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.