It's back. It's better than ever. It's been working out, and it knows you know it looks good. And you owe it to yourself to see how hard that body really is. I think you'll find that the time apart has led to a lot of self-reflection and Payday 2 nows knows how to be a more complete experience.

I, like many others, quit when I got slapped in the face with my Crimefest 2015 reward: Microtransactions. Despite the promises made to the contrary, they added the ultimate evil to a game already bloated with DLC and struggling with middling patches and balancing. I was furious. The DLC already felt a little exploitative, now OVERKILL wants me to buy keys to hope I get the skins that have the stat buffs I needed to un-nerf my primary weapon? Yeah, thanks. I will pass.

However, like many of those that quit, upon finding that they had completely removed the microtransactions, left the cool skins, undone the nerf damages, patched the hell out of the game to polish the skill tress and make the game more accessible and expanded player freedom with respect to builds and weapons... I returned wary and cautiously excited. I am glad I did.

For people who haven't played this, if you have a friend who has a good amount of the DLC and you can play with them to try it out before really commiting it's worth it. It is also worth noting that without a sale, this game and all of it's DLC (purchased separately) will cost you a whopping $168.46. That is insane for a game that is 3 years oldand I wouldn't pay that ever - so in conclusion to this less-than-stellar grouping of words, if you can catch a sale, say 50-66% off, I highly recommend this game in its entirety. With a friend it is better. More friends, even better. Nothing can touch this kind of cooperative gameplay. It is in a league alone.

Solo this game doesn't feel like it offers much. Sure there are AI partners but they aren't very well developed - so the player ends up doing the brunt of the work. Carrying bags, moving hostages, managing drills and security systems - all reliant on player interaction. The AI simply will not do these things. They will only shoot back if fired upon, and attempt to revive the player should they be downed. This will prevent most solo players from being able to accomplish the harder, more complex heists. Some players like that kind of challenge (and to each their own) but I do not and I suspect most people drawn to this game aren't looking for a solo game anyways.

For $20 and with a crew you cannot go wrong. Otherwise, I would really consider what you're buying.