PAYDAY: Aces High Review

PAYDAY: Aces High brings the thrill of pulling off a heist into VR, where every grab, reload, and unexpected shootout puts you right in the middle of the action.

The PAYDAY franchise has built its reputation on one simple idea: plan a robbery, grab as much money as you can, and escape before things fall apart. Over the years, the series has turned bank robberies and other criminal jobs into cooperative experiences where communication matters just as much as your ability to shoot.

PAYDAY: Aces High takes that familiar formula into virtual reality, letting you take a more direct role in the action instead of controlling everything from a traditional first-person perspective. Instead of simply pressing buttons to interact with objects, you physically handle weapons, reload magazines, grab valuables, and operate equipment, making every heist feel more hands-on and immersive. 

Developed by Fast Travel Games, PAYDAY: Aces High centers on four-player cooperative heists.

Instead of simply aiming at enemies and pressing a button to interact with objects, you physically handle weapons, pick up loot, work with equipment, and move through locations while keeping an eye on your surroundings. That extra layer of interaction is what makes the VR experience so interesting. A robbery feels less like following objectives on a screen and more like being part of a crew that needs to get the job done.

PAYDAY: Aces High also understands that PAYDAY is about more than robbing a bank and shooting your way out. You need to consider how you enter a building, where you find valuables, how you move stolen goods, and what happens when security discovers you. Some jobs are best approached with care; others become firefights where you have to throw out your initial plan. The experience still boils down to the familiar tension between stealth and action.

However, taking a tried-and-tested formula into VR also brings challenges. The physical interactions need to feel natural, the weapons need to feel satisfying in your hands, and the cooperative systems need to work well enough that your teammates feel useful. PAYDAY: Aces High gets many of these elements right, especially with friends, but several awkward mechanics keep it from reaching its full potential.

PAYDAY: Aces High lets you join a new criminal operation centered on revenge against Warren Jupiter. You and your crew work through a series of jobs as you pursue your targets and build toward larger scores. The premise explains the robberies, but the main attraction is still planning and executing each heist. Your crime isn't the headline; the story is the background.

Your jobs vary from banks to museums to a luxury penthouse. Every setting provides another place to sneak into, valuables to lift, and security systems to bypass. Before you can move on to the next objective, you may need to find access codes, enter restricted areas, collect paintings, or hack terminals. 

The Aces also give your crew an identity. Hearts is the Mastermind, Clubs is the Ghost, Diamonds is the Technician, and Spades is the Enforcer. Each role contributes to the overall operation in a different way, making you think about how your team works together and not just that every player is a gunman. The division of roles adds another layer to the cooperative structure, especially when everyone communicates and understands their role.

But it is quite limited in the way the story is presented.

You don’t get the sort of detailed treatment that makes you feel deeply connected to the characters or to the events surrounding each job. Better storytelling and more cinematic scenes between missions would help set the stakes and give the robberies more context. When you restart a job and hear the same instructions again, repeated dialogue can also be tiresome. 

The core gameplay revolves around entering a location, completing its objectives, collecting valuables, and escaping with your earnings. Look beyond the main target, because additional loot can be scattered throughout the environment. Paintings, jewelry, money, and other valuables give you reasons to search rooms carefully instead of rushing directly toward the next objective.

VR's physical nature makes these tasks more engaging. You can reach out and grab things, manage equipment, and lug duffel bags instead of only having automatic interactions. You also have to balance your position against important tasks. You can dig into a safe or work on a vault to keep yourself busy, but your teammates will have to keep the enemies away while you finish. 

Heists also force you to memorize each location's layout. Security guards, cameras, locked areas, and scattered objectives can affect your path. Some involve stealing art and entering restricted areas, while others focus on reaching a vault or collecting valuables. Randomized loot and security placements ensure no two runs are ever the same, forcing you to scan your surroundings even if you already know the mission's general layout.

PAYDAY: Aces High is best played with others. One can collect valuables while another watches. The group can also decide where to take the bags or which objective to do first. A lot of it comes down to communication, because everyone can divide the work and respond if something goes wrong. Playing with friends also brings plenty of funny moments, especially when someone draws attention unintentionally or turns a carefully planned robbery into a desperate escape.

It's not as enjoyable to play by yourself.

Even the friendliest AI isn’t always as helpful as you want, and it can make some jobs unnecessarily hard. If you’re running a drill, your teammates might not cover you properly, leaving you vulnerable to incoming fire. They might also struggle in stealth sections where coordination is key to contributing meaningfully. 

PAYDAY: Aces High includes different difficulty settings, which give you room to approach familiar jobs with increasing pressure. Lower difficulties provide a more forgiving way to learn the objectives and understand the layout, while higher settings demand better coordination and punish mistakes more severely.

The difficulty levels generally create a clear difference in how demanding a robbery becomes, although stronger enemies can sometimes feel difficult mainly because they absorb more bullets rather than because they use especially clever tactics.

Progression gives you another reason to return to completed jobs. Successful heists earn money that you can spend on weapons and their different upgrade tiers. The available arsenal includes several types of assault rifles, submachine guns, pistols, and shotguns. Each weapon has tiers that change its appearance and improve stats like damage and accuracy. 

You can also unlock masks, complete challenges, and pursue achievements tied to different heist endings. Objectives encourage you to replay missions on different difficulties, attempt stealth runs, or complete jobs under specific conditions. This helps PAYDAY: Aces High last longer than a straightforward sequence of robberies. 

