Max Payne — key art: Max’s stencil silhouette with a pistol on a brick wall, in a single pool of light

The Max Payne series, game by game

Three games, a 2008 movie and a remake that, as of September 2026, is still in development. An unofficial fan guide to the series, from New York in 2001 to São Paulo.

The games in orderThe remake

Max Payne

Remedy Entertainment · Windows, July 25, 2001 · Metacritic 89 on PC

New York, 2001: three years after Max’s wife and daughter were killed, a drug called Valkyr leads back to a military project that Nicole Horne revived. Sam Lake wrote the story — and, with no budget for actors, lent Max his face.
More on Max Payne (2001)
Max Payne — Max runs down a snow-covered New York street at night, past police barricades and an NYPD mobile arrest bus
Max Payne — Max aims a pistol at the camera on the same snowy street, the police bus behind him
Max Payne — Max dives sideways through a subway station, firing a pistol in mid-air

New York, 2001.

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

Remedy Entertainment · Windows, October 15, 2003 · Metacritic 86 on PC

Two years later, the story pulls in Mona Sax, Vladimir Lem and Senator Alfred Woden’s Inner Circle. There are two endings, and the second one is reached only on the hardest difficulty.
More on Max Payne 2
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne — Max fires a pistol on a rainy night street beside a street lamp, debris flying from an explosion
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne — Max raises a sawed-off shotgun in a night alley under a Dead End sign, fires burning behind him
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne — Max and Mona Sax side by side, both armed

New York, two years later.

“I stood out in this place like a streetwalker in a monastery.”

Max Payne 3, Chapter 7 — Max wanders through one of São Paulo’s favelas.

Max Payne 3

Rockstar Studios · PS3 and Xbox 360, May 15, 2012 · Metacritic 87 on PC and PS3

Nine years after the second game, Max is in São Paulo with the Branco family and his partner Raul Passos; along the way he shaves his head and quits drinking. Rockstar made this one — Remedy only consulted near the end.
More on Max Payne 3
Max Payne 3 — Max, bald and bearded, in a tropical shirt above a São Paulo favela
Max Payne 3 — Max in a suit holding two pistols, sparks falling around him
Max Payne 3 — close-up of Max aiming a pistol against a grey sky

São Paulo, nine years after that.

Max Payne 1 & 2 Remake

Remedy Entertainment · PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S · announced April 6, 2022

One game that remakes the first two, built by Remedy on its Northlight engine and funded and published by Rockstar Games. As of September 2026 it is still in development, and there is no release date.
What’s known about the remake
Max Payne — Max stands in a marble corridor with a pistol in each hand
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne — key art: black silhouettes of Max and Mona Sax in an embrace, each holding a pistol, on white
Max Payne — Max runs past a subway ticket booth as a man in a blue jacket reloads, spent casings on the floor

What the remake retells: New York, 2001 and 2003.

Around the series

The story, the people behind Max, the way the games play, the lines people quote and the mods.

The games in order

Every page, by subject

The three games and the remake, how to play them today, the story and the people behind Max, the movie and the rest.

The games

4

Playing

4

Story and people

4

Screen and more

3
The whole story

New to Max Payne?

Start where it started: New York, 2001. The first game’s page covers its versions, from the original PC release to the 2012 mobile port.

Start with Max Payne (2001)