Tin Salamunic: People play video games for different reasons. Some play as means of socializing with their friends, some to relieve their frustrations on complete strangers, while others seek unaccompanied escapism. With the entire industry shoving multiplayer and social aspects down our throats, I sometimes feel like I belong to a dying breed of gamers…those who still play games to step away from constantly being connected. Looking at all the trailers for next generation titles, the single-player experience seems nearly extinct. There are fewer and fewer games like Skyrim and The Last of Us and virtually every title these days carries frighteningly similar multiplayer modes with criminally minimal changes to the formula. A few exceptions aside, the differences between most multiplayer ventures are indistinguishable. Fundamentally, I have nothing against multiplayer, but it seems that every competitive match I’ve played in the last decade has resulted in some enraged teen throwing a tantrum fit and ruining everyone’s fun. So why am I bringing this up? Well, because Payday 2 happens to be one of those rare exceptions where the developers decided to alter the playing field. It's a wonderful rarity that encourages, no forces cooperative teamwork…and despite its technically abysmal shortcomings, it’s one of the finest multiplayer titles I’ve played in years.
GB: "Of course, Payday 2 has had its fair share of ups and downs as well, in spite of the success that it has enjoyed. For starters, the disparity between the game’s PC and console versions is a major issue that plagued the game for years on end, thanks to the frustrating optimization issues across platforms brought about by the Diesel Engine, which the game was developed on."
Payday 2 launched 10 years ago today, and a constant stream of updates still makes it worth playing ahead of Payday 3.
Starting today, Payday 2 is free at Epic Games Store. The free game offer runs until June 15. Once you claim it, it's yours to keep.
