Don't judge me. It's my opinion and my choice.

While auditioning for the role of Wolf, Wolf's PAYDAY 3 voice actor Nicklas Berglund was doing the English dubbing of Clark Olofsson from the Swedish Netflix series Clark. Nicklas states that he took inspiration from his dubbing of Clark when voicing Wolf.

All credit goes to Red Archer Live for this wonderful interview. The full thing is posted on his YouTube channel and is really worth a watch if you want to know more about the voice actors of these beloved characters (Chains, Hoxton and Wolf), the process of voice acting them and even how they view their characters! Now for the meat of this post.

Trigger warning: Child abuse

Spoilers for the Clark Netflix series ahead.

I can say with confidence that the only reason I watched Clark on Netflix is that Nicklas said he took inspiration from his English dubbing of Clark when portraying Wolf. As I am Swedish, I had the joy of watching the series in the original language (and then I watched it again, but in English, with Nicklas's dubbing of Clark). The non-dubbed version is obviously better, as it feels more natural and authentic, but I liked hearing the dubbing just because it sounded so much like Wolf (same actor, duh). There is one scene that really exemplifies how much the dubbing sounds like Wolf to me sometimes, and it is in Episode 3 when Clark robs a bank with a soda bottle, keeping it in his jacket and pretending it is a gun.

Clark: "This is a robbery. It's my honor to give you all this unique experience, something you can tell everybody you meet for the rest of your boring lives. And nobody does any stupid shit or else!"

Especially the part where he's saying they're gonna be telling stories about this. It's straight out of Wolf's PAYDAY 3 bank speech (or rather, the other way around):

Wolf: "Okay everybody, this is not a drill! We’re here to rob this place, and there isn’t a goddamn thing you can do about it! If you fuck with us, YOU’RE DEAD!!! So for your own sakes, don’t fucking fuck with us!!! Just keep calm, get down on the floor, and stay out of our way!! And maybe, just maybe, you’ll live to tell the stories about this one day! Okay!?"

Wolf just keeps the threats of violence more central and comes off as far more aggressive, while Clark seems more relaxed.

For those unfamiliar with Clark Olofsson, he is basically what Nicklas made him sound like. A real-life Swedish bank robber who was really in on the idea of being a famous criminal. He is most known for his role in Norrmalmstorgdramat, an attempted bank robbery staged by Janne Olsson, which Clark became involved in when Janne demanded he be brought to the scene. What followed was a several-day-long hostage situation that ended in the Swedish police letting in tear-gas inside the vault (where the robbers and hostages were), forcing them to surrender. The incident gave rise to the term Stockholm Syndrome due to hostages defending Clark and suggesting that the real threat to their safety was the police storming the bank, not the robbers.

So how alike are Wolf and Clark as portrayed in the Netflix series, really? Well, they are both Swedish bank robbers, for one. They both use drugs. They have both been romantically involved with women, although with Wolf, it is something that is mentioned on a couple of occasions, while for Clark, it is more of a defining character trait (more on this later).

You know what Clark is generally never portrayed as? Insane. Yes, he can be loud and boisterous and do crazy things, like break into a bathhouse just to go swimming. He is also referred to as a narcissist and psychopath, although he is never actually diagnosed within the series. But Clark is actually repeatedly portrayed as the level-headed one when teaming up with other criminals. When his partner accidentally opens fire at two police officers, Clark calls him a fucking idiot. When another partner suggests shooting the employees of a bank, Clark corrects him and says they should take the employees hostage, not shoot them. He prefers robbing banks without causing bodily harm and without inflicting excess trauma. He wants the hostages to like him. He wants to be a famous criminal, but he does not want to be famous for a crime he did not commit, especially not the crime of murdering a police officer or killing innocent civilians. He knows he is not a good person, but he still has certain acts he considers beneath him. Certain lines he will not cross. Perhaps even something of a conscience, although he rarely shows it. One of the most clearly selfless things he does is choosing to not abandon his son when the police are after him, and then surrendering and allowing himself to be arrested to avoid a shootout since his son is in the car with him and could get hurt if bullets start flying. Clark clearly has a desire to be a "good father" because his father was so bad. He explicitly tells his son this, saying that there are things Clark's father did to Clark that Clark would never do to his son, such as abandoning him or abusing him.

