History VideoGame / NeedForSpeedPayback

* MyNameIsNotDurwood: Mac calls [=HashTiger=] "Hush Puppy", much to the latter's annoyance.

The twenty-third installment in the ''Need for Speed'' franchise, ''Payback'' takes cues from the feedback [[Creator/EAGothenburg Ghost Games]] has received from the 2015 reboot, which was met with incredibly mixed reception. It is a decidedly DarkerAndEdgier installment compared to its predecessor, and is far more story-driven, in a similar fashion to ''The Run''.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: One story mission requires the main characters to steal two cars: a Mercedes-[=AMG=] G 63 and a Lamborghini Aventador, both completely wrapped in gold[[spoiler:, are part of The Collector's collection and have mysterious technology under their bonnets]]. These gold cars actually do exist in real life, albeit as a [[ConspicuousConsumption status symbol of the rich]].

JustForFun/TheOneWith open-world deserts, three protagonists, and... uh... slot machine-based upgrades.\\\

JustForFun/TheOneWith open-world deserts and... uh... slot machine-based upgrades.\\\

JustForFun/TheOneWith open-world deserts and... uh... slot machine upgrades.\\\

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nfspayback.png]]

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Tyler's EnemiesList includes Navarro, for betraying him, Vasilev, for betraying him, and Mac, for borrowing his favorite wrench without permission once. [[SeriousBusiness He insists it counts as]] [[RuleOfThree betraying him.]]

** During Tyler's livestreamed race against Natalia Nova, Natalia at one point reads a chat donation from a [=WolfTFK=], one of the crew bosses in ''Carbon''.

** Off-Road: Higher suspensions and better air-time means improved handling on dirt roads. [[TheXenophile League 73]], [[AmazonBrigade Free Ember Militia]] and [[CorruptHick Hazard Company]] specialize in this class. One of the two classes that Mac drives in the main game.

* CorruptHick: Holtzman of the Hazard Company is this. His members are all "rednecks who can't drive" [[spoiler:with the gift of self-driving cars by the House]], and he's rich enough to own Fortune Valley's solar power plant and be commissioned [[spoiler:by the House]] to build the Ark tower, which, when completed, will be the tallest in the valley.

* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:Mr. Kobashi, the supplier for the House's advanced performance technology. It's telling that The Collector refers to him as Kobashi''[[UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics -sama]]'' and demands that he be treated "greater than royalty."]]

-->'''Udo Roth:''' We used to sneak in there and scope the [[FlyingSaucer UFO]]s back when it was still a secret military base.

* AmazonBrigade: The Free Ember Militia are this - their members are all women. They avert StrawFeminist though - they don't reject a race with men[[spoiler:, and are willing to help a male (Tyler) win the Outlaw's Rush]].

* NeverTrustATrailer:
** The gameplay trailer ends with Jess, driving Marcus' Koenigsegg Regera, facing an oncoming group of police cars and a helicopter after stealing it back from the House. In-game, if you're good enough, you won't have to tackle the cops in that mission.

---> '''Rav''': Listen Mac, that guy's trouble. Treats his mechanics like his servants, for one.

* SequelHook: In the final cutscene, [[spoiler:Kobashi calls Marcus and compliments him on his gamble against the House, and welcomes him to Arkwright.]] [[spoiler:Also, if you look closely on the loading screen after winning the Outlaw's Rush, it states that the The Collector fled and "returned back to his masters", implying another set-up can be formed.]]
** LeftHanging: Due to the criticism towards ''Payback''[='=]s story, Ghost Games completely disregarded the sequel hook in favor of a new original story in ''Heat''. And now with Ghost Games themselves no longer in possession of the ''Need for Speed'' IP, it's unlikely that the story will be continued any further.

** One of the (secret) achievements is named [[spoiler:''[[Music/TheClash I Fought the Law]]'']].
** You can find a [[https://imgur.com/68qwJNM hotel]] in Fortune Valley called the ''[[Music/TheEagles Hotel California]]''.

* {{Bandito}}: The Graveyard Shift base themselves around the Mexican celebration Dia de los Muertos. Their cars are adorned with colourful skull patterns.

** The Gamescom trailer features Tyler being chased by the Fortune Valley PD after the conclusion of a street race. No such chase exists in the final product due to the lack of police presence in free roam.
*** [[spoiler:This scene was actually kept in the final product, for when [[AssInAmbassador Mitko Vasilev]] [[FelonyMisdemeanor calls the cops]] [[DisproportionateRetribution on Tyler]] [[SoreLoser after losing a street race]].]]

