Recent reviews by LamMenade

Short review:
Base game is decent enough on its own. Casual survival, more fun than challenging. Realism over realistic.
DLC: There are 3 which give you actual real content, those are pretty good, but still not necessary. Rest are just cosmetic. Don't listen to the others saying you need to spend 150 big moneys to start playing.
If you're unsure about the game go watch a stream for a bit or something.

Long ramble-y version review:
Having been around from since before full release, I'm happy with my purchase.
But having read through the reviews I'm rather confused as if I'm playing a different game compared to others.
I often see people complaining you can't experience the full game without a significant investment, however out of all the DLC there's 3 which are actual content, and the rest are merely "cosmetics" absolutely not necessary. The DLC content while big and good are exactly what DLC should be, additional content to the main game.
Even the paid content you can experience as a group if only 1 person has bought them and hosts them.

Since I tend to take lengthy breaks, I wasn't really keeping up with the DLCs, but never felt like significant parts of the game would be locked away from me. Progression from tier 1 through 4 keeps me engaged long enough before I naturally move on to other sources of entertainment.
Granted, this is a more personal preference point, since I enjoy running in with new characters every time I sit down to play this alone or with friends, all while slowly picking away at the account level progression.

Additionally what makes this more enjoyable is the fact they keep up with the weekly updates, and every time I jump in after a break there's a load of new content to explore for completely free.

The choice between progressing in the game the original intended way through missions, or entirely through the open world mode, as requested by the community, is a great execution for options.

I'm happy to think of this game as one of my favourites.
Quite frankly, I was sold when the idea was just "cavemen in spacesuits". And it only got better since.
Even if I've only clocked in 1/10th of the time on it as I have with some others.

The uh.. the wedding? What wedding? Never heard of a wedding in my life.

Having played the demo so far, it does scratch the HoMM itch with a nice mix of familiarity and freshness. I really do genuinely hope they'll be able to finally pull off a good "sequel" to follow the earlier legendary games in the series, and hopefully not draw too much from the not-so-legendary ones.

Simply nothing compares.

UI Revamp? A slight touch up, sure.
I mean it needed it. I'm not saying it didn't. It just needs a lot more than this.

The core systems that just make the game hardly bearable are just as present as ever, it just looks a tiny bit nicer.
Gun vendors are still an unorganised mess, gun customisation and modding are just an awful system, mask customisation is nearly pointless, as the masks aren't designed to be customised.

Gun mods hardly feel impactful to how it handles, and some of them don't even make senes.
Why would I slap a stock built around buffer-tube on the end of a gun that doesn't even have a buffer tube? Why make specialised attachments universal, while making other universal attachments gun specific?
The guns feel way too weak. It's like they completely ignored the existence of the only reason the studio is still afloat, being the previous installment of the game. They have nothing to do with how they operated in the previous title, hell, they don't even follow the same naming scheme.

The gun sound design felt thought out in 2, meaty sounding guns doing a lot of damage and lighter sounding ones expectedly dealing less, even if unrealistic. Now everything feels like it should pack a punch only to require you to empty half a magazine into a standard unit if you don't go for headshots with "Edge".

The whole Edge-Grit-Rush system also feels super underthought. it's just a dozen ways to acquire / refresh the same buffs so you can get your minuscule buffs. I'd much rather enjoy more passive bonuses that are now tied to these conditions, and more active ones that are just more impactful that you have to work for.
The gameplay itself is hardly engaging as well, and it just makes me feel depressed for what this could've been.

We're now nearing a state the the game probably could've launched in. Maybe in early access.

Despite how underwhelming it is now, I still believe that in about 2,5 years from launch we'll have a fun game on our hands, and it'll only just keep improving from there, I do. But my god, I am just not sure it'll live long enough.

I'm not happy with what the studio have produced, but I do wish them the best. I hope they'll be able to pull through, and I'll probably stick around to keep checking in, but as it stands-

I can not recommend this to a newcomer.
I do not wish for their first experience with the payday franchise / universe to be tainted by what Strabreeze have put out on the market.

I'll leave the previous reviews below as a sort of a journal, a time capsule. I hope I'll get to come back and edit this many more times.

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I wouldn't necessarily say recommended, still, but I'm more leaning towards it now as opposed to leaving a negative review.
I still stand by my previous statement where I said this needs a couple more years on the oven, but we're slowly getting there. Not quite there yet, but on the right path.

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Originally I made a joke that you should just play Raid WW2 instead.

Then I changed the review to state this game's fun when it is playable

Since then I've been running into more and more occasions where it doesn't even function.

This needs another couple of years in the oven, honestly.

I do still trust that we'll have a good game that's payday 3 in the next few years, but this is FAR from it currently.

But do just play Raid WW2, it's genuinely the best thing to come out of the payday franchise, even if it has nothing to do with it really.
(especially after the latest updates, there's some real gold stuff there.)

I wasn't ready
Edit:
Enough time has passed. I am now ready.

It may be pretty, but it's also just mostly bland, or irritating. Doesn't really bring much to the table.
Gameplay is basically identical to 5's, world and missions aren't that exciting, and most enemies are either too weak or just not fun to fight.

Way more fun than most people make it out to be. Especially the characters!

Feels a lot smoother and more grounded than its Diesel cousin.

Also U21 hype

It has all the good "I"s ticked.
Immersive, Impressive, and of course, I-...gor

Yes.

Could I guarantee, that you won't hate it after a while?
No.

The game's great, it really has a lot to do.
But when it comes to freemode. It really is just an endless grind, made harder by griefers, cheaters, and sometimes Rockstar themselves.
While cheaters really are just an annoyance, griefers aren't the worst thing in the world. If you're up for a challenge, do your missions in public sessions, defend your goods.
If you'd rather turn the game into something more like Farming simulator, invite, friend, and crew only sessions exist.

It can be fun most of the time, but the most efficent money making methods tend to be more annoying ones.

Yes.