Clark does use weapons to threaten others, gets in physical fights, and even stabs a man 17 times at a Midsummer celebration. But his main "thing" is not violence, or threats of it. It is being "charming" (although I personally don't get how anyone could find him charming in real life). Clark's "thing" is manipulating and exploiting people for personal gain, especially women. He repeatedly uses his romantic partners to escape from prison, declaring they are his one true love while thinking about the women he sleeps with behind their backs. When a woman tells him she is leaving him, he tries to guilt-trip her into staying by saying she is the only hope in life. This is also when he decides he wants to become a national hero, to prove he can be good and "win her back".

Safe to say, this is very unlike Wolf, whose main thing is absolutely violence (and being crazy). He won't try to guilt anyone into doing something. He'll just say "do what I want, or I'll inflict grievous bodily harm". Clark would not like Wolf at all in this regard. He would consider him far too heavy-handed. Clark prefers attempting to woo the female hostages, not threaten them.

I am obligated to refer to the PAYDAY 3: Chapter 4 - Fear & Greed | Launch Trailer when discussing Clark's constant wooing of women and then trying to contrast this with Wolf. In this trailer, which references The Wolf of Wall Street movie, Wolf has a fantasy where he is the "Wolf" of Wall Street (haha). One component of this fantasy, as described by the narrator, is "brudar", translated to "women" in the subtitles. "Brudar" is not a direct translation of "women". It is the plural form of "bride". The word is also commonly used to refer to women who are not literal brides, but women who are considered young and attractive. Given the context, "brudar" are obviously mentioned in a sexual light here. Specifically, the light of Wall Street, where women are seen as trophies and access to them is an indicator of a man's worth to other men. Prostitution is rampant in these circles because what screams power and wealth more than buying a person?

I should mention it is unknown how literally we are meant to take this fantasy. Obviously, Wolf likes money, cocaine and power in general, but I find it hard to imagine that Wolf would actually prefer a (criminal) stockbroker lifestyle to a criminal heisting lifestyle. He loves heisting too much. He is not trying to actually become a successful stockbroker. So what about the "brudar"? Well, the most in-character interpretation would be that Wolf believes "brudar" belongs to the Wolf of Wall Street fantasy. It is a movie trope. The successful man gets the girl (or in this case, girls). Without further evidence, I would not take this as confirmation that Wolf actually interacts with women in this manner. But this is pure speculation on my part. If Starbreeze ever decides to expand on this as they did with Wolf's drug use with the PAYDAY 3 Contracts, I will adjust my view accordingly.

This fantasy may stem in part from his resentment of stockbrokers, which happens to be emphasised in the BIG BAD Mask Description released alongside Fear & Greed:

"This heist on the Exchange is actually a major bucket list item for Wolf. The 2000s financial crisis drove him to a life of crime, and he's been waiting for a chance to give those stock broker bastards a taste of their own medicine. Se upp, era jävlar! Wolf's on Wall Street!"

Wolf hates those assholes, so he relishes the thought of taking them down a peg by hitting the Financial Exchange. He believes his company's success was stolen from him by them. This leads to a power fantasy where he is in their position of wealth and status as opposed to the powerlessness he likely felt (and despised) when his company went bankrupt. He is angry and also jealous, basically. The fantasy and the hit on the Exchange is his way of reclaiming power and taking revenge.

I swear I will shut up about the PAYDAY 3: Chapter 4 - Fear & Greed | Launch Trailer now. Back to comparing Wolf and Clark.

