This article is about the returning heister from PAYDAY: The Heist. For Dallas's younger brother, who temporarily held the mantle while Hoxton was in jail, see Houston.
FBI Files: “Hoxton” was recently incarcerated at Hazelton Prison, but was freed by the Payday gang while he was being taken to a parole hearing. We are sure he will be very difficult to apprehend again.
James “Jim” Hoxworth, better known by his codename Hoxton, is a member of the PAYDAY gang and the Fugitive (formerly Sharpshooter) from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom. He has two brothers, possibly more. He wears a pink and white Clown mask, and is voiced by Pete Gold.
Hoxton was arrested by the FBI sometime between the first and second games, and was briefly replaced by Dallas's younger brother, a 31-year-old American portrayed by Derek Ray, who took up the codename and the mask. In 2014, Hoxton was rescued by his former crewmates in the Hoxton Breakout heist. At this point, he regained his nickname and once again became a playable character. The replacement Hoxton took up the alternate moniker Houston but kept Hoxton's original mask.
A heist where Hoxton and the gang track down the rat responsible for his imprisonment was released on March 21, 2015, during the Spring Break Event.
Hoxton has fought with his brothers, bullies, rival football supporters, and opponents in unlicensed boxing matches. He has never been able to hold a job for long, as he believes jobs should come few and far between and pay greatly. Hoxton swindled many people as his debt grew, which made many angry with him. He would intimidate people to keep loan sharks away and would often work for them to pay off his debt. He was eventually caught with his gang in Hoxton, London, which gave him his nickname. His first felony was a liquor store robbery at age 19.
Hoxton as portrayed by actor Josh Lenn in the Breakout trailer.
In 2011, between the setting of the first and second game, the original Hoxton was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Intervention due to DNA found at First World Bank and incarcerated at the same high security prison and the same cell block as their previous driver, Matt (see Heat Street for info.) Hoxton regularly beats up Matt, which Hoxton sees as "karma" for double-crossing them.
By PAYDAY 2, Hoxton has heard about the new heister who has taken up his mantle, and expressed his displeasure about being "replaced". [1] His lawyer explained that it is impossible to bail him out of prison, due to the amount of overwhelming evidence against him obtained from the previous heists in the previous game, along with his continued attacks on Matt Roscoe in prison. Coming to the realization that the only way to get out of prison is to be broken out, Hoxton decided the best course of action was to contact Bain for assistance.
Prior to the Breakout
The Election Day heist page states that the heist was supposed to be done as part of the plan to break him out by getting The Elephant to transfer Hoxton into a lower security prison.
In the Dentist trailer of Update #29.2, a plan to break him out of prison was revealed, along with his possible name of Jim Hoxworth. According to The Dentist's dialogue in the trailer, Hoxton was left behind by Dallas. Supposedly during their 2 year hiding between the events of Payday: The Heist and Payday 2.
In Almir Listo ALS Ice Bucket Challenge here, one can see a 5th person wearing a slightly modified Hoxton mask. This person is assumed to be Old Hoxton, as in the Old Hoxton Breakout Trailer, he puts on a mask that matches the one in Almir's ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
On September 30 2014, OVERKILL, in collaboration with Dennaton Games, released the Hotline Miami DLC, in which the gang applies pressure to Washington D.C.'s corrupt district attorney for The Dentist by assassinating one of his connections to the underworld, a Russian mobster known as The Commissar. In doing so they come one step closer to freeing Hoxton.
The Great Escape
"Did you miss me, you wankers?"
—Hoxton reuniting with his former crew.
Released on October 27th, 2014, the Hoxton Breakout heist sees the return of the Englishman as the crew intercepts a prison guard escort and frees their former accomplice. Protected by his friends, Hoxton escapes the police-infested streets of Washington D.C.
Looking back on the capture, Hoxton revealed that he was not set up by Roscoe, but someone else, someone with an intimate and thorough knowledge of his background. Breaking into an FBI headquarters, he and his old crew resolves to find out who this treacherous individual is and plans his revenge.
