Payday’s cast of vulgar criminals has become beloved by fans over the years, from Hoxton’s Yorkshire accent and penchant for not giving a damn to Syndey’s chaotic nature and love for profanity. The franchise is full of crude and hilarious one-liners and laugh-out-loud moments.
Payday 3 takes this to a whole new level by introducing not one but two dedicated buttons for swearing. The first causes your hesiter to sputter out a range of colorful curse words, while the other insults the series’ infamous drills — even if there isn’t one present.
How to Emote in Payday 3
To emote in Payday 3, hold up on the D-pad on Xbox and PS5 or the middle mouse button on PC. Hover over the voice line you want to use and let go. At the time of writing, the emote wheel is a little finicky, and selecting a voice line doesn’t always work, so keep trying if you’re dedicated to cursing out your teammates.
The complete list of emotes includes:
- Sh*t! — While this is the most common word, heisters can say a wide range of creative swears
- Piece of sh*t drill!
- Hi
- Follow Me
- Wait Here
- Requested Health
- Requested Ammo
- Thank You
Related: Payday 3 Dirty Ice Full Stealth Guide
You can see the emote wheel in action below, courtesy of yours truly. There have been countless heists where the team decides to stop and scream obscenities at each other, and it never fails to put a smile on my face.
The Payday 3 community has also adopted the habit of spamming the target button on guards, civilians, and cameras. NPCs don’t react to targeted, completely ignoring fingers poked in their face while criminals shout, “Watch the civ!” or “Guard!” — resulting in some incredible clips on social media.
In my professional opinion, a dedicated swearing button should be commonplace in all future video games, regardless of genre. It’s the perfect feature for when another player destroys your base, overtakes you in a race, steals your loot — you name it.
While, yes, voice chat is usually a completey viable option, there’s just something about knowing voice actors are being paid to sit down and read long lists of expletives. I’m sure the talent behind Payday 3 were having as much fun recording as we are playing.
