During the Game Awards 2024, the Swedish game development company 10 Chambers revealed the new project Den of Wolves, which has a new trailer. The teaser helped give a sneak peek into the game and the fact that it is a dystopian cooperative game. This will be the studio’s next big move after GTFO, and fans of the heist genre will definitely be thrilled for the upcoming content.
Den of Wolves Revealed at The Game Awards 2024
The teaser itself starts with the panoramic shot of Midway City, the large urban metropolis fully dominated by the megacorp firms. This gave way to an expansive concrete jungle that featured towering ‘giants’ of metal and glass complete with corporate logos flashing around. This setting should deliver players into that world of high-stakes robberies and corporate greed.
Den of Wolves is planned to be a 4-player cooperative first-person shooter that combines standard stealth gameplay with a completely new system of hacking a neural network. People will have to cooperate with each other and plan as well as perform different actions during the heists in order to succeed. This is a blend that sets a game apart from most shooters and, as such, is of interest for analysis.
There’s an interview with the creative director at 10 Chambers, Ulf Andersson, in which he discusses the development of this game in relation to their prior ones. Drawing from his experience with PAYDAY: He said that Den of Wolves takes the heist genre in The Heist and PAYDAY 2 to a whole new level. The goal of the game is to engage gamblers in new and exciting techniques of completing dangerous bank operations, adding intensity to a mission.
With Den of Wolves, 10 Chambers aims to advance the cooperative heist genre while delivering a dose of fast-paced action, tactical thinking, and a good story. Those who enjoyed GTFO and PAYDAY will probably enjoy playing this title, and the game has innovative mechanics for those players looking for a new, coherent cooperative experience.
Den of Wolves: A Look into Midway City's Dark Future
Free city Midway is a free zone in the HOPLON project launched in 2035. The action of Den of Wolves takes place in Midway City. Created for controlling the future of the planet’s financial and technological security after nearly complete artificial intelligence cyberterrorism on the world economy, this city was built on the Pacific island. While it starts with a message of hope, optimism, and newer possibilities, the city has now become officially a crime-ridden space in which influential corporations have no rule of law to adhere to.
Time passes, and Midway City had become from a safe haven to the urban hall of big business where no rules apply. These corporations take advantage of the absence of governmental regulation, as their presence is felt in every facet of living in the city. It will be the world where the spectacular heists and high-profile missions, which players will be exposed to when using the game, will be set.
We are not creating an open world for Den of Wolves, but I can tell you that the world is thought out to every minute detail according to Oscar J.T. Holm, co-founder of 10 Chambers. In addition to designing the physical setting of the game, its creators provide backstory for Midway City, including why the player characters are there and what they hope to gain from risking their lives in dangerous heists.
To contribute complexity and richness to the tale, there is a backstory for each of the corporations and brands in Midway City. For those players who are usually not so keen to experience the plot aspects, the detailed narratives give a good motivation to roam the world and interact with the factions of the city. It was planned this way because the depth of lore guarantees that no one will be left disappointed depending on whether they are ‘’gamers’’ or ‘’lovers’’ of the story.
On one hand, the world of Den of Wolves is realistic, yet it is stimulating in a way so as to keep the game’s audience alert. The game’s story, alongside other features such as play mechanics, requires players to think tactically and behave promptly. Midway City is all about danger, corporate espionage, and backstory, which provides the foundation for a thrilling cooperative heist.
Den of Wolves: Navigating Midway City’s Corporate Divide
Thus, Den of Wolves allows the players to freely choose the districts of Midway City that belong to the different powerful corporations. The first district that is available at startup is the Promise District, which is controlled by USTMAN SACS. This conservative part of the city proves that the gap between the rich and the poor citizens is still rather wide—while the rich citizens reside at higher, safer levels, the poor people live down in shabby conditions.
The Promise District is a dark environment with contrasts: skyscrapers of wealthy people in high levels and slums of unfavored people in low levels. Some of these challenges include the fact that players somewhat have to sneak their way through the district and that area has very mechanized security systems in that there are dome-like security cameras. This means that players will have to destroy or avoid the domes in order to successfully complete the game. It becomes even more difficult as players establish interactions with corrupt security forces to understand that the district is ruled by violence and deception.
However, the players have not only to solve real physical barriers but also complex systems of Midway City politics of the game. Every action and every choice within the Promise District could have a broad effect for the thief players coordinating and undertaking the heists.
This, according to Robin Björkel, the communications director at 10 Chambers, was done purposely because the game’s teaser does not include the release date as a form of harking back to the first-person shooters. The team was passionate about the game and would want Den of Wolves to be very successful from its outset and ensure it meets high standards before its release, but they understand that developing a game is a long and trying process and were very transparent about it.
The specific date has not been revealed, but 10 Chambers reaffirmed to fans that when the game is out, they will be able to access early preview versions of it if they want to. The developers are highly motivated to actually make a well-polished and well-designed game that allows players to immerse themselves in Midway City only when it is ready to propose the best heist experience to its users.
