Den of Wolves is a sci-fi heist game from the creators of Payday and GTFO. Termed as a “Techno-thriller,” players will execute different heists using modern gadgets and technology. The game was revealed at The Game Awards 2023, and since its reveal, fans of the genre have been eager to learn more about this game. In our quest to know more about Den of Wolves, we scheduled an interview with Robin Björkell, communications director at 10 Chambers. Talking about the project status and development period, Björkell revealed:
We’ve been in pre-production for over two years. For the last couple of years, we’ve been growing the studio, tailoring it to make this specific game, Den of Wolves, and we’re just over 100 people now. That’s around the number of people we want to be, but it’s important to note that only some of those directly develop the game. You have finance, HR, communications, marketing, and more functions.
As you might already know, 10 Chambers worked on GTFO before Den of Wolves, which was also a co-op shooter. While talking about inspirations and motivation behind Den of Wolves, he revealed that Ulf Andersson (creative director and CEO) had this idea a long while back:
We’ve been working on GTFO since 2015, so it’s been with us for eight years as we’ve been continuously developing and updating the game with new content. For us, GTFO was the game we had to make – really, to make game development fun again. It was never a game that would keep getting updated with new content forever, like a GaaS title; it doesn’t have the monetization to do that sustainably. You buy GTFO once, and you get all the content. No microtransactions, no DLCs. When we started GTFO development, I wouldn’t say we had any long-term plan to develop another game many years later. The inspiration for Den of Wolves comes from way back – Ulf Andersson has had this game on his mind for many years.
Since the team behind has already worked on games like Payday and GTFO, Den of Wolves is bound to have similarities with these titles. However, 10 Chambers’ latest game will retain its own personality in different ways:
Talking about similarities, it’s worth pointing out that Den of Wolves – regarding difficulty level – will be closer to PAYDAY than GTFO. As both Simon and Ulf worked on Payday: The Heist and PAYDAY 2, of course, Den of Wolves will, in some ways, be an evolution of those games – but the similarities stop early, I would say. Den of Wolves’ setting – near-future, techno-thriller, cyberpunk – and the type of heists you will carry out differs immensely from the PAYDAY games. We can’t say anything much more specific than that right now.
Keeping a game like Den of Wolves fresh for a long time can sometimes be a challenge. While discussing the plans for keeping players engaged, Björkell shared that they have plans to introduce a variety of content including new districts and heists that will hopefully keep the players in the long run:
Our plan with Den of Wolves is to use DLCs to open up new districts of Midway City – the fictional location of the game. Of course, we will launch the base game with more than enough content for you and your friends to enjoy – but the long-term plan is to keep the game sustainable and alive for a long time by adding new districts and heists via DLCs. As the districts of Midway City differ a lot in characteristics and the type of heists you’ll carry out, we hope we’ll be able to keep our players entertained for the long run.
Den of Wolves is being developed for PC only for the time being. However, the developer has consoles in mind, and we could see a Den of Wolves console version in the future as well. If they release the game for consoles, they also plan to look into the crossplay feature as well for the game.
Den of Wolves will be coming to PC first, but we’re designing it with consoles in mind as well to be able to release it for consoles when we know we have a fully working PC version. So, PC first, consoles when we’re confident we can deliver a good console version.
Crossplay would be fantastic; we would love to have it there, but we’re like, let’s finish the PC version before even thinking about stuff like that. Having crossplay is complicated in many ways, but we cannot make any promises right now.
10 Chambers places a lot of emphasis on the plot and narrative. Instead of a traditional campaign, Den of Wolves will feature multiple “storylines,” which will offer players variety when it comes to story and narrative. Björkell explained:
Important. We’ve put a lot of time into the narrative and world-building of the game. We have a rather big narrative team, and they’ve been cooking for the last two years. Rather than the traditional long campaign, the game will have different, what we call “storylines.” These are separate campaigns if you want to call them that, each with a storyline from beginning to end. So, you’ll have multiple storylines dealing with different districts and corporational rivalries in Midway City rather than one overarching campaign.
Each player is different. And the experience they want can differ. So, we are creating a game that offers different experiences within the same game. Some players will want a deep story from beginning to end, whereas others may just want to jump into the game and enjoy it without focusing on the story. We are designing Den of Wolves to be a complete gaming experience from its initial launch, regardless of how you want to experience the game. We take narrative seriously in Den of Wolves; if you like lore, you will have lots of it. But if you just want to jump in and play, you can do that too.
Den of Wolves has an interesting message on its official website that leads to a series of cryptic messages ending in a media file. Upon asking about it, Björkell revealed that it’s something they worked hard on as they wanted to do something for the hardcore players and players can expect more like this in the future:
Thank you for noticing that. We worked hard on it to launch alongside the game’s reveal during The Game Awards, something for the more hardcore players who want to dig to find more information about the game. That website will keep on growing. We’re working on adding new content to it and will keep doing that. Cybersecurity is an integral part of the story of Den of Wolves, so that you may see heists in the game touching on the issue – but it’s too early to go into detail.
Den of Wolves is primarily a co-op experience; however, is the game friendly to solo players? Björkell shared that they are making it to be a great co-op experience. There might be something for solo players, but co-op will take priority:
Den of Wolves is designed to be a co-op game, as it will always be fun to play together with friends. However, we will also try to fit in missions where it’s possible to play less than four – and maybe even enjoy it solo. But it’s important to note that we prioritize making it a great co-op experience before anything else.
When we see a game like Den of Wolves, it’s natural to think about what sort of microtransactions the game will have, considering all the live service elements. We also discussed microtransactions with Robin Björkell, to which he replied:
We don’t know that we will have microtransactions in the game, but we still say that we will – to be as transparent as possible. It irritates us a lot as gamers when games don’t talk about it, launch it, get the reviews, and patch it in the in-game store—sneaking it in. To answer your question, if we have in-game purchases, they will be cosmetic. We don’t like pay2win. We don’t like math fuckery, where you sell in-game currency in a way that confuses the player.
While the game has been in development for 2 years now, we don’t have a release date yet. However, we expect 10 Chambers to talk more about the game soon, and we will probably also know more about the release plans.
In the end, we wanted to ask if they have any plans to bring Den of Wolves to subscription services like Game Pass, as Payday 3 was also released on Game Pass. This is what he had to say:
It is too early to tell if a subscription service would work for Den of Wolves. In general, subscription services serve a purpose. Having a monthly fee with access to a bunch of games lowers the barrier to entering gaming and lets players try games they might want to try but don’t usually buy. It can introduce players to many different genres, which is excellent for players and the industry. But it’s a complex issue, and it’s hard to tell the long-term effect of this shift. The numerous variations of game business models help keep the industry growing year after year. You have the premium games, you have free2play, you have DLCs, you have lots of diverse ways of monetizing a game, and the “right way” depends on the game.
