PAYDAY 3 Update 3.1 Patch Notes – Shopping Spree Goes Loud, Mean & Fun Again

TL;DR

PAYDAY 3 Update 3.1 is the patch where the game stops cosplaying as a police training simulator and remembers it’s a criminal power fantasy. Headshots finally hurt armor, throwables are unhinged, ammo matters again, Dozers can be stunned, and the new mall heist is loud, messy, and fun. Still buggy in places, but for the first time in a while, shooting cops feels correct.

Before you rob a virtual mall, gear up like a professional menace.

👉 Mechanix Wear Original Fingerless Gloves. Grip, control, and zero excuses when you miss a headshot.

👉 HyperX Cloud II Gaming Headset. Hear Cloakers breathe before they fold you like cheap furniture.

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PAYDAY 3 Update 3.1 is what happens when a dev team wakes up, looks at their own game, and mutters:“Why does shooting criminals feel like throwing wet bread at riot shields?”

So they fixed it. Mostly. Loudly. With explosions.

The New Heist: Shopping Spree

A mall. Mobsters. Loot everywhere.

Which means one thing: Black Friday, but with automatic weapons and fewer Karens complaining about refunds.

The heist rotates between three layouts, which is Starbreeze-speak for:“Please don’t say it’s boring after your second run.”

Stealth? Viable.

Loud? Mandatory.

Subtlety? About as present as self-control at a payday loan office.

And yes, if you don’t own it, a friend can drag you in for free. Like sneaking into a club behind a guy who knows the bouncer.

PlayStation players get it a bit later. The mall opens late on that platform. Probably traffic.

Read our review

The Big One: Headshots Finally Do Something

Previously, shooting an armored cop in the head was like politely tapping a fridge with a spoon.

Now? Headshots deal 54% damage to armor.

Which means helmets are no longer forged from the tears of angry gods.

Suddenly, accuracy matters. Aim matters. And that guy who swore “spray and pray is a strategy” is now very quiet.

This single change does more for PAYDAY 3 than twelve motivational blog posts and a Discord apology tour.

Throwables Have Entered Their Villain Era

Throwing Knives

They went from “party trick” to “silent execution warrant.”

Damage skyrocketed. Headshot multiplier turned into a war crime.

You throw one knife now and a SWAT officer’s ancestors feel it.

Frag Grenades

Now powerful enough to reliably delete a regular SWAT unit.

No more cinematic toss followed by mild disappointment. You throw a frag, and the room reconsiders its life choices.

OVERKILL Weapons: Still Ridiculous, Slightly Less Apocalyptic

Some OVERKILL weapons got buffed. Some got trimmed.

Think less “angry god with a minigun”More “angry god who read the balance sheet.”

They’re still terrifying.They just don’t erase difficulty settings from the menu anymore

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Enemies Got Rebuilt, Not Repainted

This update didn’t just shuffle numbers. It restructured how enemies survive.

Armor plates. Health pools. Difficulty scaling that no longer jumps from “cop” to “insurance fraud simulator.”

Dozers are still walking tanks powered by pure spite, but now the question isn’t:“Why won’t this thing die?”

It’s:“How fast can we strip plates before reality collapses?”

Which is exactly how PAYDAY should feel.

Armor plates. Ammo drought. Dozers laughing at you.Time for hardware.

👉 Logitech G502 HERO Gaming Mouse. More buttons than PAYDAY 3 has skills. Perfect for panic-clicking.

👉 Bialetti Moka Express. Because crime runs on caffeine and bad decisions.

Ammo Economy: Welcome to Responsibility

Ammo pickups were reduced. Except for SMGs.

Translation: Spraying endlessly is no longer a personality trait.

SMGs are now the golden retrievers of the arsenal. Reliable. Forgiving. Always happy to see more ammo.

Everything else? You shoot like you mean it, or you run dry and start crying behind a planter.

