Payday 2 is one of the most successful multiplayer first-person shooter games as it offers a very entertaining take on the cooperative bank-robbery concept.
Even though the game was nearly a decade ago, it maintains a consistent player base that just can’t find another game that scratches the Payday 2 itch, and considering the fact it even crossed over with John Wick – it’s certainly a force to be reckoned with.
Now that Payday 3 is finally announced after such a long wait – now is a time as good as ever to get back to it and warm up for the upcoming sequel. But not everyone wants to play the same thing again when we have the opportunity to mix things up with some cool and entertaining mods.
It can be time-consuming to find the best mods if you don’t have something specific in mind, though, so that’s why we’re here to help out.
We’ve created a list of the 10 Best Payday 2 mods that you can install and play the game with right now!
1. Enemy Health and Info
Ever got annoyed at how you have no idea about how much health an enemy has and it made it difficult for you to determine whether you should attack them in a certain situation or not since your own health and ammo can play a big factor in aggressive encounters.
Fortunately, this mod does the job for us as we’re able to see the health and other info of other players once they’re encountered after the mod is applied. It’s not considered cheating since the mod hasn’t been banned – so go and give yourself the extra help!
Mod Link: https://modworkshop.net/mod/15157
2. Less Effects
Let’s say you’re not much of a gamer but find an old PC or laptop lying around. Your friend can’t stop talking about how you need to play Payday 2 with them and you decide to dust off your computer and finally give it a shot.
But since that machine was last upgraded years ago – it’s not strong enough to run the game at full frame rates. This is, of course, particularly worse in an online game as it provides an advantage to other players over you.
So, to reclaim your competitive edge – you can use the fewer Effects mod which disables some of the visual aspects of the game that stop lagging your computer but the game will not feel much different in terms of graphics, since all that is disabled are some extra visual effects.
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/payday2/mods/68
3. Better Bots
Not everyone has a squad ready to play the game with at all times. Besides, sometimes you just want to practice things like your aim and gameplay efficiency offline too without the pressures of an ongoing match. If you do these things and find the game’s AI a bit lacking compared to real players – this mod acts as the perfect middle point.
This mod makes the bots far better and makes them act more like real human players rather than silly AI that you can exploit the behavior of. Don’t worry, they won’t become abnormally good as the mod’s creator made sure it’s still balanced at the end of the day.
Mod Link: https://modworkshop.net/mod/12736
4. Re-Texture Project
Since the game came out nearly a decade ago, this means two things. The first one is that the game’s graphics are pretty old now and the second thing is that almost any modern-day computer can run its graphics on the highest settings and resolution possible.
But you want those high-resolution textures in the game that make everything look crisp and shiny on your 4K resolution – we know you do.
That’s where the Re-Texture Project mod comes in, which does exactly what the name implies. So, you can finally feel better about the game’s graphics now as they will look as good as the game plays now.
Mod Link: https://modworkshop.net/mod/12710
5. The Fixes
Installing mods that change the game visually is a fun experience and all, but what about fixing those minor hiccups in the game that hold your experience back from being flawless? The Fixes mod does exactly that, as you are able to play the game with many quality-of-life changes that make the game better.
Not only that, but it also fixes a couple of game bugs and crashes that you might experience sooner or later.
Mod Link: https://modworkshop.net/mod/23732
6. Metal Gear Solid Detected Sound
Whether you personally played Metal Gear Solid or not, as a gamer, you’re definitely familiar with the ‘Alert!’ sound from the game that is used in millions of memes by 2021 into 2024.
This mod does exactly what it sounds like it would – it takes the ‘Detected’ in-game sound of Payday 2 and replaces it with the iconic Metal Gear Solid one, namely from Portable Ops.
It doesn’t change much, but fans of the Metal Gear franchise will especially enjoy this small difference.
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/payday2/mods/14
7. Simple Crosshair Mod
The first game in the series, Payday: The Heist, had quite a small crosshair to aim with. However, people considered it too difficult and demanded a change from the sequel – which was eventually granted to the fans since the next game has a much bigger crosshair in comparison.
However, some of us like to push ourselves to have more intense experiences or simply miss the first game’s design a lot – and we’re in for a treat. This mod replaces the official crosshair in Payday 2 with a simpler version that would satisfy fans of hardcore gameplay.
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/payday2/mods/107
8. Face Re-Texture Project
While the mod at number 4 retextures the game’s graphics, it’s limited to the environment and other aspects.
The faces of character models are unfortunately left out and they will look as dated as ever. However, this mod, on the other hand, takes care of that problem and provides faces with higher resolution, more realism, and increases the model quality in general.
With both of the retexturing mods applied – you’ll finally have a high-quality Payday 2 experience that almost feels like the game only came out a few years ago. Just make sure your computer can handle it at all as it won’t work very well on old computers,
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/payday2/mods/61
9. Dozercraft
We heard you liked Minecraft, so here’s a mod that replaces the game’s character models with those from Minecraft, giving it an overhaul in the visual aspect. The gameplay does not change at all, so you’re still playing Payday 2 at the end of the day.
But this visual overhaul will make you feel like you’re in some strange hybrid world that is merging the realms of Minecraft and Payday 2 into one.
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/payday2/mods/2
10. Stop the Cheaters Mod
Some people play nice, some people play a little naughty – and some just outright cheap because they weren’t loved as a child. For those who want to fight against cheaters in the competitive game modes, this mod aims to help players with making the encounter with a hacker a little bit more tolerable.
What the mod does is that it allows you to toggle special effects on or off that cause the game of flagged players to be slowed down to half-speed – which is a great way to frustrate them. And after all the annoyance that they have provided you, you deserve this.
Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/payday2/mods/67
And these were the top 10 best Payday 2 mods for 2024 that you can use right now!
We’re certainly excited for Payday 3 and hope that you are too. We’re here to answer any questions that you might have and while you’re here, don’t forget to check out some of our other helpful gaming articles on the site too!
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