The driving force of many long-lasting games is a thriving modding community. Payday 2 has been around since 2013, yet it has managed to maintain a significant amount of popularity through the constant flow of content. Part of that content has been its growing list of mods. In spite of a rocky history, just about every aspect of the game can be changed in one way or another depending on an individual's preferences.
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Some are just fun aesthetic changes that don't hold any real value in gameplay; meanwhile, others change the very nature of the game itself. It is simply up to the player to pick and choose at their pleasure, though some mods are more worth downloading than others.
Re-Texture Project
The first thing anyone should do when diving into the world of video game mods is to download a bunch of things that make the game look nicer. This pack will do just that. It effectively changes the textures of most of the game into better quality versions, or replaces them outright with something else. The result is a 2013 game that looks on par with Valheim's upgradedtextures. What's important is that it stays within the spirit of the original; that way, nothing clashes or feels too out of place. It simply feels like an upgrade.
Intro Cinematics
This one is another nicety that doesn't really change how the game is played, but still adds a nice flair to some of the more dull moments. Normally, a player is met with a fade from black when they initiate a heist. This mod adds a fancy cinematic introducing the level. It really adds to the feel of the game, as it makes the start of the heist more weighty. It can be useful for checking out what a mission will look like before going in, though that is just a small thing.
Advanced Movement Standalone
For a more significant change to the gameplay itself, the Advanced Movement Standalone will drastically change how the player traverses the map. Heisters will move faster, be able to slide down walls, and most importantly, be able to wall run — basically, everything one can expect from Dying Light 2. What is even more hilarious are the offensive capabilities of this movement set. Jumping off a wall and into an enemy will inflict massive damage. The same goes for sliding. There are even custom maps that require the use of this mod in order to play, truly showing how popular it is.
Tailor Expansion
Basic players of Payday 2 hardly spend any money on the game past the initial asking price. For these gamers, it can be tough not having access to so much bonus material that really enhances the experience. That is especially true when it comes to the game's customization options.
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Vanilla players will have access to a limited amount of outfits for their heister. This mod changes that. Now every outfit has a great number of color schemes that give people the freedom that they desire, including DLC outfits.
Hyper Heisting
There is no better showcase of the power of a solid modding community than the overhaul mod, one that completely changes the feel or way a game is played. Hyper Heisting changes a lot of the base Payday 2 product. Almost every aspect of the game has been tweaked to some capacity in this mod. Weapons are rebalanced, AI is more sophisticated, the over-powered builds are tweaked, etc. In case the old game just felt too off to be enjoyable, Hyper Heisting puts a fresh new take on it.
Jokermon
In case the title does not give it away, Jokermon turns one of the most enjoyable pastimes of Payday 2 into a full-fledged system that carries over to other heists. In the game, the player can unlock skills that allow them to convert basic enemy units into allies. This mod adds more depth to these converts. They now carry over to each heist, effectively turning the game into a pokemon clone. They can level up too. The player can even turn on perma-death to make each endeavor more stressful.
MUI
At first, it doesn't seem like the mod does much at all. The title literally stands for Minimalist User Interface. On the surface, it simply makes the UI much cleaner. But, what makes it special is its customization. Nearly every aspect that this mod affects can be individually tweaked to the player's own personal preference. For that alone, it makes for an extremely versatile asset to have on board when playing through a heist. With more free space, the player will be able to more easily grasp their surroundings.
Payday 2: Crackdown Mod
This is another overhaul mod, but this one adds more variety on top of the rebalancing. Not only will the player receive much-needed balancing for skills and facing more sophisticated enemies, but there are entirely new enemies as well.
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Higher difficulties will make the AI smarter as well. New maps are thrown in for good measure. This mod truly is the ultimate overhaul. If players are unhappy with the way the game plays normally or are just interested in a new way to play, then there are certainly worse ways to spice things up.
Third Person
This mod is pretty self-explanatory: with it, the heister can now enter third-person mode. However, there is a bit more to it than that. The camera can be adjusted to some extent, but what makes this addition really interesting is that the player can seamlessly switch between first-person and third-person over the course of a heist. It is a freeing experience. One of the greatest aspects to this feature is the increased awareness one gets by having a greater view of their surroundings. This can be important on missions where enemies can seemingly come out of nowhere.
Tactical Leaning
Payday 2 would not be considered a modern shooter by many metrics. Even in 2013, the game was lagging behind its contemporaries in the shooter market. This mod levels the playing field. Now, the player can lean with their laundry list of weapons. This may seem utterly insignificant at first, but such a skill can be vital in sketchy situations where the player needs to shoot something without completely leaving the safety of cover. This is especially true for stealth missions, where heisters would previously have to move their whole body out of cover to look around causing them to risk being spotted.
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