PAYDAY 2 is a one-to-four player co-operative perspective shooter with strong stealth and tactical elements. It is the follow-up to Payday: The Heist where, once again, players can engage in heists of varying degree of difficulties as members of the Payday Crew. Much like the original, the player can rob banks, jewelry stores and the like, but can also take part in operations that can last several days and include a considerable variety of objectives, such as stealing art from a museum, moving drugs, destroying evidence or money, and engaging in wanton destruction of property to complete a mission.

The game, broadly speaking, is played in one of two modes. Players can either use stealth to avoid detection and the attention of police officers, completing heists "quietly", or they can "go loud", guns blazing, for an extended combat engagement with police followed by an escape. A quiet mission gone wrong immediately becomes a loud mission as police converge on the area and their assault begins. Each mission can be completed at seven different degrees of difficulty, from "Normal" at the low end to "Death Wish" at the hardest, with consequently greater rewards. Rewards include cash, which is used for a variety of purposes including buying weapons and decorating masks; weapon mods, which come in great variety and can be used to significantly enhance weapon performance; new masks; and safes, which contain weapon skins. The rarest of weapon skins have functional bonuses.

There are four classes of skills, which can be mixed and matched to customize one's build: Mastermind, Enforcer, Ghost and Technician. Mastermind skills involve pistol and assault rifle use, and include converting police officers to defend the players. Enforcer skills hover around "tanking", shotguns and heavy weapons. Technician skills include setting gun turrets, carrying shaped explosive charges, and SMG use. Finally, Ghost skills are those involved with evading detection and defeating security measures. The player purchases these skills using skill points earned by leveling up from XP gained in heists. Players can maintain several different build slots, and any can be adjusted or fully respec'd (reset and rebuilt from the ground up) at any time outside of an actual heist.

On top of this level-and-skill system, the player also progresses through "Infamy" levels; a player who has hit level 100 can reset their character to level 1, gaining one infamy level and a small permanent boost. This effectively serves to show a player's level of progression in the game, with veteran players having 5+ levels of Infamy.

Co-op play is online-only, and players can host game sessions on the game's central server, called Crime.net, either privately so only friends can join, or publicly so anyone can join. Co-op play is drop-in, so players can join a game with an open slot at any time before the objective is completed. The game can be played solo offline, with up to three AI companions who can be selected and equipped per player preference.

The game has a considerable library of expansions and DLC content that have been produced over the years, most of which provide access to a mix of new masks, new playable characters, and new weapons and weapon mods. Several provide new heist missions, though they are only necessary to start the heist in question; players without the DLC can still join and play those heists as long as the host has the DLC. While the game is fully playable without DLC purchases, the new weapons and weapon mods do exist on a continuum of power creep such that a player with DLC weapons will have an advantage over basegame-only peers.