Skills Got the Divorce They Needed

Several skills were quietly fixed, cleaned up, or dragged behind the shed.

Highlights:

• Berserker now actually does what it says instead of gaslighting you.

• Bounty Hunter stopped spawning infinite tools like a magician with no moral compass.

• Crowd control skills now interact with enemies the way logic suggests they should.

And yes: Dozers can now be stunned with the right setup.

Which is the most satisfying sentence written in 2026 so far.

Bug Fixes: The House Stopped Eating You

Weapons reload properly now. Glass breaks when hit by knives (revolutionary). AI no longer freezes after being flashbanged by a drone possessed by Satan.

Armor perks behave as intended. Hostages stop dying from your own gas like they wandered into a bad Netflix documentary.

This patch quietly fixes dozens of things that made players say: “I swear this worked yesterday.”

Touch the Sky: The Puzzle Changed, the UI Didn’t

They replaced the WiFi-circle puzzle.

But forgot to tell the menu.

So the game now lies to you confidently, like a politician explaining inflation.

Ignore the old instructions. Do the new thing. Trust nothing.

Shopping Spree Known Issues

Enemies sometimes spawn where only ghosts should exist.

Some objectives break if you sequence-break too hard.

Certain zones are tagged wrong, leading to moments where the game accuses you of trespassing in public air.

It’s messy. But it’s the fun kind of messy, not the “refund request” messy.

The Verdict

Update 3.1 is PAYDAY 3 finally remembering its own fantasy.

You are not a sponge. Enemies are not immortal accountants. Guns feel like guns. Throwables feel illegal. Headshots feel deserved.

Is it perfect? No. Is it funny when cops get obliterated by a throwing knife to the forehead? Absolutely.

This is the patch where PAYDAY 3 stops apologizing and starts grinning again.

And frankly, it’s about bloody time.

You read the patch. You formed opinions. Now commit to the bit.

👉 Clown Mask. For cosplay, Halloween, or unsettling the postman.

👉 Gerber StrongArm Fixed Blade Knife. Unlike old throwing knives, this one works. Do not test this theory in real life.

Bookmark CRIMENET Gazette. We read patch notes. We side with criminals. We don’t apologize.

FAQ

Is Update 3.1 free? Yes. The patch is free. The Shopping Spree heist itself is paid DLC, like a mall you’re allowed to loot only if you bought the crowbar.

Can I play Shopping Spree without owning it? Yes. If a friend owns it, they can invite you. Think of it as being smuggled into retail hell through the emergency exit.

What’s the single biggest gameplay change? Headshots now actually damage armor. Previously, helmets were apparently forged from divine plot armor. That nonsense is over.

Are throwables actually good now? Yes. Throwing knives are borderline assassination tools, and frag grenades finally do what frag grenades have been promising since 1943.

Did OVERKILL weapons get nerfed? Some were tuned down, some up. They’re still absurdly powerful, just no longer capable of deleting the concept of difficulty itself.

Did enemies get tankier? Smarter, not tankier. Armor plates matter more, health scaling is smoother, and Dozers remain walking nightmares with a mortgage.

Is ammo harder to manage? Yes, unless you’re using SMGs. Everyone else now has to think before mag-dumping like a caffeinated raccoon.

Can you really stun a Dozer now? Yes, with the right skill setup. It’s beautiful. Frame it.

Did they fix bugs? A lot of them. Reload bugs, AI freezes, armor perks lying to you, hostages dying because you sneezed. Not all gone, but many buried.

Did they change Touch the Sky? Yes. New puzzle. The menu still explains the old one. Ignore it and trust your instincts, like a true criminal.

Is Shopping Spree buggy? A bit. Enemies spawn weird, some objectives can break if you rush, and zone tagging occasionally accuses you of crimes you didn’t commit. Which, ironically, fits the theme.

Is PAYDAY 3 finally fun again? Yes. Not perfect. Not polished. But loud, mean, and grinning. And that’s the whole point.