How To Play Payday 2 VR

Payday 2 is an awesome game – you get to rob banks, commit major heists, and there’s a button that’s just for shouting at people! Full of great music and voice lines, Payday 2 is a really, really fun game.

And, what’s more, if you’ve got a VR setup and you’re looking for a game to play on it – well, great news, because Payday 2 can be played in VR!

Of course you want to try this out now – but how to go about it? Well, this easy guide will tell you all you need to know about Payday 2, and how to play it using your VR setup!

How To Play Payday 2 VR

What Is Payday 2?

Payday 2 is, essentially, a first person crime spree simulator. You control a single character in a team of 4, and each level that you play will have you committing a different heist. It’s recommended to start with some easier, smaller heists, where you’ll commit relatively petty crimes, such as robbing a small jewelry store.

Eventually, you’ll progress to taking on much larger scores – such as the infamous Big Bank Heist, where you assault an absolutely enormous bank in broad daylight, which typically ends up in a lengthy shootout against literally hundreds of police.

It’s packed full of great (and extremely foul mouthed) characters, such as Hoxton, the psychotic British thief with a mouth full of swears, and Clover, a crazed Irish woman who seems to really love a fight. Of course, being set in America, there’s a good amount of characters from the US too, not least Houston – who was Hoxton’s replacement for a bit, and used to be called Hoxton, but he’s not the original Hoxton.

Actually, it’s best not to worry about all that. Oh, and you can play as characters from some other franchises in it too – John Wick is a member of the Payday gang (look out for Payday references in the John Wick films!), as is Jacket from Hotline Miami!

It’s packed full of great actors too! Giancarlo Esposito, Lance Reddick, John Cleese, Ron Perlman, Sharlto Copley, Bokeem Woodbine, Mira Furlan, Damion Poitier – and that’s not to mention the less famous, but amazingly talented voice cast of the game too, such as the amazing Pete Gold (Hoxton), Eric Etebari (Dallas), and Aoife Duffin (Clover).

Last, but by no means least – the soundtrack. Payday 2 has some of the best music you will hear in any game, ever. Almost completely composed by Simon Viklund, the Payday 2 soundtrack is up there with the greats.

This great music is made even cooler by the fact that the game has a dynamic soundtrack – the music will change intensity depending on exactly what’s going on in the game, responding to the ebb and flow of combat to make the perfect backing for your insane crime spree.

Check out the first volume of the soundtrack on Spotify – although there’s far more music than that in the game now!

What Is Payday 2 VR?

What Is Payday 2 VR

Now that you know what Payday 2 is – well, explaining what Payday 2 VR is should be pretty simple!

SImply put, Payday 2 VR is a DLC for Payday 2 that lets you run it in VR mode, using your VR headset. The great news is that it’s a free DLC – you’ll just need to own the base Payday 2 game to be able to download it.

The best thing about Payday 2 VR is that you’re not limited to only playing with owners of VR headsets! It essentially works the same as standard Payday 2 – you can join lobbies and play missions with your friends just the same, whether they have VR or not.

It uses the same save file as the base game too, meaning you won’t be starting from scratch when playing VR – which is fantastic news if you’ve been playing for a long time and don’t want to lose everything you’ve earned!

What Do I Need To Run Payday 2 VR?

With all that in mind, surely you’re eager to get heisting in VR! First, though – let’s have a look at just what you need to run Payday 2, and Payday 2 VR.

Firstly, you’ll need a computer capable of running Payday 2 VR. Payday 2 VR needs a bit more power than the base game does to run at the same graphical quality – so while you might be able to play the game in standard mode, it’s no guarantee that you’ll get the same performance in VR.

With that in mind, here are the minimum and recommended system requirements, as listed on Steam:

Minimum

OS:Windows 7

Processor:2 GHz Intel Dual Core Processor

Memory:4 GB RAM

Graphics:Nvidia & AMD (512MB VRAM)

DirectX®:9.0c

Hard Drive:31 GB HD space

Sound:DirectX 9.0c compatible

Recommended

OS:Windows 10

Processor:2.3 GHz Intel Quad Core Processor

Memory:8 GB RAM

Graphics:Nvidia & AMD (1GB VRAM)

DirectX®:9.0c

Hard Drive:45 GB HD space

Sound:DirectX 9.0c compatible

However, this doesn’t tell the full picture, as these are the same minimum system requirements as the base game – and by its very nature, VR is always more taxing on your system, particularly your GPU, than standard gaming.

After all, your GPU essentially has to render twice the amount of images per frame – once for each eye! Either a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon R9 290 equivalent at least should handle the job quite well – and, of course, if you’ve got a 20 or 30 series NVIDIA card, or the AMD equivalent, you should be fine.

As the DLC is free, it won’t cost you any money to try out if you already have Payday 2.

You’ll need a VR setup, of course – although, that goes without saying! You’ll also need a Steam account, and a copy of Payday 2 on that account.

How Do I Run Payday 2 VR?

With all of the previous requirements met – let’s get on to playing Payday 2 VR!

Search on the Steam store for “Payday 2 VR”. Once you’ve found it, click on the link, and then scroll down the page until you see the Download button. Simply click this button, and you’re done – Payday 2 VR will be added to your account! Restart your Steam client, and the next time you launch Payday 2, you should have the option to play in VR mode!

Conclusion

Hopefully this quick guide has told you what you need to know about Payday 2 VR, and getting it to run on your system! Happy heisting, and watch out for cloakers!

Richard Jones
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