Payday 3 takes place after the ending of Payday 2 where the Payday Gang went separate ways and left their criminal lives, but being double-crossed and losing all of their money causes the Payday Gang to return to the life of crime.[1] The original crew of characters originating from Payday: The Heist ("Dallas", "Chains", "Wolf", and "Hoxton") return, with 5 other characters, four returning from Payday 2 ("Joy", "Houston", "Clover", "Jacket"), and one new character ("Pearl"), appearing as additional characters. The game takes place mainly in New York in the 2020s,[1][2] intended to add more depth to the Payday Gang's crimes with game-changing differences like more advanced surveillance or the rise of cryptocurrency.[1][2]