In the profitable but dangerous career of bank heisting, you never truly pull off that one last job. The narrative of Payday 2 concluded with the gang finally getting enough money to claim retirement, but surprise! They’re getting pulled back in for a whole new set of heists. After their bank accounts are inexplicably and mysteriously emptied, they’re forced to put their masks back on a couple hundred more times – if the game can get its hooks into you.

On a core level, Payday 3 continues what was successful about the first two games. You and three friends join to pull off a bank heist. Heavily inspired by films like Heat, that heist often goes awry, and you must figure out how to get out of the situation alive and with your money. Many of Payday 3’s updates are small but positive improvements to that formula. There are also far more customization options for elements like masks and guns.

I played two rounds with developer Starbreeze, the first of which was a familiar but enthralling heist at a city bank. The second was a job at an art gallery where our goal was to collect valuable art pieces instead of bags of cash.

We began the bank heist with what Starbreeze refers to as “mask-off gameplay.” During this introductory section, which is not new to Payday but is greatly expanded for the sequel, I explored the bank, took note of security guards, marked cameras for my teammates, and even snuck my way into a section of the bank civilians aren’t supposed to enter. Things are going smoothly and quietly until a security guard notices me trying to pick the lock on a door. At that point, we all throw our masks on and engage.

I command the civilians in the bank to take cover while other team members go upstairs to start melting the floor above the vault to enter it from above. For Payday 3, there are more options related to hostage negotiation. While we throw combustible fuel in the device to enter the vault, another team member trades hostages with the police outside in exchange for more time.

The fragile peace does not last, though, and the police make their way in as we enter the vault. One team member fills bags with cash and sprints them outside to where our getaway van is scheduled to show up at any moment. The shootout is intense, and me and other team members go down and need to be saved multiple times. We all survived and got the cash to the van, but we did not recover all of it.

The art gallery heist plays out differently as the team and I spend more time in stealth. I learned my lesson trying to pick a lock in front of a security guard. The art heist is much more complicated, but in an interesting way that I can see being particularly fun after learning the process in more detail. The gallery is full of real and fake pieces, and I use a spectrometer to identify the correct ones worth stealing.

Of course, one of us makes a mistake, and the heist concludes with all of us grabbing art – even the fake pieces, which still have some value – throwing them into a helicopter on the roof and flying off to safety. Or at least, the rest of my team does. I don’t make it off the roof, but thankfully still receive some rewards and currency for my efforts.

Payday 3 is not a radical new approach to what made the first two games successful. Payday already has a dedicated, enthusiastic community, and Starbreeze recognizes this. The development team refers to it as an evolution, not a reinvention, and playing the game confirms that it is probably the right approach.

This preview originally appeared in Issue #358 of Game Informer