** Bull, also from ''Most Wanted'', is one of the racers at the Outlaw's Rush.

** When Aki Kimura boasts that no one has ever beaten "The Drift King", Mac reminds him of his defeat at the hands of the ''[=ProStreet=]'' protagonist, Ryan Cooper. Aki is quick to assert that that was a long time ago and no one's done it since.
** Cooper later joins the Outlaw's Rush as one of the participants, along with Nate Denver (the Speed King).
** The Curator even states that those who committed great achievements in the ''Need for Speed'' universe, such as [[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted clearing out the Blacklist]], beating the Speed King (''[=ProStreet=]'', well, Cooper is there) and participating in the Run (''The Run'') are welcomed to the Outlaw's Rush.

* FreudianTrio: ''Payback'''s protagonist trio is set up as this.
** Tyler: [[TheKirk Ego]]
** Mac: [[TheMcCoy Id]]
** Jess: [[TheSpock Superego]]

* IKnowMortalKombat: After a very brief tutorial on drifting from Mac, [=HashTiger=] demands to be taken on a "real" drift run, confident that he can handle it because he's "played a ''lot'' of racing games." [[RealityEnsues Naturally, he gets sick after only a few corners]].

* DummiedOut: Six cars - the BMW M3 [=E30=] Evolution, the Mazda RX-7 FD Spirit R, the Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R, the Plymouth Barracuda, the Volvo 242 and the Volvo Amazon [=P130=] - were originally announced for the game, but aren't available to the player at launch. Ghost confirmed they withheld them from the full game due to bugs, and are releasing them once said bugs are sorted out as "Abandoned Cars", where players have a limited time to find them lying around in Fortune Valley and drive them back to the garage at Airfield 73 while being chased by the cops.

* DirtyCop: In a surprising first for the series[[note]]unless you count F-8 from (also Ghost Games-developed) ''Rivals'' as the VillainProtagonist, due to Redview County's cops are borderline LawfulEvil[[/note]], the cops here are explicitly noted to be villainous, with The House having most of the Fortune Valley Police Department on their payroll. The cops chase the protagonists solely on The House's orders on more than one occasion, and Navarro mentions having the Police Chief under her thumb at one point. Makes sense why there are no free roam pursuits in the game, now does it?

* DirtyCop: In a surprising first for the series[[note]]unless you count F-8 from (also Ghost Games-developed) ''Rivals'' as the VillainProtagonist[[/note]], the cops here are explicitly noted to be villainous, with The House having most of the Fortune Valley Police Department on their payroll. The cops chase the protagonists solely on The House's orders on more than one occasion, and Navarro mentions having the Police Chief under her thumb at one point. Makes sense why there are no free roam pursuits in the game, now does it?

*** [[spoiler:This scene was actually kept in the final product, for when [[AssInAmbassador Mitko Vasilev]] [[FelonyMisdemeanor calls the cops]] [[DisproportionateRetribution on Tyler]] [[SoreLoser after losing a street race]].]]

* SoreLoser: All three of the House-aligned league bosses ''really'' don't like losing. Special mention goes to Mitko Vasilev, however, [[spoiler: who ''calls the cops on Tyler'' just because Vasilev lost to him]].

* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Payback'' is arguably one of the darkest entries in the franchise so far (competing with ''Undercover'' and ''The Run''), which is especially astonishing considering how light-hearted the 2015 reboot was. How dark? "TheSyndicate having a firm grip on a Las Vegas expy with rigged races, [[spoiler:self-driving cars and military-grade electromagnetic pulse killswitch technology supplied by a mysterious organisation]]"-dark. [[EvenEvilHasStandards It's so dark, Cross couldn't stand working with the police (also under said syndicate's wing) and went back to Rockport.]]

* CoolCar: It's ''Need for Speed'', of course there's this trope aplenty. While sadly ''Payback'' doesn't feature Ferraris or Toyotas, it more than makes up with a robust selection of cars instantly familiar to anyone who's played/read/watched popular racing video games/manga/films, ranging from fan favourites such as the [[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted BMW E46 M3]] (albeit not the [=GTR=] variant) and Lamborghini Diablo SV, awesome drift-capable imports like the [[Manga/InitialD Nissan Skyline GT-R BNR32]], cool muscles such as the [[Film/TheFastAndTheFurious Dodge Charger R/T]], powerful behemoths like the Koenigsegg Regera, and diamonds in the rough in the form of Derelict cars, which, fully upgraded, can even put the hypercars to shame.