The puzzle mechanics focus on the practical tasks involved in a robbery. You might need to locate a code, access a restricted room, hack a terminal, or work out how to open a safe. These activities give you something to do beyond shooting enemies, and the physical controls make the process feel more involved than pressing a single interaction button.

Unfortunately, not every puzzle is as satisfying as it could be.

Safe combinations can be too easy to work out because the mechanism gives away useful information when you make a mistake. Once you understand how it behaves, you can often narrow down the combination without much effort. In these moments, it would be more rewarding to have different combinations for individual safes and to solve each one properly. 

Another area that needs more depth is environmental interaction. Some objects can be picked up and thrown, and breaking a window can offer a quicker way through a location. But the rules governing object interaction aren't always the same. Glass generally needs to be shot rather than smashed with your hands or another object, even when physically breaking it makes sense. 

Combat is where PAYDAY: Aces High becomes most intense. When stealth fails, enemies arrive in waves, forcing you to defend yourself while still working toward the objective. You must reload, find effective positions, and watch out for enemies coming from different directions. Take down heavily armored foes with strong weapons, and take down other larger enemies with sustained fire. 

Weapon handling is one of the most important parts of the VR experience. Earlier issues with overly guided magazine movement have been improved, making one- or two-handed weapon handling feel more natural. The guns also have satisfying audio feedback, and reloading becomes part of the physical rhythm of combat. 

However, shooting still has some frustrating aspects. Bullet spread can feel excessive, and enemies sometimes take too many shots to fall. That approach fits the franchise’s established combat style, but it is less satisfying when you are physically aiming a weapon in VR. Even when you line up your shots, the bullets do not always travel as accurately as you expect. 

Enemy behavior also needs more consistency. Guards and cameras can sometimes detect you when their line of sight doesn't seem to justify it, making stealth feel unpredictable. At other times, enemies are not particularly threatening beyond their numbers and health. Friendly AI has shown signs of being more useful when covering players operating equipment, but it isn't always reliable. 

The game does benefit from its physical interactions.

You can throw objects to distract security guards, and you can even push certain NPCs with your hands. These small actions use VR in a way that suits the setting, giving you alternatives to drawing a weapon whenever you need to handle a situation. Still, thrown objects can behave inconsistently, sometimes clipping through the environment or failing to attract the intended character’s attention.

The mix of puzzles, stealth, and combat gives each heist a useful rhythm, but the balance isn't always right. Some objectives lack clear instructions, safe-cracking is too simple, and the gunplay can be frustrating when enemies absorb so much damage. On the other hand, the pressure of protecting a teammate while a vault opens, gathering loot under fire, and coordinating an escape creates the kind of cooperative tension that makes the franchise work.

PAYDAY: Aces High looks convincing enough to make its locations feel like places you are actually moving through. Banks and other interiors have the detail needed to support the heist fantasy, and the environments help you stay focused on the task at hand. The visuals are especially effective when you are close to the objects you need to handle, because the VR perspective makes ordinary actions like grabbing loot or operating equipment feel more immediate.

PAYDAY: Aces High also looks strong on PC VR and Quest, though the PC version delivers a smoother frame rate and slightly higher resolution. The Quest version still holds up better than expected, and the PC presentation benefits from its extra performance headroom. These differences won't change your overall experience much, but if you care about crisp visuals and smooth performance, it's worth noting.

The biggest visual limitation is that you can't see your entire body. Seeing only your hands instead of your full body can weaken immersion, especially when you look down and expect your virtual character to be there. The fast pace means you will not always notice this during a hectic firefight, but it remains a noticeable omission in a game built around physical interaction. 

Sound is one of the game’s strongest elements.

The weapons have a satisfying presence, and the audio helps sell the difference between handling a pistol and firing a larger firearm. The soundtrack is especially effective when a quiet robbery turns into an all-out fight. The music also urges you to hurry up and adds urgency that fits the franchise as waves of enemies come in and the pressure mounts.

The soundtrack also makes defensive encounters more thrilling, especially when enemies withdraw momentarily before another wave comes in. These changes give you a breather before the action picks back up. But repetitive mission dialog can get grating when you die and restart, especially when the same instructions play multiple times and you can’t mute them. 

PAYDAY: Aces High understands why cooperative heists work. You have a clear objective, a location to infiltrate, valuables to collect, and a crew that needs to work together when the situation changes. Bringing those activities into VR makes the familiar formula more physical, from handling your weapons and reloading to operating equipment and carrying stolen goods. 

The progression system also gives you a reason to return after completing a job.

New weapon tiers, masks, challenges, achievements, and higher difficulty levels encourage you to improve your approach, rather than just move on after one successful robbery. You can approach a mission in multiple ways, combining stealth and combat, and different roles help build teamwork. 

But there are still glaring weaknesses. The AI can be unreliable, stealth detection can feel unfair at times, and the gunplay needs better balance between aiming and enemy health. Some puzzles are too easy; others aren't well defined. Limited environmental interaction also makes some situations feel less natural than they should in VR. 

There are problems, but the core experience is fun. PAYDAY: Aces High lets you experience the pressure of a botched job and the satisfaction of getting away with your crew after a hard day's work. Its best moments come from teamwork and the unforeseen circumstances that arise when multiple players try to pull off a heist at the same time.