Confrontation with the Treacherous Rat
Prior to discovering the traitor's identity, he was contacted by Bonnie whom he has met before. Bonnie was recently released from prison and claims that she has bits of information on the rat which she will give in exchange for her membership to the Payday gang. Hoxton, desperate to find this rat, accepts Bonnie into the gang and assures the crew on her intentions.
While he couldn't identify the Rat, he however managed to discover his hiding spot; a fancy house under heavy protection of the FBI. Hoxton finally extracted his revenge upon the Rat during the events of Hoxton's Revenge. However, the crew was shocked upon learning the Rat's identity...
Behind The Scenes
Originally, the new character Houston (previously Hoxton) was created as a complete replacement for Hoxton, as Pete Gold wasn't asked to reprise his role for unknown reasons. Derek Ray was cast as Hoxton in the PAYDAY Web Series before portraying the character in-game as well.
Due to the overwhelming demands from the PAYDAY Community to bring the old heister back, Overkill Software have published the backstory of Hoxton's arrest that leads up to the release of the Hoxton Breakout heist and re-introduction of the former Hoxton. Pete Gold has also returned to provide the voice of his original character and the new name, Houston, was given to the new character as to avoid confusions. Hoxton's original face model Richard Blom, however, does not reprise his role in PAYDAY 2.
Original Heisters In the First World Bank job, complete the heist from start on the OVERKILL difficulty or above with a full player lobby using all 4 characters from the PAYDAY: The Heist crew, Reinfeld Shotguns and Bernetti 9 Pistols.
He's Got Experience Complete the Prison Nightmare job on the Hard difficulty or above by having 1 player playing as Hoxton, all having Nova's Shank melee weapon equipped, and are only allowed to kill enemies using Nova's Shank. You have to have played the heist from start to end. Unlocks the "Risen Houston" mask.
Trivia
General
Both Hoxton and Houston have the highest number of objective-related quotes compared to the other heisters, the most notable example is the Drill. Most others only have one to two lines that they use from time to time, while Houston in PAYDAY 2 has roughly 6-7 different lines for the Drill alone.
During development, the following nicknames were scrapped: Knuckles, Haggis, Hackney, and Chips.[2]
Hoxton was apparently intended to be an American during the earlier stages of development, as assets related to him are indexed as such in the game files.
Like Chains, Hoxton has also done time in juvenile detention in his youth, after his capture in the East End of London, where he also got his alias.
Hoxton was incarcerated at Her Majesty's Young Offender Institution following his arrest. This is slightly unusual, as the Englishman was captured with his gang at the age of 19, while the HMYOI normally only accept young offenders from 15 to 17 (juvenile offenders.) Any individual older than that is commonly sent to an adult prison instead, though an exception was likely made, or that he was instead held in the YOI, a sub-department of the HMYOI that caters for offenders ages 18 to 20.
PAYDAY: The Heist
Hoxton wears a dark blue pinstripe suit with blue tie during most heists.
His original face was modeled after Richard Blom, a former musician and game developer at Overkill Software.
He sometimes refers to Wolf as "Wolfy" or "Wolfman" and Chains as "Chainsey".
Hoxton's voice actor, Pete Gold, is the only voice actor who voices a single character. [3]
Hoxton was originally to have a Cockney dialect, but was instead given a Yorkshire accent because Overkill believed Pete Gold, who is from Sheffield, was the best voice actor they could find. However, it made it difficult for the developers to justify the character's nickname because "Hoxton" is an area in Greater London, so Overkill decided that Hoxton got his name because he was arrested for the first time in Hoxton. [4]
Hoxton is depicted as the "Sharpshooter" in PAYDAY: The Heist.
His 'Secret' mask is his original mask finished in solid purple with a fleur de lys image painted onto the forehead.
PAYDAY 2
Josh Lenn as Hoxton in PAYDAY 2.
His voice actor, Pete Gold, has stayed the same throughout the first game into the second. This is the same with Dallas and Wolf, but Chains has got a different voice actor for the second game.