What motivates them? What are their life philosophies?

For Clark, there is a phrase he repeats throughout the series, "bit ihop och hantera skiten", which basically translates to "grit your teeth and handle shit", as in "when met with difficulties in life, just deal with it". This saying comes from his father, who told him that life is full of disappointments and that he just has to deal with it. Right after telling him this, Clark's father shoves him into the lake despite Clark not yet knowing how to swim and being six years old at the time. He claims to do this because Clark needs to learn to take care of himself. Clark's father is also an alcoholic, and there are many more cases of him abusing Clark, which shape him into the man he is as an adult.

Clark grew up quite poor, so he would commit petty crimes and sell things like cigarettes and alcohol to other kids as a child to make ends meet for his family and also have money to buy things he wanted. As an adult, he becomes obsessed with "making something of himself" to prove his worth to the world. He seems to recognise on some level that the abuse he was subjected to was wrong, as he calls his dad a fucking idiot and is stated to be afraid of becoming like his father when he has his own children. There is a kind of passive acceptance of the conditions of his childhood, with phrases such as "that's just the kind of things that happened in my family", as well as repeatedly lying and saying that he had a normal childhood with a good relationship to his parents. He strongly rejects the idea that his childhood shaped him, and dislikes being asked about it. He wants to be viewed as a hot and charming criminal, not as a tragic victim of abuse. He seems skeptical of mental health institutions, viewing psychologists as idiots. Clark also idealises the concept of freedom, which is why he wants to rob banks to get money and why he has to break out of prison constantly (although his feelings regarding prison are a bit more complex than that, also viewing it as a home due to having spent so much of his life there). He claims to not care what other people think about him, but this seems like a lie given how much he tries to control how he is viewed by them, including his girlfriends, his parents, and the media. He is also very disloyal and will abandon anyone at a moment's notice if he believes it is in his interest to do so, as well as cheat on his girlfriends. The notable exception to this is his son.

Both Clark and Wolf genuinely love robbing banks, but for Wolf, this is even more central to their character. We don't know much about Wolf's life before crime, only that he ran a software company, living an "average Joe", law-abiding life with a wife and two kids, as stated by the PAYDAY: The Heist Manual. Then, when his company went bankrupt, and he suffered financial ruin and homelessness, he "snapped", having a mental breakdown (which, in my opinion, consisted of extreme stress triggering latent mental disorders, although that is a topic for another time). This resulted in Wolf abandoning his family and reconstructing his character with inspiration from criminals in movies, going on to join the Payday Gang and rob banks. So Wolf loves doing what he does, but he also likely views it as a way to take back from a world he believes has wronged him. He tried the normal civilian life, and he still got fucked over, so why not rob banks? Wolf is also deeply mentally ill and thrill-seeking, relying on violent crime to get a dopamine/adrenaline rush. He has no real end goal, other than to keep doing what he is doing. He does not want to retire. There is no amount of money he could make where he would be "satisfied" and consign himself to a quiet life. Wolf wants a loud life, full of violence, crime, drugs, guns and explosions.

Another thing is how both these characters actually constantly play a character. Wolf literally reinvented himself to fit into the mold of a criminal. He does not have an alter ego that is a criminal, while the "real" Wolf comes out in the quiet moments. He is not putting on an act, not one that he is aware of. He fullheartedly believes he is the image he projects to the world. Yet, as Nicklas suggests, sometimes the mask slips and Wolf feels small and vulnerable again, just a guy from Sweden who is way out of his depth. Between PAYDAY 2 and PAYDAY 3, Wolf begins to lean harder and harder into the perception of him as crazy. He becomes more confident in his "Wolf" identity. Where he previously stuttered during pager lines, he now seems to have a library of morbid facts and insane conspiracies to pull from. At the same time, it feels a bit insincere. Wolf uses the "Wolf" persona to convince himself and others that he is invulnerable: a powerful criminal badass who would laugh while killing a Bulldozer with a drill. He does this to protect himself from negative emotions. He likely felt as though his previous life as a company owner was a failure, and tried to distance himself from that failure by just turning and running away, killing the old him and forming a new identity he could attach his worth to. Wolf never acknowledges this, and given his mental illness, it is quite likely he is not even aware that this is what he is doing. As far as he knows, he is the "Wolf" persona. That is the only version of him that exists.

