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Max Payne
Max Payne is a man with nothing to lose in the violent, cold urban night. A fugitive undercover cop framed for murder, hunted by cops and the mob, Max is a man with his back against the wall, fighting a battle he cannot hope to win. Prepare for pain…
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Data as of 2026-05-20.
What reviewers agree on
58 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“[u][b]Initial Thoughts:[/b][/u] I have just completed Max Payne. This game is incredible! The story telling, the gameplay, the level design, it has it all going for it. However, this game is 25 years old, don’t bother…”
“a full-on charm offensive i fear. its pretty stunning how equally the game straddles several seemingly contradictory appeals. only in this period, with this creative team, could a game be, all at once, a genuinely…”
“Max Payne, the John Wick before John Wick, greatest 3rd person shooter oat amazing game but needs a few unofficial patches to make the audio and other stuff work since rockstar doesnt care about their old games i am…”
18 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“[u][b]Initial Thoughts:[/b][/u] I have just completed Max Payne. This game is incredible! The story telling, the gameplay, the level design, it has it all going for it. However, this game is 25 years old, don’t bother…”
“For a game from 2001 it's full of details, even suppressing some of the later installments made by Rockstar Games. The storytelling is pretty good at keeping you playing with interest until the end. The game is…”
“Literally unplayable without installing a patch, so be wary of that. Otherwise, it's basically Sam Lake's take on Die Hard. Very brooding atmosphere with seeds of all the classic Remedy weirdness that flourishes in…”
14 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“a full-on charm offensive i fear. its pretty stunning how equally the game straddles several seemingly contradictory appeals. only in this period, with this creative team, could a game be, all at once, a genuinely…”
“For a game from 2001 it's full of details, even suppressing some of the later installments made by Rockstar Games. The storytelling is pretty good at keeping you playing with interest until the end. The game is…”
“Literally unplayable without installing a patch, so be wary of that. Otherwise, it's basically Sam Lake's take on Die Hard. Very brooding atmosphere with seeds of all the classic Remedy weirdness that flourishes in…”
4 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“For a game from 2001 it's full of details, even suppressing some of the later installments made by Rockstar Games. The storytelling is pretty good at keeping you playing with interest until the end. The game is…”
“I really enjoyed it when it was released and now as well. Challenging game which is worth playing through.”
“If you like the Souls game loop, you will really like Max Payne. Nothing but getting shot in the face and having all of your HP deleted, while you point blank shotgun a guy and he face-tanks the blast. Its Hard and Dumb…”
4 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“After decades from the first time I tried MaxPayne at my classmate's place, back in the middleschool, I finally played it fully through by myself. It needed a fix that I downloaded from the community or somewhere,…”
“This game is a must play for every PC gamer that genuinely loves classic action shooters. The story is relatively simple yet engaging, conveyed as it is via fairly unique Comic book style artistic sequences that are…”
“The coolest game ever made. A noir detective hellbent on delivering justice for his dead wife, framed for the murder of his friend Alex Balder during a mafia crime operation. Max is dragged deeper into the Valkyr case,…”
40 of the 103 reviews raise this · 30 of them still recommend the game.
“[u][b]Initial Thoughts:[/b][/u] I have just completed Max Payne. This game is incredible! The story telling, the gameplay, the level design, it has it all going for it. However, this game is 25 years old, don’t bother…”
“doesnt boot up on modern day pcs but after downloading the fix work in the community it runs great I LOVVVEEEEE ITTTTTTT”
“Max Payne, the John Wick before John Wick, greatest 3rd person shooter oat amazing game but needs a few unofficial patches to make the audio and other stuff work since rockstar doesnt care about their old games i am…”
7 of the 103 reviews raise this · 5 of them still recommend the game.
“>Clear room. >F5. >Take pain killers. >Waits. >F5. >Get 1 Tapped by a enemy coming out of a doorway with no time to react. >F9. Rinse and repeat. Pretty solid game just a bit painful 7/10”
“Starts out strong and the gameplay was pretty revolutionary at the time, but the longer it goes on it just devolves into (enter a room) (get ambushed) (enter a room) (get ambushed) (enter a room) (get ambushed) (enter a…”
“Classic gem, beautiful writing, and evergreen gameplay, though Part 3 gets tiresome”
7 of the 103 reviews raise this · 5 of them still recommend the game.
