ActionAdventureRacingSportsStrategy
Need for Speed™ Payback
Give it 3 hours
Gets good by 3h almost every game dips in hours 2–3
Reach the ending 24% of players who started
Started playing 81% of owners
Steam reviews 85% positive of 32,604
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 2 reviews are negative (47%); after 10h it's 1 in 9 (11%).
- 24% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “Welcome to Fortune Valley” (Complete the Prologue) and “Back in the Game” (Reassemble the crew): from 100% to 74% of starters.
- 81% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 32,837 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 293 reviews: 21.9h for positive, 9.5h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (81.4% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Welcome to Fortune Valley Complete the Prologue 100%
- Back in the Game Reassemble the crew Most players quit here 74% −26
- We Got This Complete the Highway Heist 51% −23
- La Catrina Defeat Graveyard Shift league boss La Catrina 57% +6
- Udo Roth Defeat League 73 league boss Udo Roth 55% −2
- Big Sister Defeat Riot Club league boss Big Sister 43% −12
- Underground Soldier Defeat Shift-Lock league boss The Underground Soldier 42% −1
- Gallo Rivera Defeat Silver Six league boss 'Gallo' Rivera 33% −9
- Aki Kimura Defeat Noise Bomb league boss Aki Kimura 32% −1
- Faith Jones Defeat Free Ember Militia league boss Faith Jones 31% −1
- Natalia Nova Defeat One Percent Club league boss Natalia Nova 27% −4
- Mitko Vasilev Defeat Diamond Block league boss Mitko Vasilev 25% −2
- Holtzman Defeat Hazard Company league boss Holtzman 24%
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (57)
story milestone ending side
- Welcome to Fortune Valley Complete the Prologue 100%
- Back in the Game Reassemble the crew 74%
- Training Wheels Off Reach REP level 2 73%
- Spread the Word Win your first event against a Street League 69%
- A Daily a Day Complete your first Daily Challenge 59%
- La Catrina Defeat Graveyard Shift league boss La Catrina 57%
- Udo Roth Defeat League 73 league boss Udo Roth 55%
- We Got This Complete the Highway Heist 51%
- Friendly Competition Beat your first Autolog Recommendation 50%
- The Strategist Grind a previously won narrative event for Speed Cards 49%
- Big Sister Defeat Riot Club league boss Big Sister 43%
- Underground Soldier Defeat Shift-Lock league boss The Underground Soldier 42%
- I Fought the Law Escape the Skyhammer 39%
- Perfect Shift Win a Drag Race round by performing only perfect shifts 38%
- One Man's Trash Assemble a Derelict car 34%
- Gallo Rivera Defeat Silver Six league boss 'Gallo' Rivera 33%
- Aki Kimura Defeat Noise Bomb league boss Aki Kimura 32%
- Tinker, Tailor, Racer, Fly Win a Race Event with a modified live tuning setup 32%
- Faith Jones Defeat Free Ember Militia league boss Faith Jones 31%
- The Mogul Buy all available Garage spaces 30%
- Double or Nothing Steal two gold-plated cars 29%
- Comeback is Real Be last during the final lap of a race and still win 27%
- Natalia Nova Defeat One Percent Club league boss Natalia Nova 27%
- Take Them Down Take down 100 pursuit vehicles 26%
- Mitko Vasilev Defeat Diamond Block league boss Mitko Vasilev 25%
- Holtzman Defeat Hazard Company league boss Holtzman 24%
- Against All Odds Bring down The House 23%
- Scrappy Racer Win an event using a Derelict car 17%
- Speedcross Champion Complete the Fortune Valley Speedcross Series 15%
- Hyperspeed Hit 240 mph using any car 14%
- Top Dog Reach REP level 50 12%
- Outlaws on the Rise Equip a full setup with the Outlaw brand 11%
- Pranked Beat Jesse Wellens in an Outrun Race 11%
- Under the Hood Equip a full setup with the Chidori brand 10%
- The Artist Unlock all Visual Customization points 10%
- Tech Mate Equip a full setup with the NexTech brand 9.1%
- Hope and Glory Equip a full setup with the Americana brand 8.8%
- Carbon Cartel Equip a full setup with the Carbon brand 8.1%
- Another Man's Treasure Get a Derelict car to 399 Performance Level 8.0%
- Accelerate Your Potential Buy the INFINITI Q60 S from the Speedcross dealership 6.8%
- You've Got the Need Complete all Speed Traps 6.4%
- Built for the Adventurer Buy the MINI JCW Countryman from the Speedcross dealership 6.0%
- Cover Stars Own the BMW M5 2017, NISSAN Skyline GT-R (1999) and Chevrolet Bel Air 4.7%
- First Strike is Deadly Complete all 5 events in a single Speedlist 4.3%
- Does Not Obey Smash your way through all the Billboards 3.8%
- Aces High Complete all Jumps 3.7%
- Maximum Insanity Fully upgrade a Speedcross car 3.7%
- Driving the Incredible Get a score of over 350,000 points with the BMW M5 2017 during a Drift Trial event 3.4%
- Flat-Out Complete all Speed Runs 3.3%
- Wherever I May Roam Beat all 4 Roaming Racer bosses 3.3%
- Who Runs this Town? Win all the events and beat all the Roaming Racers in the game 3.3%
- 1500 bhp... Easy Win a race in the Koenigsegg Regera without damaging it 3.2%
- Sideways Style Complete all Drift Zones 2.9%
- All In Collect all of the Gambler's Chips 2.9%
- Supercars for Breakfast Beat all the members of the 1% Club roaming racers league in the Nissan GT-R 2.9%
- Active Lifestyle Get a 3 Star Rating on all the Activities in the game 2.6%
- The Climb Complete 10 events in Ranked Speedlists 2.3%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-18.