and what elevator the SWAT teams spew out of. All of this knowledge lets me calmly navigate the building when the alarms are inevitably raised without firing a shot. But Payday 3 thrives in the chaos.

Payday 3's skill tree system is filled with room for ... Menacing You can shout at guards, SWAT or Heavy SWAT within 5 meters of you to force them to surrender. As long as you're aiming at them ...

In Payday 2, cops and SWAT members were essentially zombies that just spread out and ran at you, but in Payday 3 the enemy AI spawns in units. These units work as a team, sometimes with a shield ...

In Payday's cops-'n'-robbers fantasy world, SWAT teams respond instantaneously ... You can play Payday 3 like that—a wave shooter with stealing-related chores—but I prefer the harder stealth ...

Does Payday 3 accomplish that? We won’t actually know ... I’ll often mow down some SWAT goons only to find another one staring off into the distance, blissfully unaware of the commotion ...

As the developers have promised, Payday 3 features far more intelligent AI units compared to the previous games. For example, SWAT teams will take cover behind their colleague's shields and avoid ...

and it’s hard to feel bad about being caught red-handed when shooting in Payday 3 is so good. Ammo is scarce, which means landing headshots on heavily-armoured SWAT foes is a necessity.

It seems fitting that my hour-long hands-on with Payday 3 matched my memories of playing ... bloody one than my experience of climbing over SWAT team bodies piled high in doorways.