History VideoGame / Payday2

** When you find the meth lab in the VideoGame/HotlineMiami job, Bain will reminisce about all the other meth labs you've blown up, which is both a reference to the Rats job as well as a small TakeThat to players who always opted to blow up the lab in Rats rather than cook the meth, in order to try and speedrun it.

** A very subtle jab at the players, [[TakeThatUs and possibly themselves]], in Hoxton Breakout. A common complaint about any given heist DLC is that it's too short, and said DLC typically costs $7. Cue Bain's comment when you take the parking ticket back after getting through the parking garage:

** The police would absolutely ''not'' [[IFoughtTheLawAndTheLawWon send wave after wave of cops to take down four crooks]], especially if they were being cut down like blades of grass (which even the cops will note at times, often complaining that "this isn't working"), and they would ''definitely'' hesitate to take action if they had civilian hostages (not hesitate as in "delay the next assault by X minutes", more like "surround the building until they have a solid attack plan to save the hostages"). On the other hand, normal people can't take several hundred bullets to the chest and still keep going, nor does body armor [[RegeneratingShieldStaticHealth somehow return to full effectiveness]] after stopping a couple dozen rifle-caliber rounds simply by not getting hit again for a few seconds, so the breaks come on both sides. Banks also ''do not'' have several hundred thousand dollars in cash, gold and other trinkets on hand, specifically ''because'' of the possibility of getting robbed, though Bain will often [[Handwave explain why]] the banks in question have as much as they do and it's always an unusual circumstance[[labelnote:such as]]Temporary currency transfer, preparations for an influx of people cashing paychecks, wayward gold shipment, notice of "interesting" safe deposit box contents, etc.[[/labelnote]], except for Big Bank, [[BringIt which simply hasn't been robbed in 200 years]], and Brooklyn Bank, where the objective is [[spoiler:to get at a medallion buried within the vault of the bank]] rather than its money.

** Also applies to playstyles, as updates have been known to {{nerf}} entire loadouts. Of course, due to the frequent updates mentioned above, a single update can even leave you nerfed by [[FakeBalance overpowering another]], making you obsolete by comparison.

* FakeBalance:
** Armor VS Dodge. Early in the game's life, heavy armor gave good protection while reducing the player's speed a little bit while light armor and the suit gave more speed and dodge. After several rebalances were implemented in the game, most heavy armors no longer had dodge values, were given a bigger speed penalty, and did not get buffed to compensate for the damage boost that enemies were given after their rebalance (Suits and light ballistic vests were the only armors that retain dodge values). Several perk decks also give bonuses to dodge, which made it possible for players to avoid the majority of attacks from enemies (including the [[DemonicSpiders SWAT turret]]). Dodge became the go to stat to build up on since it was easier to increase it with zero penalty whereas armor only offers limited protection in exchange for slower movement and no dodge. In a nutshell, dodge based builds have more benefits that outweighs any weaknesses they may have whereas armor builds can be a liability on higher difficulties because they have too many weaknesses.
** Likewise, a similar phenomenon occurs for Armor VS Health in terms of recovery. A few perk decks in favor of armor either decreases the delay of armor regeneration or gives more armor for the user. The perk decks that favor health gives the player several ways to recover from it, such as picking up dropped ammo, killing enemies, and damaging enemies. While the downsides for perks that have health regeneration impose restrictions like limiting how much health per few seconds one can recover or requiring the user to wear light armor, a careful and skilled player can easily regain any health lost with several options on how to do it and can even go without the need of Doctor Bags and First Aid Kits whereas armor has nothing to aid it other than the player simply taking cover and playing carefully or using the Anarchist perk deck and killing enough enemies to keep their armour topped up.

** Similarly, characters that need to be kept alive in order to fulfill heist objectives cannot be killed. For example, the Taxman in Undercover needs to be beaten up in order to extract codes from him; he can be knocked out, which delays completion of the heist, but can never be beaten or shot to death. Matt on Heat Street, who needs to be escorted to the end of the heist, and the computer technician on St Martin Bank, who is needed to hack the bank's security systems, are also otherwise ordinary characters who are immortal as an anti-frustration feature.

