Steam cooperative shooter “Den of Wolves” hopes to reinterpret the existing heist model. There is no so-called “loyalty” in Midway City

Following “GTFO”, the Swedish game company 10 Chambers Collective brought a new “Den of Wolves” gameplay trailer at this year’s TGA Game Awards. Although the full game and launch time are not yet clear, the development team still did not hesitate to share many interesting in-game details. Intelligence and details, including an experience that blends heist and hacking techniques in the cyberpunk era.

In the promotional trailer, “Den of Wolves” reveals the intense firefight and robbery style familiar to players of “Payday” in terms of gameplay. The final scene switches to a hacker invasion, and the environment suddenly changes from natural to a surreal world. .

Simon Viklund, the director of sound effects and narrative, revealed in a media interview that from the economic collapse after the rise of AI to the cooperation of large enterprises to establish the free city “Midway City” (Midway City), these are the elements and the starting point of everything that this game wants to focus on.

“We do try to show the appearance of Midway City as much as possible in many maps and mission environments.”

“This city is a city built from an offshore atoll. The ground environment is not an ordinary alleyway. On the contrary, the passages between high-rise buildings, or aerial platforms or rooftops are where we play,” Viklund explained. : “Because there are no traditional roads, logistics also has a relatively special situation, such as drone delivery devices. We hope that the environment that players experience will be consistent with the background of Midway City. You will see high-tech office buildings and research laboratories. .

Data fragment of DoW tech demo at @unitygames #Unite2024.

See some of Midway City’s environments and adversaries powered by Unity 6. pic.twitter.com/Cr8phUWJsy

— Den of Wolves (@denofwolvesgame) September 19, 2024

Interestingly, creative director Ulf Andersson has mentioned that they attach great importance to the story background and development of Midway, and also emphasized that the earliest promotional videos also contain many messages.

“We did not deliberately create trailers to promote the game, although trailers are very helpful for marketing. In fact, it is more about making a clear commitment, locking goals, and making the game seriously.”

“That way, when we come out of pre-production, we can have an end goal and be able to say: This is what we made,” Andersson said. “That’s why I loved making it. No, I didn’t really. Love making them, but making these pieces is very rewarding.”

Of course, “hacking” has always been the most fascinating element of the cyberpunk genre. In the past 10 Chambers, he has pointed out that “hacking” is the core gameplay of “Den of Wolves”. The last few seconds of this promotional video have also been exposed. introduced the world of hacking, and Director Viklund further explained that hacking has more diverse manifestations.

“Because it is a digital world, just like the movie “Inception”, the other person has his memory in his head, and also mixes in many things, such as the “security” system.” Viklund explained: “As I mentioned before As for the structure of Midway City, there will be more drastic changes in the hacked digital world, giving our developers room to design changing environments in the hacked world, so you can experience more diverse challenges, such as running Cool, there’s even a shootout too.”

“It’s also very risky for you to spend a lot of time sneaking into other people’s heads, because hackers will also use their own brain computing power to crack the security system, and even endanger their own lives,” Viklund said. You are willing to take such risks and accept the commission. The relationship between contractors, corporate warfare and mercenaries is exactly the world view we want to present.”

The “hacking and sneaking” gameplay also echoes the new experience of robbery gameplay mentioned by 10 Chambers before – sneaking and lively firing are not alternatives, but intertwined.

“For example, you’re in the middle of a robbery and are fighting a fire, but you hack into the enemy’s system and the game changes,” Viklund said. “When you return from the hacking state, you’ll find that the original gunfight is still going on. (The time of hacking into the world is different from the real time).”

“The same goes for the other way around. You may be on a stealth mission, but when you hack into the enemy system, it turns into a gunfight, and when you leave the hacking state, you return to the stealth mission again. Midway City’s technological background allows us to integrate the game process “

“This part is a bit like the experience of “GTFO”. Sometimes you need to go through some battles, but you will also resume stealth.” Viklund explained: “For example, you may be out of control on a floor and trigger the alarm, although you are exposed. , but if you can deal with the enemy in front of you and escape to the next floor before the enemy’s large forces arrive, the situation will return to the stealth state.”

In “Den of Wolves”, players play the role of a group of “Criminal Entrepreneurs” who undertake commissions. The tasks you undertake often do not have an absolute camp orientation, or the only orientation is “price”. This is the point. It smells like “Payday”.

“That’s right, there is no such thing as ‘loyalty’ in this business.” Viklund smiled: “Today you may be helping Company A deal with Company B, and tomorrow you may be helping Company B to stab Company A in turn. A bit like Akira Kurosawa. Like the movie Yojimbo, but the characters in the game actually do much worse than that.”

“For example, today Company A asks you to sneak into Company B to do bad things. You accept the responsibility and carry out sabotage or steal money according to the plan. But in the middle of the operation, you might also do something to benefit yourself, such as completing another company’s work on the way. A task, or to put more money into your pocket, we want players to play a criminal group that is “loyal to themselves”.

In order to retain some mystery (and want more testing), Viklund did not reveal too many new weapons and devices that “Den of Wolves” may have, but said that players will not see too exaggerated weapons. This era is far from “Star Wars”. The laser gun in “The Great War” is still a bit too far (laughs).

“We don’t want to reveal too many actual details yet, but yes, you can collect (unlock) new tools or devices through the story, and then understand where these high-tech equipment are used, and these equipment will also assist your Game play.”

Another good thing is that as a criminal, of course you need a safe house.

“Yes, the safe house is one of our elements that allows players to showcase the protagonist’s perfect criminal career.”

“Instead of accepting missions in a game interface, we created a base where you can move freely in that space and receive missions through the mission table,” Viklund replied affirmatively: “As your mission experience accumulates, you will upgrade. The more money you earn, the more you can change the decoration inside.”

In addition, if you are also a fan of the music of “PAYDAY 2”, the music of “Den of Wolves” is also a major selling point that you are looking forward to – Chambers will be the first to release the “Den of Wolves” soundtrack music “INJECT” from 10th this year glimpse.

The music production of “Den of Wolves” is directed by Simon Viklund of “PAYDAY: The Heist” and invites percussionist Greg, who has participated in the production of films such as “Argonauts”, “Transformers” and “Godzilla” Ellis collaborated with Jamie Christopherson, the creator of “Metal Gear Rise and Revenge”, and you can feel the cyberpunk and familiar salary-stealing atmosphere in “INJECT” alone.

Finally, when asked about the game development progress and Beta testing, Viklund still expressed that he did not want to give out a timetable too early. He emphasized that the game is currently in a state of full development by the 10 Chambers team. Therefore, there may be more opportunities in 2025. Further news, as for the publishing platform, they are still targeting the Steam platform.

The new 4-player robbery game “Den of Wolves” developed by the 10 Chambers team will be launched on the Steam platform. There is currently no exact release time and landing platform. Interested players can add it to their wish list first.