PAYDAY 2 Starts Engine Upgrade Open Beta

PAYDAY 2 has been out for years at this point, with its 13th anniversary nearing this August. As one of the staples and most well-received four-player co-op shooters, it's been an important part of Steam history for a long time, and despite its age, continues to do so.

While Starbreeze Studios' sequel, PAYDAY 3, missed the mark with players and continues to be in the Mixed rating on Steam with thousands of reviews and only 44% of them being positive, PAYDAY 2 continues to surpass expectations. Just this month, and a few days ago at that, the team announced that PAYDAY 2 would be receiving an engine upgrade, which brings a fair bit of upsides to the experience:

• Port to 64 bits
• DX11 from DX9
• Game file size reduction, bringing it to about 32GB (from a whopping 87)
• Faster load times on SSDs
• Six-character lobby codes

It's an exciting time for those who loved the sequel, as the Diesel engine was restructured entirely to bring the technical improvements players had been wanting. And, for those who are excited to lend a hand, the PAYDAY 2 Engine Upgrade beta is live now, available for everyone who wants to join.

It's not clear whether the Open Beta will be available for a limited time or until the full release, so those looking to join should do so soon. Sidetrack Games — who seems to be spearheading the PAYDAY 2 upgrade — details that there are bound to be plenty of bugs in the release, alongside mod incompatibility.