** Firstly, players can attain a maximum level of 100, and leveling slows to such a crawl that even Death Wish heists will provide only a fraction of XP than that of the later levels. Taken even further with the "Infamous" prestige levels, which require players to grind to Level 100 for the pleasure of paying $200M in saved offshore cash [[SkillPointReset to lose all normal cash and upgrades;]] in other words, players wipe the slate totally clean[[note]]players drop everything save for weapons, mods, masks, materials, perk deck cards, perk points and any offshore cash left over; weapons locked to level caps cannot be equipped[[/note]] for a spade logo in front of their name, increased XP rewards, special 'infamous' items, and a better chance of rare drops. Infamy can be done up to ''five hundred'' times, making for an effective level requirement of '''50,100'''. The grind was somewhat alleviated in a major update that rebalanced XP rewards for everything; XP significantly loses speed around level 70, but early players now earn equipment easier and infamy players can find their feet much faster. Additionally, once you go past Infamy 5, there is no offshore cash requirement, making the grind significantly easier from that point forward.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: To say the game in its original state was very different is a {{Understatement}}, to the point it feels like a totally different game altogether:
** Due to Pete Gold being initially unavailable at launch, Hoxton was replaced by Dallas' American brother who still used Hoxton's name. Once the original Hoxton returned, the new Hoxton was renamed to Houston.

** Not only could you not use your offshore money to set up heists, or buy anything for that matter, you couldn't pick what heist you wanted ''at all''. You had to rely on RNG of Crime.Net giving you the heist you want.
** Due to a GameBreakingBug which had them crashing the game when they downed a player, the infamous cloakers were not present until the Gage Weapon Pack #02 in 2014.
** Depending on circumstances (the heist going loud alongside dead civilians or taking too long), a additional escape level would trigger, resulting in the player having to wait for another getaway driver to come pick them up while holding off hordes of cops. These escape levels did not get added to future heists. Unlike most of these example, [[TheArtifact these are still in the game]].
** Some contractors were biased towards ways to do heist. A majority of the days for Hector's heist favor loud[[note]]Rats and Watchdogs could only be done loud, while Day 1 of Firestarter is loud only despite the other two days being able to be stealthed.[[/note]] while the Elephant favors stealth[[note]]Framing Frame and Election Day provided very valuable loot if the alarm was not triggered, and become unavailable if the alarm was set off. Day 1 of Big Oil will have the bikers setting the intel on fire if they are alerted and not secured in time. While Day 2 inevitably goes loud, stealthing most of it is desired due to how heavy the cold fusion engines are and the lack of cops distracting you makes looking at the clues for which engine is the right one easier, as well as the cops not shooting computers providing clues.[[/note]] Despite the future heists having a mix of loud only and stealth only alongside a mix of both, said mixes of both are unbiased and provide the same rewards.

** Weapon modifications were restricted to card drops, effectively making your guns better a LuckBasedMission. The Gage Courier Pack and achievements that award weapon mods made the process much easier.

** None of the HarderThanHard difficulties (Death Wish, which was latter accompanied with Mayhem and Death Sentence) existed initially, with all the difficulties, while obviously progressively harder, being the same when it came to the heists' design. Also, Death Sentence was originally named One Down when it was introduced, which had it so you only had one down before going into custody. The One Down mechanic was later made into a modifier instead.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Sniper enemies armed with bolt action M4 rifles may seem like an error or lazy recycling of game assets, but [[http://www.ruger.com/products/precisionRifle/models.html there is actually such a weapon.]]

