shooter: it is the one with a decade of accrued DLC, stuffed with ridiculous crossovers and over-the-top heists. Payday 3 is a extra grounded reset, and that change in tone would’ve been much more jarring if Starbreeze had tried to merge Payday 2 with its sequel. As poorly as Payday 3’s launch has gone, think about how a lot worse the scenario can be proper now if it was the solely option to play Payday.
Path of Exile’s developer noticed the pitfalls far sufficient forward to desert following this development.
“There was a degree the place we realized that our plan to exchange Path of Exile 1 with Path of Exile 2 would basically be eliminating a recreation that individuals love for no actual cause,” Grinding Gear Video games co-founder Jonathan Rogers mentioned earlier this yr when the developer revised its plans for the upcoming motion RPG sequel. Stay service video games like Path of Exile are filled with years of options and refined concepts. Even when these classes are introduced ahead right into a sequel, it is by no means going to be one-to-one. There are many individuals who nonetheless choose Diablo 3 over Diablo 4, for instance, and the older recreation even had somewhat little bit of a resurgence when it acquired its remaining main replace in August.
There’s worth in returning to previous video games, even when they may not run in addition to they as soon as did or haven’t got as many gamers queuing up for matches. Payday 2’s continued existence serves everybody. Followers of the collection can proceed to play certainly one of their favourite video games and new gamers can take the chance—and cheaper value—to get a style of what has saved Payday 2 one of the performed co-op shooters on Steam for years.
Starbreeze continues to hearken to its neighborhood of gamers with out forcing them to endure an expertise they do not like with no manner again, and that is saved Payday followers from shedding all hope. A lot of them nonetheless appear to be optimistic about Starbreeze’s skill to develop Payday 3 right into a sequel price enjoying. The developer has promised to sort out its inconsistent matchmaking issues with a fast play queue, and to transform how its grindy development system works–two of its most mentioned issues. These updates would possibly take a number of months, however when you do not forcibly take away folks from a recreation they nonetheless care about, they’re going to most likely be rather more prepared to belief that you’ll make it proper.