Hoxton's original face model Richard Blom did not return due to "Copyright reasons".[5] He is now acted by Josh Lenn, an American actor currently living in Stockholm and have previously collaborated with Starbreeze Studios. This portrayal of Hoxton in PAYDAY 2 marks Lenn's first major video game role.
Hoxton lacks his signature short ponytail in the Breakout trailer due to Lenn having a different hairstyle. His voice is provided by Pete Gold and dubbed over Lenn's lip-syncing.
The character model still has the ponytail.
It is presumably known that Richard Blom was working more with his band than Overkill Software, and either quit or got fired.
Technically speaking, Hoxton is the only heister in PAYDAY 2, and by extension, the entire series, that requires an achievement to be unlocked before he can be used, akin to weapon mod achievements. However, the difficulty of this achievement (Complete Hoxton Breakout on Normal Difficulty) is quite questionable as a challenge at best, so this does not pose as much as a problem for a new player.
Perhaps intended as a reference to a community in-joke, Hoxton himself may occasionally make a certain comment during the breakout, voicing his irritation at Bain's notorious tendency to constantly nag at players to pickup the Thermal Drill. He also mentioned how relieving he felt not having to hear Bain say it while in prison ("At least in the nick I didn't have Bain yappin' in me ear like a needy dog. Get the drill, my arse!")
Hoxton's signature ponytail does not have an associated "bone" included as part of the character model "skeleton" (a bone is part of the basic model structure, and defines if a certain part of the model is solid or not), and thus will stick out from the back of certain full-head "masks" (e.g. The Hard Hat.)
During the search for the rat in Hoxton Revenge, it is revealed that Dallas was originally going to be sold out to the FBI. This was suggested by the FBI handler, though due to the snitch believing him, as the crew leader, to be too risky and well-connected to be sold out, Hoxton was ultimately chosen and arrested in his stead. The conversation can be heard by playing one of the tapes scattered around the safehouse.
Hoxton's prisoner ID is "40X70N". This is "leet-speak" for Hoxton.
Hoxton's new mask, the Hoxton Reborn, looks significantly different in live-action media than its in-game counterpart, being much wider and has an outline similar to that of The Grin.
Despite being freed from prison in a rather high-profile shootout and subsequently raiding an FBI headquarters, there had been zero wanted notifications from the police for Hoxton whatsoever. He is also able to blend in during casing mode in spite of the infamy surrounding him.
Hoxton was Clover's former mentor, as mentioned on the heister's announcement page.
Hoxton is seen dual-wielding two assault rifles in the trailer. Despite this, only pistols, submachine guns, and shotguns are usable in this fashion in-game.
Hoxton wears an orange prison jumpsuit during the Breakout. When selected as a playable character, he wears a dark brown-burgundy suit and tie instead.
Because of this, Hoxton is the only original member of the crew to not retain his suit in PAYDAY 2. Even his replacement Houston wears an outfit different from the one he wore during PAYDAY: The Heist.
noicon
The name of HoxHud, a PAYDAY 2 modification by Olipro, was inspired by Hoxton. Its icon featured his PAYDAY: The Heist mask prior to his release and the PAYDAY 2 version following it.
The sound byte "HoxHud Initialised" played at the start of a heist was provided by Hoxton's voice actor, Pete Gold, himself.[6]
During the Breakout, Hoxton can be shouted at as if he's a law enforcer. Melee hits and shots striking his body will cause blood to fly out, though that will not damage him.
Hoxton in his NPC fugitive form has the same amount of health as a Blue SWAT officer, which will never drop as he is scripted to be invulnerable to all forms of damage.
Hoxton apparently knows and has presumably met John Wick sometime prior to the events of PAYDAY 2, as implied by the remarks (e.g. "John motherfuckin' Wick, haven't seen you in ages.") he makes when the two meet during Hoxton Breakout. While Wick does not respond during the sequence itself, he will acknowledge their acquaintance later on when spoken to in the Safe House if the player is currently playing as Hoxton.
Hoxton's old mask bears the "Happy Clown" pattern, which drops in PAYDAY 2 as a Card reward.
Hoxton is depicted as the "Fugitive" in PAYDAY 2.