Clark is far more aware of the character he plays. He adopts a variety of personas throughout the series, including a political activist for prison reformation. Because the series is told from Clark's perspective, with his narrating voice speaking directly to the audience, we are frequently let in on the fact that he knows that he is a massive bullshitter. He does not believe in prison reformation; he's just using politics to improve his own living conditions, while simultaneously mocking all the "complaining". He coopts the idea that nothing can grow in captivity, that prison does not make anyone better, to get his girlfriend to help him escape prison. He tries to convince her that he is reformed and is going to make money legally now, while he is actually smuggling drugs. He is a professional bullshitter who knows he is bullshitting.

Clark also lies to himself, pretending not to care about what people think of him, pretending that his childhood did not shape him into who he is, pretending to not have internalised the lessons his father taught him, pretending that he had a normal childhood, pretending that he does not care when his mom or dad dies, when we can actually see him tearing up. We are even shown the same memory several times, showing how Clark has sanitized his childhood into something he finds easier to cope with. First, he is hiding under the table with his mom, giggling while his father goes around looking for them, making it seem like a typical childhood game of hide and seek. But eventually we are shown the full truth, consisting of Clark and his mother hiding from Clark's father, who has a knife and is angry because they used his booze money to pay for the treatment of Clark's broken arm, WHICH HIS FATHER BROKE! The character he plays is a defense mechanism against the trauma of his childhood, pretending to be unbothered by it in an attempt to make that a reality, but we can see this is not actually true. Clark is repeatedly directly influenced by his childhood, such as when he considers having a shootout with the police with his son in the car, but then thinks about how his father treated him and decides against it.

Another similarity that I have noticed is that both Clark and Wolf like to give people nicknames. Wolf obviously gives many nicknames to Hoxton, but also calls Joy "Joysie" and Ralph Garnet "Ralphie". Clark calls Tommy Lindström "Tommy Ponny", a man who is a kind of straight man to Clark's antics, and works with law enforcement. Clark views their relationship as a playful cat and mouse rivalrly/friendship, but Tommy views it as a fucking headache, a joke where he is the punchline. Clark also calls Sussi Korsner, a woman who he hires to write a book about him, "Sussi Pussi".

So, in conclusion, Clark and Wolf are actually quite different if you look deeper than the level of "Swedish bank robber". I can't find much in Nicklas's portrayal of Wolf that seems clearly inspired by Clark. Maybe the lines that really leaned into that were cut out. Maybe the inspiration is more subtle. Maybe Nicklas was referring to the fact that both Clark and Wolf treat heisting as a game and a fun time rather than something traumatic or life-threatening. Honestly, I wish Nicklas had gotten to speak more about how he played Wolf and how he views him as a character, but I get that it was an interview with three people and it couldn't be all about Wolf. That speaks more to me being a massive Wolf fan than to the quality of the interview. I really do recommend giving it a watch.

Thanks for reading my crazy Wolf/Clark lore ramblings.

In recent history, payday sagas have always come in sets of 4/8, like silk road, texas heat, and the bad apple for example. So either First World Bank was the beginning or we have another DLC heist finale on the way. Maybe some sort of mafia mansion heist or something?

I was expecting the 4th heist to release and then be bundled with Jacket and the Swedish pack as a smaller "Palatucci saga" bundle since calling it a year 2-3 bundle may be akward.

