Payday 2 gets free visual novel spinoff

Co-op heist ‘em up Payday 2 has escalated over its many years of swiping things, going from simple bank robbery to lifting your own presidential pardon out of the White House. Now, though, it’s ascended into its true form: a visual novel. Experience the thrill of theft as it was meant to be: in text, everything hinging on your mouse pointer hovering over two options, deciding which to explore.

It’s a neat little thing that works even though I don’t know who these boys are. My visual novel experience tells me they should be kissing, but I suppose that comes after the heisting.

You will have to be careful to ensure that there is an “after,” because there are multiple endings including bad ones. I first got chewed out by the game in just two decisions, because I refused to get involved with a dispute and accidentally getting a pal killed. Heisters don’t leave other heisters behind, apparently.

This is obviously advertising their Steam sale discounts (and developers Starbreeze apparently need that cash), and you can get some cosmetic-y doodads for pulling off a successful job. Mostly, though, I’m just glad they committed to the bit unlike every game that jokes about making a visual novel on April Fool’s Day. Next time I want to see real, playable spinoffs for a wider variety of games. Sonic navigating his way through a dialogue tree. A 2D sprite of Kassandra flirting in her new barista job. Joe Fortnite deciding which of the skins come to life he wants to pursue a romance with.

You can play Payday 2: The Text Adventure for free in your browser.