At random points during the first day of the Hoxton Breakout heist, Hoxton may mention that their former driver Matt was not the one who ratted him out, despite him betraying the crew in Heat Street. This is due to his belief that, had Matt known anything, Hoxton would have beaten it out of him prior to his escape (..."know all of his secrets by now.") He even suggests the team breaking Matt out some day (probably so Hoxton can continue torturing him.)
The Dentist trailer marks the first time Hoxton's name, or any name of the playable heisters, have been revealed so far. Of course, it might very well be an alias, just as the name Nathan Steele was used by Dallas on various occasions. The name given to him in the video is Jim Hoxworth. The alias theory is further supported by the way Hoxton's lawyer refers to him as mister "Bo-" before Hoxton cuts him off in the intro to the Payday Christmas soundtrack.
Hoxton receives a new mask after his return, probably to avoid confusions with the current member. Upon closer inspection, this "new" mask appears to be a twisted version of Hoxton's original mask, adorned with a malicious smile and burn marks on the left side.
Additionally, Hoxton's face itself has burns marks on the left side.
Oddly, he has the mask with him in the trailer, it is unknown where he got it from, however, it is possible that Hoxton made it himself during his time in prison, prior to the breakout. This is supported by the fact that the mask seems to be hand-painted, rather than printed on.
Hoxton is apparently on bad terms with his former replacement, as he, when calling out to Houston, will refer to him using various insults such as calling him "Dickhead" and "Shit for brains" amongst other crude epithets. This is probably personal disdain for "replacing" him, or just taking his bitterness out on him.
However he does state that "he's not completely useless" after Houston shot the SWAT unit trying to kill him in the trailer.
Also Hoxton has no qualms about Houston continuing to use his mask.
Hoxton seems to have developed a distrust of, or paranoia toward, civilians. Many of his shouts addressing civilians are accusative, claiming for instance that "these fuckers are mobilizing."
Whereas many of Wolf's and Dallas's lines are reused from PAYDAY: The Heist, Hoxton has a relatively low number of reused lines.
Like Dallas, some of Hoxton's shouts toward civilians are much longer and more verbose than those of the other heisters.
Hoxton appears, like most people, in the Official PAYDAY Christmas Carol. His line is on Day 2, with him saying "2 years in jail." Considering his record, and the sternness of his lawyer in the intro of the Christmas album, it is unlikely that two years was his actual sentence, a possible explanation is that it had been two years since his imprisonment.
Hoxton made a reference to the movie "Pacific Rim" in one of his pager responses ("I just saw a spider so big, I think it was on Pacific Rim.")
One of Hoxton's lines when he is using basic Inspire is 'Run, Forrest, Run!', referencing the film "Forrest Gump".
Hoxton is the only member of the Payday crew to initiate both female heisters, Clover and Bonnie, into the gang having known them prior to the events of PAYDAY: The Heist.
Several of Hoxton's experiences in Hazelton that he mentions to the fellow heisters include:
The horrible prison food, calling it "shit on a shingle."
Thursday night in Hazelton is "Kinky Night." The experience is apparently bad enough that he encourages the crew to consider "going straight," that is, abandoning a life of crime. Judging by the name, "Kinky Night" may involve prison rape of some kind.
Getting "bleach poured in your eyes".
"Lack of proper tea", being only Earl Grey and Green Tea as the only option for tea.
Missing out on watching football games of Sheffield Wednesday and wonder how well they are doing, as the only thing being shown is hockey which is, according to him "fuckin' girls game, that is."
Befriending some prison inmates, Mickey the Squid, Dirty Alan and Fish Fingers are some of the fellow inmates who are friends with Hoxton through his prison sentence.
Beating up Matt Roscoe, their old driver that betrayed the crew.
According to dialogue during Hoxton Breakout, Hoxton is a Sheffield Wednesday fan. To his dismay, the only sports news on TV in prison are about hockey, which he dislikes.
Hoxton, rather strangely, wears his original mask in the trailer for the Hardcore Henry Heists, rather than his own Hoxton Reborn mask.