“Would not recommend buying in 2026. I was interested in playing this classic series starting with the first, and tbh this negative review is not about the game as intended but about its technical state. When I first…”
“If Manhunt and Kingpin had a baby, that would be Max Payne. Crazy action, crazy story, dark and gritty. Downsides are that is becomes repetitive very quick. Same encounters and boss fights, same gray atmosphere, no…”
“I played this game all the way through on the hardest settings when it originally came out. I still think the Payne series is amazing. The unfortunate thing is the audio on this Steam port is terrible. Nothing on the…”
5 of the 103 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“>Clear room. >F5. >Take pain killers. >Waits. >F5. >Get 1 Tapped by a enemy coming out of a doorway with no time to react. >F9. Rinse and repeat. Pretty solid game just a bit painful 7/10”
“[u][b]Initial Thoughts:[/b][/u] I have just completed Max Payne. This game is incredible! The story telling, the gameplay, the level design, it has it all going for it. However, this game is 25 years old, don’t bother…”
“Starts out strong and the gameplay was pretty revolutionary at the time, but the longer it goes on it just devolves into (enter a room) (get ambushed) (enter a room) (get ambushed) (enter a room) (get ambushed) (enter a…”
3 of the 103 reviews raise this · 1 of them still recommend the game.
“the game is broken, ill buy it again when they fix the game or make a remaster but i lnow rockstar games are too busy being greedy and milking the ♥♥♥♥ out of GTA V”
“Get this one before Rockstar delists it for the remaster! Rockstar's track record with remasters is horrendous. You will need a community patch to get it working - both of them on PCGamingWiki have fixes for the bug…”
“I mean, yeah, it’s an amazing game. The story, the monologues, everything about it is great, and I genuinely wanted to enjoy it. But I don’t understand how they can charge money for a game that you have to fix yourself.…”
Counted across 103 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 89.2% positive rating · as of 2026-05-20
“Ive seen gameplay and ive played it before and its like REALLY good but on my pc it doesnt start for some reason at all the only reason i never refunded it is bc i got it for like 99 cents”
— a player, Steam review · 0 hrs played“One of the best third person shooters ever made. The bullet time mechanic never gets old and the noir atmosphere is fantastic.”
— a player, Steam review · 10 hrs played“If you're willing to patch your games, this is a recommend. However, go into this expecting to patch launcher crashes, audio not playing, buggy physics interactions, and potentially more. I personally can't recommend this in the state that it's in, even if this is my favorite.”
— a player, Steam review · 7 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live count fetched 2026-07-11 11:42 UTC · history via SteamCharts.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-07-24). Relative comparison only.
Games like Max Payne
From our knowledge graph — ranked by shared traits, not a black box. Each card says why it's here.
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
94.5% · 6,415 reviews
shares Bullet Time, Noir, Crime, Classic
Max Payne 3
85.0% · 28,348 reviews
shares Bullet Time, Noir, Cinematic, Third Person Shooter
Mafia II: Definitive Edition
74.6% · 11,441 reviews
shares Noir, Crime, Classic, Third Person Shooter
Mafia: Definitive Edition
87.1% · 34,937 reviews
shares Noir, Crime, Classic, Third Person Shooter
El Paso, Elsewhere
91.4% · 1,305 reviews
shares Bullet Time, Cinematic, Third Person Shooter, Dark
Alan Wake
88.6% · 21,374 reviews
shares Cinematic, Third Person Shooter, Great Soundtrack, Dark
The Evil Within 2
91.0% · 9,404 reviews
shares Third Person Shooter, Great Soundtrack, Violent, Dark
Hitman: Contracts
85.3% · 1,672 reviews
shares Crime, Classic, Third Person Shooter, Great Soundtrack
Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-20.
| Genres | Action |
| Player tags | Action · Noir · Classic · Third-Person Shooter · Bullet Time · Story Rich · Atmospheric · Dark · Third Person · Singleplayer · Shooter · Great Soundtrack (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English * * |
| Estimated owners | 1,000,000 – 2,000,000 (SteamSpy) |
| Official site | http://www.rockstargames.com/maxpayne/ |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS *: Microsoft® Windows® 2000/XP (only) Processor: 450MHz AMD / Intel Processor Memory: 96 MB RAM (128 MB RAM or greater recommended) Graphics: 16MB Direct3D Compatible Graphics Card DirectX Version: DirectX 8.0 Hard Drive: 830 MB Hard Drive Space for full install, 530 MB for minimum install Sound Card: DirectSound compatible sound card