Lockpicking is a minigame that must be completed to open a locked container or door. The player controls the angle of a bobby pin which, when positioned correctly, allows the lock to be turned fully and opened. If the bobby pin is not angled correctly the lock movement will bind before the lock can open. The closer the bobby pin angle is to the correct value, the further the lock will turn before binding.
Locks range in difficulty: Very Easy, Easy, Average, Hard and Very Hard - requiring a Lockpick skill of 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 respectively to access the lockpicking minigame. The range of angles where a lock will move at all (the "sweet spot") decreases as the lock rating increases - that is, more difficult locks must be closer to the correct position before giving any indication of progress.
Continued/repeated attempts to turn a bound lock will cause a bobby pin to break and the damage to a bobby pin does not reset between locks or attempts. This can be minimized by briefly and repeatedly triggering the turn movement and stopping as soon as the binding action occurs. Locks can also be "forced" which can skip the minigame at the risk of breaking the lock entirely and making it unpickable - though the Infiltrator perk allows a player one more chance to pick a previously broken lock.