Max Payne: A Bit Closer to Heaven | Part-3
0The story of Max Payne unfolds in three parts—"The American Dream," "A Cold Day in Hell," and "A Bit Closer to Heaven"—and begins in medias res on December 20, 2001, during New York City's worst recorded blizzard.
Prologue
Max Payne, a former NYPD officer turned DEA agent, is seen atop a skyscraper with a sniper rifle as police surround the building. Flashbacks reveal the events that led to this moment, starting three years earlier.
Part I: The American Dream
August 22, 1998
Max is a detective who declines a DEA transfer to spend more time with his wife and newborn daughter. Returning home one night, he finds his family murdered by drug addicts high on a new designer drug, Valkyr. Grief-stricken, Max transfers to the DEA to find those responsible.
Three Years Later
Max works undercover in the Punchinello crime family, who are key distributors of Valkyr. His friend and DEA partner Alex Balder contacts him to meet at Rosco Street Subway. There, Max encounters mobsters breaking into a bank vault and finds files connected to Aesir Corporation.
While escaping, Max meets Alex, who warns him about a mole in the organization. Before revealing more, Alex is assassinated. With no evidence and seen fleeing the scene, Max is blamed for the murder and declared a fugitive. The Mafia, now aware he is a cop, also want him dead. Both the police, led by Chief Jim Bravura, and the Mafia begin hunting him.
Max tracks Jack Lupino, a violent underboss linked to Valkyr. Along the way, he crosses paths with Russian mob boss Vladimir Lem, who’s waging war with the Punchinello family.
After interrogating Lupino’s lieutenant, Vinnie Gognitti, Max learns Lupino is hiding at Ragna Rock, a gothic nightclub. There, he finds Lupino delusional and obsessed with dark rituals, driven insane by Valkyr. Max kills him and meets Mona Sax, a hitwoman and sister to Lisa Punchinello (Don Angelo Punchinello’s wife). She drugs Max, warning that she won’t let him harm Lisa.
Part II: A Cold Day in Hell
Max wakes up in a dream sequence of his family’s murder, only to realize he’s being tortured by mobster Frank "The Bat" Niagara. He escapes the Mafia’s slaughterhouse and kills Frank. He also learns Mona was captured while attempting to kill Don Punchinello and is likely dead.
Max allies with Vladimir Lem, who offers support in exchange for Max taking out a traitor, Boris Dime, aboard the cargo ship Charon. The ship contains Russian weapons, which Max uses after surviving a bomb trap at a Mafia restaurant.
With the weapons, Max storms the Punchinello estate, killing the Don’s elite assassins—the Trio—and finds Lisa murdered. Don Punchinello is soon killed by Nicole Horne, the CEO of Aesir Corporation, who reveals he was just a pawn. Horne injects Max with an overdose of Valkyr, triggering a surreal dreamscape where he confronts his guilt and the idea he’s merely a character in a game.
Part III: A Bit Closer to Heaven
Max survives the overdose and uncovers Valkyr’s origin. The drug was part of Project Valhalla, a failed U.S. military experiment from the early ’90s aimed at enhancing soldier morale and stamina. Though officially scrapped, Aesir secretly revived it. Max learns his wife discovered classified info about the project, prompting Horne to send Valkyr test subjects to murder her and cover it up. Aesir began “Operation Dead Eyes” to erase all loose ends, including scientists and agents like Max and Alex.
Escaping the destroyed lab, Max receives a call from B.B., his DEA handler, who lures him into a parking garage ambush. B.B. confesses he betrayed both Alex and Max for Aesir’s benefit. A gunfight ensues, and Max kills him.
Soon after, Max is contacted by Alfred Woden, a member of a secret society known as the Inner Circle, which wields influence over the government. The Circle knows about Horne and Aesir but claims their hands are tied. In exchange for his freedom, they ask Max to kill Horne.
During their meeting, Aesir gunmen storm the Asgard Building and kill everyone except Max and Woden, who fakes his death to avoid detection. Max infiltrates the high-tech Aesir HQ, dodging gunfire from a helicopter and heavily armed guards.
In an elevator, Max briefly reunites with Mona Sax, who is shot in the head after refusing to kill him—her body mysteriously vanishes afterward.
At the top of the tower, Max confronts Nicole Horne. She attempts to flee via helicopter. Max destroys a tower antenna, causing it to collapse onto the helicopter, killing her.