This interview has been edited for clarity.
It’s easy to attribute the appeal of the heist genre to the thrill of watching an ambitious robbery unfold, but the craft goes beyond that. Apart from painting an intriguing juxtaposition of chaos-inciting actions against precise execution, it presents the opportunity to live through the experience of breaking the law without actually having to, while participating in an anti-capitalist rhetoric that resonates with the modern crowd.
Overkill Software’s Payday series (Starbreeze Studios developed the third) fully embraced the criminal life by turning players into burglars who work together to carry out heists, from bank robberies and rigging elections, to distributing narcotics. The series broke out of a relatively niche space to find success among a mainstream following, with its multiplayer mechanics touted as particularly praiseworthy.
Well, developer 10 Chambers, founded by Payday designer Ulf Andersson and comprising several veterans who previously worked on the franchise, is looking to succeed in criminal activities once again. After the Swedish studio revisited the spirit of co-op play with its first game GTFO, officially released in 2021, the tried-and-tested formula will continue to drive Den of Wolves, its upcoming co-op heist first-person shooter (FPS) that marks a return to, well, Payday action. There’s a twist, however – in the same way that the former represented a first foray into horror territory, the work-in-progress features a prominent sci-fi theming.
While stepping into the role of criminals-for-hire sounds like déjà vu, the new techno-thriller setting offers a different experience from the more grounded and set-in-reality approach that fans are accustomed to. Midway City is in a state of dystopia as a corporate-controlled metropolis built on the Pacific Ocean, with mission types taking the form of industrial espionage, corporate sabotage, and more – and the parallels to familiar sci-fi elements are hardly coincidental, as director Andersson cites William Gibson’s 1984 novel Neuromancer, and works from renowned genre writer Philip K. Dick, as major influences for the game.
“For me, it’s always more Blade Runner than anything else, but that goes for everything that I do,” he laughs during an interview with Geek Culture held in Unity’s office in Tokyo, Japan, adding that the statement applies even when he’s cooking, to which audio and music director Simon Viklund smartly quips, “So noodles, rather than pasta?”, referencing the White Dragon noodle bar scene from the 1982 film directed by Ridley Scott.
“Den of Wolves is more connected to the things we grew up with in the sci-fi genre, like Akira and Ghost in the Shell, [as well as] Cyberpunk 2077 and other RPGs (short for role-playing games),” he continues.
The sources of inspiration may differ from GTFO’s on a surface level, but Andersson believes that “a lot of good things come from the same sources”, highlighting that GTFO pulled from the Alien movies and various projects hailing from James Cameron, who helmed the second film in series.
Where the horror title and Den of Wolves find a greater distinction is in scoring, as the shift to a cyberpunk aesthetic calls for a composition that breaks free of previous trappings, eschewing uneasy, eerie tunes for trap hip-hop and street music influences rooted in distortion.
“It’s a power fantasy, just like Payday, so the music should make you feel cool, awesome, and dangerous,” describes Viklund, whose scoring credits include both GTFO and Payday. “It’s not a horror game like GTFO where the music is supposed to get under your skin and be creepy, while Payday is primarily house and club music with a lot more street vibes – 808, brass hits, and slower, heavier, and more deliberate execution.”
“It’s a bit like you know what a perfect mix should sound like, but then you f*** with it,” surmises Andersson succinctly, and his peer explains further:
“Yeah, that goes for out-of-tune stuff as well, and making things a little janky and wonky deliberately, because that’s a flavour. 10 years ago, I would’ve been more concerned with how people will think that I messed up, but now, I’m like, I can do that and with more confidence.”
The bold ambition isn’t just an individual endeavour, but a collective one. In the oversaturated shooter landscape, Den of Wolves sets itself apart by combining traditional gunplay with unique Dive mechanics, where players hack into human neural networks and enter a surreal mental space. Here’s the catch – there aren’t directional cues or instructions to fall back on, and they will have to figure out the path leading to the exit within a time limit.
It’s easier said than done, as navigation doesn’t operate on a regular fixed plane. Instead, Dives breathe life into spatial manipulation, such that dimensions can rotate, flip, or twist freely and deliver an almost psychological horror-like experience. The lack of guidance is intentional, designed to emulate the organic process of breaking into a system and working things out along the way, while also cultivating the never-say-die attitude.
Then, there’s the issue of making players understand what needs to be done. Each Dive has its own design, and the steep learning curve is levelled out through a low-stakes approach that brings multiple attempts, alongside a simplistic execution centred around basic movements like jumping. Only one team member is needed at the finish line to complete the challenge; otherwise, the party gets thrown out, with the option to have another go at it.
“We change the rules, pull the rug under the player’s feet a little,” Viklund enthuses. “We can just throw that at the player, and trust them to try again and again, and be like, ‘We need to triangulate and find our way into the Dive again’, and then they get another attempt. It’s super cool.”
For Andersson, the absence of hand-holding is a callback to early-era gaming, where manuals and walkthroughs have yet to become the norm. “You lose that experience of going like, ‘Oh, what the f*** is this?’, and I love that experience from all games. It’s something we’d like people to go through, and that’s why we’re willing to throw you into [the deep end] and have you fail. It’s fine,” shares the studio founder.
Marking another commitment to break the mould, Den of Wolves will adopt a stronger storytelling focus that’s atypical of co-op shooters. On its own, the sci-fi angle already carves out more room for narrative exploration (the genre is often used as a medium for protest art and societal critique, after all) and in some ways, serves as a step up from GTFO, which also included plenty of lore bits, but its frenetic pacing didn’t quite allow for full appreciation.
Here, the attention to detail comes through in the order of missions, the choices made in them, and how they affect one another. “To make people understand, we use the reference to a roguelite,” Andersson explains, addressing the term used to describe play styles with features that keep gameplay fresh and enjoyable each time.
“It’s not necessarily roguelite, but you’re not just playing missions linearly. You’re actually more in control of how to do things.”
The industry veteran cites an example – an encounter with a boss enemy called Grimjaw can either take place when players open the central vault as part of a main story mission, or before the sequence in an ambush, with the map changing to reflect their past decisions. Essentially, there’s “less variation on layout, but more effect on the actual mission”.
The non-linear structure feeds into replayability, too. To avoid the fatigue and monotony of looping smaller missions to earn better drops like in the Payday games, Den of Wolves will tweak some aspects of the playthrough experience and offer agency over player actions, which may at times, be limited to the constraints of mission requirements.
“There has to be something that disables you from playing the storyline exactly the same every time… We’re designing our way around these meta loop issues to make it more fun and varied to play,” highlights Andersson. “Sometimes you might not have the choice and have to assassinate the target, but maybe, you can find a way around it.”
As with any multiplayer title, there’s the challenge (or joy, depending on perspective) of working with others. Pulling off a successful heist is no easy feat, requiring a great deal of planning and teamwork that becomes even more difficult with strangers, especially when they join mid-match and aren’t privy to the discussed strategy. To this end, Den of Wolves incorporates a design that gives them a slightly different goal, where their role is to protect teammates instead of completing the mission.
Andersson elaborates, “If someone that’s better than you, or more experienced in the game, drops in, they will not be able to, say, run ahead and open all the doors, and make the choices for you. They are just there as a bodyguard of sorts to guide you through.”
“You make choices before you start the map, and then the map will be streamlined to guide you towards them,” adds Viklund.
And when the action kicks in, all those moments will be lost in time, like bullets in the chaos.
Den of Wolves has no release date, with early access planned sometime.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