* SpeedRun: Possible with the right tools like faster drills or C4 charges. Several heists have achievements for finishing under a certain time:
** ''Gone in 240 Seconds'': Finish Car Shop in under 4 minutes.
** ''12 Angry Minutes'': Finish Big Bank in under 12 minutes.
** ''Let's Do Th..'': Finish Ukrainian Job in under 30 seconds.
** ''Smoke and Mirrors'': Finish The Diamond in under 10 minutes.
** ''The Turtle Always Wins'': Finish the Art Gallery job in stealth in 4 minutes [[WithCatlikeTread with each crew member wearing the Improved Combined Tactical Vest.]]
** ''Long Fellow'': Complete the Meltdown job within 7 minutes.
** ''Full Throttle'': Complete the second day of the Biker Heist in under 2 minutes.
** ''Self Checkout'': Complete the Mallcrasher job in 3 minutes.
** There's no achievement for it, but Four Stores can be completed in under 2 minutes, as an ECM jammer or saw will let you open an ATM for far more than the needed amount within seconds, at which point you just wait 60 second for your getaway ride.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Sniper enemies armed with bolt action M4 rifles may seem like a case of CriticalResearchFailure or lazy recycling of game assets, but [[http://www.ruger.com/products/precisionRifle/models.html there is actually such a weapon.]]

* HardModePerks

** [[TheLeader The Mastermind]] (Dallas) has the most team bonuses, and focuses on situation control and manipulation. Also doubles as [[TheMedic team medic]], getting bonuses to the doctor bag and first aid kits, and abilities can expand to team buffs, greater accuracy with semi-auto weapons, and enemy/hostage manipulation. The Mastermind's WeaponOfChoice is anything that can be fired in single-shot mode.

* SignatureMove: Every class has several signature abilities and playstyles as well as a WeaponOfChoice.

* SequelDifficultySpike: Zigzagged. In Payday: The Heist, [[Main/DemonicSpiders special enemies used to be a much bigger deal]]. Cloakers were silent and Bulldozers were downright terrifying to see charging towards you. Many players trying out Payday: The Heist to see how the original game stacks up to Payday 2 will certainly be caught off guard by the difficulty. However, flipping the switch to harder difficulties like Death Wish or Death Sentence, enemies do a lot of damage compared to damage done in the first game, you can suffer knockback from enemy gunfire, enemies are more durable this time around, and you have fewer chances to stay alive if you go down multiple times. Cops can also steal your loot bag if you are not watching it. And then there's the One Down modifier...

* ConspicuousGloves: Dallas, Chains, Hoxton, Houston, Wolf, Wick, Clover, Dragan, Bonnie, Sokol, Jiro, Bodhi, Jimmy, Rust, Scarface, Sangrez, Duke, Ethan, Hila, and Joy all wear latex surgical gloves with their attire, regardless of the mission. They're obviously to prevent leaving fingerprints, but they're always left on, even when a heist goes loud and bullets start flying. Averted with Jacket and Sydney as the former wears bandages over his hands, and the latter wears fingerless gloves.
* ContinuityNod: The original safehouse in ''PAYDAY 2'' has a front as a dry cleaning store called Bodhi's Dry Cleaning, which is a subtle nod towards the front the crew used in the Counterfeit heist from the first game named Bodhi's Pool Repair. Boxes labeled with the names of previous heists also appear scattered around.

** Essentially, the entire police force in Washington DC. Every single cop that responds to one of your heists ''will'' shoot first and never bother with questions, violating every single police procedure for hostage situations and armed robberies. This goes double for the special units: Bulldozers and Cloakers in particular, who are violent and bloodthirsty.

** If players have a lot of hostages and/or don't fire any shots (even the first uniformed officers on the scene), the initial assault will take longer to occur, and the cops won't shoot as they're assessing the situation.
** Averted with all non-Murkywater security guards. Unless you attacked them first, they will always slowly walk up to you and try to cuff you. If you run though or fire back, they open fire. The cuffing can be a hazard since they can do this action while you're interacting with something, such as a pager.
* CreatorCameo: Simon Viklund, creator of the games' soundtrack, returns to voice Bain.

** The Hotline Miami heist is inspired by ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'',with a 2 day heists that has Hotline Miami-inspired layouts and designs, along with the games first boss battle. Jacket, the protagonist of the first game, was also added as a playable character for players who owned the special edition of ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber''. There are also four animal masks (plus four more for owners of Hotline Miami) based on the game.