Hoxton has become a lot more disrespectful and rude in PAYDAY 2, often making threats to civilians. However, he is friendly to his fellow heisters, with exceptions going to Houston and (possibly) Jimmy.
Hoxton is technically the first heister to also be a contractor, and by that logic, the first contractor to appear in-game.
Hoxton is the one who provided the crew with a brand new safehouse, after burning down the original one at the false laundromat.
Hoxton apparently owns a mansion within London, as shown in the Hoxton's Housewarming Party Update.
His mansion was also monitored and maintained by his butler Aldstone, who now takes care of the crew's current safehouse when Hoxton burned down the original.
Despite the mansion being called the "Hoxworth Residence", Aldstone implies that he is the only one there, given he tells Hoxton that he speaks to the paintings or watches over the graves, as well as stating his sanity is well intact (so far.) Because of Hoxton's imprisonment, it is possible that the mansion was passed down and owned by his family, due to the name of the estate, however it does not seem likely as it is watched by Aldstone but contemplates on the lack of work. It is very much possible that he purchased this estate after his escape as the building lacks any relative, friend or owner. Since Aldstone still works at the estate and was even willing to fly all the way to Washington D.C. to serve Hoxton and his crew mates, this is most likely the case.
Hoxton smokes for the first time ever in the Housewarming Party trailer, and subsequently uses that same cigarette to light up and destroy the old safehouse.
According to Aldstone, Hoxton used to play cops and robbers a lot in his youth, with him likely playing the robber most of the time.
As can be seen from the artwork for Day 3 of the Housewarming Party, Hoxton is apparently a bad cook and allegedly makes terrible pasta. The mobster in the middle is especially displeased with the dish, claiming that it tastes like "glue" and would upset his mother so badly she will murder the cook (Hoxton, who is visibly disturbed at the threat.)
Hoxton has a passion for beer of all kinds, if the loading screen tips are any indication. Unlike Bonnie and Jimmy (who either is drunk or has a hangover) in the Safe House, he is not observed to have been consuming alcohol.
In the secret ending of PAYDAY 2, Hoxton's burn scarring across his face has disappeared. It's likely that he has had surgery to rectify it or may have been a developer oversight, although it's much more likely that it was just a developer oversight do to the scar being present once more in PAYDAY 3, albeit much less severe.
PAYDAY 3
Hoxton still holds some level of grudge against Houston even 10 years after his imprisonment. When calling out the heister, Hoxton will refer to Houston with various insults like in PAYDAY 2, especially during stealth and the control phase of a loud heist.
Hoxton can, however, drop the insults when needed (especially during loud phases of a heist), where Hoxton will more frequently refer to Houston properly.
Pete Gold returns to voice act the brit along with Dallas' and Chains' voice actors. Wolf, however, was recasted due to Ulf Andersson, Wolf's original voice actor, leaving Overkill in 2015 to create 10 Chambers.
Hoxton's in game model differs from every other portrayal of the character thus far. He lacks a pony tail, instead opting for a slicked back hairdo, his face structure is more chiseled, and his burn scars appeared to have healed.
As of now, Josh Lenn has not returned to give his likeness to Hoxton's in game portrayal. The reason as to why is unknown, albeit it is likely due to PAYDAY 3's marketing decision to refrain from using real actors for their characters.
Strangely enough, Hoxton's in game model resembles that of Tomek Kosalka, who played Hoxton in the Hardcore Henry heists trailer.
Despite Hoxton's likeness not being used for the aforementioned reason, Vlad was originally portrayed by his original actor (before being replaced) while both Houston and Clover's face retained their voice actor's likeness, making this marketing choice somewhat bizarre (and unexplained, as Almir of Starbreeze Studios has only stated Vlad's original depiction was replaced due to licensing issues).
One of Hoxton's voice lines for killing a sniper is "Sniper no sniping!" According to Pete Gold, this voice line was adlibbed during the recording session due to his daughter frequently watching Dora the Explorer.
In which, the characters in the show say the phrase "Swiper no swiping" to stop the show's villain, fittingly named Swiper, to halt his attempts at stealing their items.
British
