PAYDAY is going full virtual reality on November 5. Fast Travel Games has announced that PAYDAY: Aces High, its four-player co-op heist shooter for VR headsets, launches that day on Steam and Meta Quest for $24.99. To go with the date, the studio has opened a free demo with two heists from the full game. It is live now as part of Steam Next Fest and runs until Monday, October 26.
The date, the price and the platforms
The announcement came in a post on the game's Steam page timed to the demo going live. The basics are simple: November 5, 2026, on SteamVR and Meta's Quest store, priced at $24.99. That is well under the price of a full flat-screen PAYDAY release, and in line with what larger VR co-op games usually cost.
PlayStation VR2 owners are in a less certain spot. Fast Travel Games only says a PS VR2 version could arrive later. That is not a commitment or a date, so for now Aces High is a PC VR and Quest game. If Sony's headset is the only one you own, it is worth waiting for a firmer announcement before you count on it.
The studio also says a release date trailer is out alongside the news. Back in September it said the game was close to going gold, so a November date looks like a schedule it has been steering towards for a while, not a rush to fill a hole in the calendar.
What's in the demo
The demo has two jobs. One is Flowtrust Bank, which longtime fans will recognise as the kind of bank job the series is built on. The other is a new location for the series, the Cosmopolitan Museum of Art, where the crew goes after paintings instead of a vault. You can play both as often as you like until October 26, after which the demo closes.
As in the main PAYDAY games, each job can go two ways. The studio frames it as a choice between the quiet approach and the loud one. You can slip through without tripping an alarm, or turn the job into a running firefight with security and hope you can still haul the bags out. Anyone who plays the demo also gets a reason to keep the game installed: every demo participant gets the Kitty mask free in the full game at launch.
Meet the Aces
The premise sets the four-player crew against Warren Jupiter, a business mogul who framed them and put them in jail. Once they are out, the plan is to hit his money wherever it sits: banks, museums and eventually the penthouse he calls untouchable. The crew are the Aces, an elite group with access to experimental tech and black-market hardware.
Each Ace is built around a playing-card suit and a clear role. The Ace of Hearts is the Mastermind, who plans the angles and the escape routes. The Ace of Clubs is the Ghost, built for the stealth side of the game. The Ace of Diamonds is the Technician, who is all about gadgets. The Ace of Spades is the Enforcer, the one you want up front when the alarms are already ringing. Those roles are a starting point, not a cage. Fast Travel Games says you can mix weapons, gadgets and skills into whatever kind of heister you want.
Built for hands, not a gamepad
Because this is VR, the heist is physical: you aim and reload with your own hands, and you use your gadgets in the space around you. The arsenal covers the usual PAYDAY spread of assault rifles, SMGs, shotguns and pistols. On top of that are tools such as a grappling device and deployable sentry guns. Cash and reputation earned on jobs unlock more skills, gear and toys, so the toolkit grows as you play.
Cosmetics are clearly a priority too. A recent showcase from the studio ran through more than twenty unlockable masks beyond the four Aces' own. Some are new and some will look familiar to anyone who has spent time with the series. Masks have always been PAYDAY's signature, and that carries over intact.
Should you try it?
If you have a Quest or a PC VR headset and a few friends who do too, the demo is about as low-risk as it gets. It is free, it covers two full jobs, and it is gone in a week. The free mask is a small bonus on top. Just keep in mind that this is a pre-release build. Fast Travel Games has said it is still collecting performance data and feedback from the demo for fixes before launch, and it is asking for that feedback on the game's official Discord.
The full game follows on November 5 at $24.99.