Anyway, ive been waiting for the bundle which is why I technically haven't played Shopping spree and don't know if the heist's ending monologue is more final. I mean given the gold car cutscene, presence of peitro, and this new tutorial guy being brought up, I fear that shopping spree may be the finale, which I think would be lame personally.

for my stealth builds i usually do an ar and a pistol but i really wish we could do smg/pistol, for example i was gonna build a compact 5 and gecko/judge build when i realised u cant use smgs as primary, anyone know why this is the case?

2 cables

Helium

Over or equal 5783 psi

Explain

Just want to find out what's the most common difficulty

Tried to make it as close to the ingame model as possible, I’m pretty sure I succeeded

I need 3 people, I don’t have friends

gensock haha lmao

As the title suggests, I'm a recently returning palyer. I played Payday 2 a few years back when I was still little and now, having bought the PC version, I'm looking to properly get back into it. One personal goal that I've imposed on myself is getting the Death Wish difficulty mask. Other than that, I'm looking for a couple of things, a dodge build that doesn't require any DLCs, a good build to use with sociopath considering that I bought the Jacket character pack and a few people to help me get to Level 100 and get the Death Wish mask like previously mentioned.

BurntPeanut again

i hate artifact i hate artifact i hate artifact i hate artifact i hate artifact i hate artifact i hate artifact i hate artifact i hate artifact

What can we expect about the next update? I remember the safehouse, outfit, and saw weapon teased in the last BTS.

I want to hope the next roadmap is released soon, but does anyone have any info about that?

A petty complaint from a Payday 2 console player

I reached the point of going Infamous II; I played like an idiot, trying out all kinds of builds (as you can see).

But honestly, the console version of the game has gone nearly 10 years without any new content.

No new weapons, maps, or characters. Nothing.

I’m not new to Payday—I’ve known about the game for a long time—but I bought it again because I honestly thought I’d be playing much more complex maps than what was available back on the Xbox.

But playing Payday with a 10-year lag is just incredibly boring and depressing.

Honestly, to play an up-to-date Payday game, I’d have to play Payday 3—at least until they decide to abandon that game too.

really enjoying pd3 but what are the best loud in stealth builds?

rn i mjsut running knowleys grenade build and for stealth i just raw doged the perks

Hello, I just found out about Big Lobby mod and I’m trying to convince friends to play.

just curious if anyone had experience with the mod and knew any contracts that are still fun with 10ish people?

I cut my finger at some point at work. I was looking for the first aid kit everywhere. My boss asked me what I was looking for. She is 70 something years old so understandably struggles to hear me sometimes but I couldn't tell if it was because I was quiet or using the wrong words. "The med bag," I said hoping she would get it because I knew that wasn't right term. She was looking st me confusedly so I was doing that snapping my fingers, trying to jog my memory thing. "Doctor bag," I said, still searching for the word. She was still not hearing/not understanding me. "Med kit," I said "Med-FIRST AID KIT." and she finally got what I was saying

Holy shit, I was fumbling around so hard for the proper term and in my mind's eye I literally kept picturing medkits and doctor bags on the ground, is something wrong with me???

I haven’t played in a while. I’m on PS5 and I don’t have this trophy still but did they update it so you just need to grab 5 of them instead of 3 people at once? I’m on very hard and solo if that matters.

Hi everyone,

I'm developing Heistfest, a solo heist game:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1451220/Heistfest/

Currently, the gameplay length is around 3-5 hours. I want to expand it to 10+ hours by adding a second gameplay layer, not just more missions.

Right now, after the heist, the player escapes the police with a top-down driving section inspired by GTA 1/2.

I'm thinking about adding another system, for example:

- A management layer (building your criminal operation, buying upgrades, managing resources)

- A shooter/combat layer

- A progression system

- Something else that creates a stronger gameplay loop

For people who played heist games, what kind of second layer would make you keep playing?

Would you prefer managing a criminal empire, upgrading equipment/base, more action gameplay, or something completely different?

Looking for ideas and honest feedback.