PayBack 2

Payback 2 has a single-player "story" mode consisting of multiple chapters, the usual objective of each chapter being for the player to complete missions in order to obtain enough money to complete the chapter, unlocking the next. The player receives a mission after answering a ringing payphone, where instructions from "the boss" are given via an accomplice. The mission instructions include various criminal acts such as assassination, robbery or racing. The player may also obtain money from activities such as destroying vehicles, killing pedestrians and delivering certain things. After committing crimes, the player has to avoid being arrested or killed by the police, SWAT or military. Payback 2s "campaign" mode consists of multiple "episodes", each of which contains various kinds of solo or team events played against or with the AI characters. Some of these events include: "Brawl", the objective being kill the most opponents; "Gang Warfare", practically "Brawl" but with two teams; "Capture the Swag", a parody of the outdoor game Capture the Flag; "Conquest", where the player must claim parts of the map; "Kingpin", similar to "Conquest"; "Race", where the player races against the AI characters in various vehicles around various routes in the different maps; "Sprint", practically "Race", but the routes are shorter; and "Knockout", like "Race", but the player in last place is eliminated on an interval. Payback 2s multiplayer mode lets players create and configure multiplayer versions of the event types mentioned above, that are hosted on one of the four proprietary game servers of choice. Once the first round finishes, the players can then vote between two randomly generated configurations for the next game. Private multiplayer matches are created in the same way, and the creator can share the four character long "shortcode", which is required to join, with whoever they want to play with. On completion of a public or private match, players earn an amount of "XP" depending on their result. The music used in Payback 2s startup cutscene is Requiem Mass in D minor - Lacrimosa dies illa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Payback focused on single-player gameplay, however when developing Payback 2, James Daniels from Apex Designs decided to put more emphasis on multiplayer gameplay. In May 2015, Apex Designs released an update that dramatically improved the game's visuals. The original textures, which had been in use since the original Payback, were replaced with remastered versions, the lighting mechanics were also upgraded significantly too. In December 2016, Payback 2 received another major update, adding a proper and more realistic rigid-body physics system, improved gravity, vehicle models, character models, driving physics and more.