How to disable Cameras in Payday 3

Payday 3 crossplay and cross platform with friends — (Image credit: Starbreeze)

Payday 3 cameras are one of the biggest threats for players attempting stealth runs, little swivelling security cameras in most rooms that can spot players and mark them out for all to see. Cameras can be shot and destroyed, but the downside of that approach is that any guards who see the damaged camera will realise something's up. There's a better way - and one I'll explain below in our guide on how to disable the security cameras in Payday 3, and even how to do it bloodlessly.

How to turn off the Payday 3 cameras

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Cameras in Payday 3 can all be deactivated if you find the security room in the level and get rid of the guard who is watching the screens. This way the cameras aren't destroyed in a way that'll alert wandering guards, but with nobody watching the feed they provide, they won't pose a threat. This works on all difficulties, including Overkill, and the security rooms themselves usually remain in a fixed place from heist-to-heist, so once you know where they are, it's easy to get back to them. Once you find them and get inside, simply killing the guard will render them useless for the rest of the mission.

Of course, sometimes you don't even need to kill them. We'd like to thank YouTuber NeroBax for bringing this method to our attention, but when security rooms are in a private area, rather than a secure area, you can simply stand in front of the watching guard in the security room to be escorted away as per usual. Not only do the cameras shut down after he leaves, but they remain shut down even when he comes back and stares at the screen again. I guess this is technically one of the Payday 3 errors, but right now it's one that can work for the player, rather than against them.

Admittedly, this method doesn't work in heists where the security room is in a secure area, so in those cases you'll just want to shoot the guard and answer his radio, before leaving the corpse somewhere out of sight.

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.