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We've got to be clear from the off, this is an article focused on the PC version of Payday 2; it's the best version of the game (at least until the current-gen version of the heist ‘em up lands in June), and it's the one that we've been playing on and off since it originally launched back in 2013.

Overkill's crime-themed co-op shooter was also released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but gamers on those consoles haven't been as well served as their PC-based peers; most of the DLC that has released on PC has not made the transition across to the old-gen machines. The rights and wrongs of this approach, and the lack of support enjoyed by console owners, is a discussion for another day. We'll leave it to you to decide whether it's fair that players who brought the same product on different platforms are treated differently.

So nearly two years on, and after a range of free and paid-for updates and expansions, how does the PC version of Payday 2 hold up?

We played the first round of content back for our original review. It's a grind-heavy shooter with strong RPG elements and plenty of customisation. Built with four players in mind, but playable with less (with numbers either made up from other players online, or via bots), it's a game that requires cooperation, especially when played at the higher levels. Even the "normal" missions are challenging, and it can be hard for new players to find their feet.

There's a lot of shooting, and for us this can have a jarring effect, at times pulling us out of the heist fantasy. We kind of wish there was an option to play the game with less enemies, but with a more realistic health bar. The option to stealth through certain levels has been explored further in subsequent DLC heists, and there's more scope for planning and executing a more subtle robbery, although in the end most heists will "go loud" at some point.

It's when playing in stealth that the game feels most exhilarating, when players are working together with specific tasks that form part of larger plan of action. One player breaks in through a door, kills a guard, and then oversees the security cameras while another casually walks through the store and up into the staff area, kills another guard and swipes a security card from an incapacitated manager.

There's other examples, and plenty of different ways to go about your business, but it's in these moments of careful planning and tense execution that the game really shines. When it all goes wrong - for whatever reason - and the police are called, Payday's more obvious side shows itself. Wave after wave of heavily-armed police will descend on you and a brutal gunfight will ensue, during which you'll make many a widow/widower as you attempt to make good your escape. It's during these battles, as you're scything through dozens of enemies, that we wish there was a different way.

In our perfect world there'd be a lot less police, but equally, you'd have a lot less health and if captured, that'd be you out the game. We're not talking about a total redesign, but a shifting of the margins that'd put a more realistic slant on the action. It wouldn't even need to be instead of the standard gameplay as it is now, but an additional mode that refocussed the game; not necessarily harder, just more realistic. Different.

That's not us grumbling about what's included in the game. On the contrary, we're still having fun with Payday 2. We scored it 8/10 back in the day, and we stand by our initial assessment. The game, as it stands (on PC) has been significantly fleshed out, and now there's loads and loads of decent content for players to tackle.

Most significantly there's a variety of new heists, and these offer additional longevity where before dedicated players would have to replay the same missions over again and again. Now there's a great mix of scenarios (both single days offerings and multi-day events) for players to tackle.

The Bomb DLC featured two heists that are offered to the player by a new character/contractor, The Butcher. Dockyard, as the name implies, is set in a dockyard, and has the players move a ship before searching for a bomb. The next mission, Forest, is a hard-as-nails heist that has the team searching through the cargo containers of a crashed train for a vault, while enemies swarm from all sides of a wooded hillside.

Missions like Dockyard and Forest are handed to players by contractors on Crime.net, the interface whereby players pick and choose their next criminal outing (you can sign up for a mission as it's loading, or use your own in-game funds to purchase contracts and control who plays).

Another contractor, The Elephant, offers heists that are more stealth-orientated (he's a politician, he doesn't want any attention to fall on him), and his Election Day job was added as a free DLC. Another - The Dentist - offers some of the best missions in the game, including The Diamond and Big Bank. The Dentist is also involved with tie-in content such as the Hotline Miami DLC two-day heist.

Overkill's shooter actually ties into or borrows from several other IPs. As well as the aforementioned Hotline Miami mission, there's nods to Valve's tactical shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in the GO Bank, and there's some crossover content for SpeedRunners. More recent was the announcement of a collaboration with DJ Alesso, where a heist will take place against the backdrop of a live concert.

It's not just heists that have been added to mix. Over time loads of new masks and weapons have been released in both paid-for and free updates. The late-game Infamy update offers experienced players the chance to start from scratch in exchange for new loot and masks (kinda like Prestige in Call of Duty). On top of all that, new characters have gradually been introduced.

The four original characters have since been added to: Dallas, Houston, Chains, and Wolf are now joined by Hoxton and John Wick (who were added during a promotional event called Crimefest 2014), and Bonnie (also added in a community event, the more recent Spring Break 2015). On top of this Clover, Dragan and Hotline Miami's Jacket all landed as paid-for DLC. Another notable addition is the Technician class, which brings together skills from original Payday: The Heist character classes, and adds to the existing playable classes (Enforcer, Mastermind, Ghost and Fugitive).

As you'll have no doubt surmised by now, there's loads to do in Payday 2, and Overkill and Starbreeze have promised to support the game until 2017. Quite what that means for versions of the game on different platforms remains to be seen, and it looks very much like the old-gen versions of the game have been cut adrift (we've asked the developers for clarification, and we'll update you if and when they get back to us).

That said, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions planned to release in June should be comprehensive and bursting at the seams with content (they won't launch with everything you can play with on PC - in fact it's quite confusing and you should head here to see exactly what content is available on which platforms). And of course, Payday 2 is in great shape on Steam. There's now plenty of heists, plus new characters, weapons and masks, and there's even more content on the horizon.

While there might be a few flaws in there, and the community can be a bit unforgiving especially with newer players, this is still a good game, and with ongoing support and with plenty of interesting and well-implemented content on offer and still to come, it's one were still happy to recommend to heisters and shooter fans alike.