** The Film/PointBreak reboot crossed over in the vein of John Wick - in that Reboot!Bodhi is now a playable character.

** To hype up ''Film/HardcoreHenry'', Jimmy from the film was added as a playable character[[note]]unlike Wick, Bodhi and Scarface, Jimmy is actually voiced by Sharlto Copley, his actor in the film[[/note]], as well as adding two heists; one loud heist set in a snowy Russian compound, and a stealth heist set in a hidden Murkywater trainyard, as well as a trailer for the game made by the film's director.
** On December 2016, we can now add ''Film/{{Scarface 1983}}'' to the list, as the game adds Tony Montana as a playable character, and a new heist taking place at Tony's mansion. This crossover only exists to promote a remake of a film ''that hasn't even begun filming yet!''

** ''Film/ReservoirDogs'' got a crossover... for what appears to be no apparent reason. It follows the events of the film, in that you start off at the end of a jewelery heist gone wrong, and end the heist at the ''start'' of the jewelery heist, similar to [[VideoGame/ReservoirDogs its videogame adaptation]] and the actual film.
* CrossPromotion: While Dell's line of Alienware computers were often promoted with Steam games[[labelnote:*]]Up until Valve decided to start up a line of steam machines, including (but not limited to) Dell this time[[/labelnote]], with Payday 2 being no exception (even including masks in here and its predecessor), there was a promotion for the Alienware Alpha, their then newest Windows Box[[labelnote:explanation]]It was intended to be a steam box to run on [=SteamOS=], but since it wasn't ready, Dell offered their machine with an X-Box 360 controller and wireless adapter, with Windows 8.1 installed, their own version of KODI, and included a bunch of games and content for free for early adopters. They would later produce a [=SteamOS=] versions a year later[[/labelnote]]. On top of featuring unique LED settings (the lights on the case matching up with assault phases), it would provide anyone playing on those machines two masks exclusive to those owners. There was also vouchers for the Alpha Mauler, provided for free but in limited quantities. While the mask can still be obtained by purchasing and playing on the alpha, the mauler is no longer available.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Since explosive weapons and throwables are viable options to use in the game, you can take down a regular blue-shirted police guy with a grenade, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs a grenade launcher]] or a '''''Rocket Launcher''''', just because they were standing in your way of the objective.

* Macguffin: Many of the non-monetary things you steal in the game qualify, Vlads' safes in Aftershock, the Tiara in Ukranian Job, the briefcases in Boiling Point and Brooklyn 10-10, the list goes on.

* BossInMookClothing: The Commissar looks similar to his fellow Russian mobsters and can't be marked, but has ''way more health'' and wields the [[{{BFG}} KSP]], a light machine gun utilized by the Bulldozers on Mayhem difficulty and above. The Commissar isn't immune to being knocked down though.

* BreatherEpisode: After ten heists revolving around the Kataru storyline [[note]] Alaskan Deal to Border Crystals [[/note]], Vlad contracts us for two (relatively) simple and light-hearted jobs: Robbing the ''San Martín Bank'', and busting out his brother-in-law in ''Breakfast in Tijuana''.

** Any heist remake form the first game has a remix of the music associated with that heist. For example, the Heat Street remake has "Double Cross 2017", and the No Mercy remake has "Code Silver 2018". The sole exception is the Diamond Heist remake, as the music associated with the original heist was already remixed with ''The'' Diamond Heist releasing a few years prior; and so instead another track was chosen, the fan-favorite "I Will Give You My All".

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Elephant[[note]]He is a Republican US Senator; said party has an elephant as a mascot.[[/note]] and The Dentist.

** "I'm Sure No One Heard That", which asks you to complete the heist in stealth, and then ruin the run by activating the metal detectors.
** "Murphy's Law" asks you to tag the wrong truck, and then find nothing in the vault when you drill into the malls' bank.