When 10 Chambers revealed Den of Wolves at the tail end of 2023, the studio said it’s a game they must make. It’s a loaded statement that’s hard to quantify, even when it comes from the minds behind PAYDAY: The Heist, PAYDAY 2, and GTFO. When you look at heisting games today, it’s clear that there’s a gap in the market. After the problematic launch of PAYDAY 3, fans of the franchise have been returning to the earlier entries for their heisting fix. It’s in this context that 10 Chambers’s approach to Den of Wolves starts to make sense.
While there’s still a ways to go for this spiritual successor to PAYDAY, we were fortunate enough to go hands-on with two different missions in a pre-alpha build of the game. If there’s one thing that rings true after my time with Den of Wolves, it’s that this game has the potential to be the next big thing in the heisting space. Between sublime worldbuilding, a killer setting, punchy shooting, and thoughtful level design, there’s a lot to look forward to in 10 Chambers’s sophomore effort.
The preview build comprised of two missions. One was a pre-heist preparation mission that’s smaller in scope than full-blown heists, but are absolutely key to finding success when it’s time to execute a risky plan. The other is the heist itself, only the heist in question involves you hacking into someone’s mind as you plunge into the depths of their subconscious and hunt for information.
After selecting our loadouts in a deliciously cyberpunk lobby screen, we were dropped into the preparation mission with a clear objective – crack into a secure vault to obtain a drone for the heist. Instead of opening in some sort of recon phase, Den of Wolves immediately dropped us into stealth, imploring us to silently take down targets or avoid them entirely as we tried to locate the vault. It didn’t take long for our efforts to collapse, though, resulting in a brief firefight while we cracked the door that leads through to the next area.
As is true for GTFO and this team’s other games, shooting feels fantastic. Even in this early build, they feel fine-tuned in the way they kick, sound, and react as hot metal tears through flesh. Ammunition is scarce, though, so pinpoint precision is heavily incentivised over spraying and praying. It was also here that the use of equipment like portable shields, turrets, and grenades become pivotal to success. These games are at their best when communicating with teammates to overcome insurmountable odds, a feeling that Den of Wolves has already nailed in the way you coordinate gear usage in firefights.
While we found success with relative ease, it was our greed that would be our ultimate downfall in this prep mission. Instead of extracting with the drone, we went back to the vault in the hopes of making it out with extra loot. It was here that we were overrun and overwhelmed by waves of enemies that picked us apart one by one. It was a swift and humbling end, but we dove right back in to see the mission through to its conclusion.
After wrapping the preparation mission, we jumped into the heist. The team mentioned here that there’s much more than a single preparation mission that goes into getting ready for a heist. Between collating information about area layouts and uncovering security setups, the time spent getting ready to pull off a heist properly is a big part of Den of Wolves’s gameplay loop and fantasy. To supplement the missing information, we got a brief in-person rundown of the mission and the area we’d be infiltrating.
Instead of dropping us right into a stealth section like the preparation mission, the heist instead opened with a bit of storytelling. After landing on the helipad of a tower seemingly ransacked by a Midway City gang, we made our way through scenes of recent fighting and carnage. We were here to deliver a package to fulfill a deal with one of the gang’s leaders. Unbeknownst to him and his goons, the package would instead be the drone we stole from the prep mission, which brought a swift end to anyone unlucky enough to be in the room when we made the delivery.
After taking an elevator up to a higher floor, we were thrown straight into a high alert situation. The drone had sounded the alarm bells early, forcing us to execute the heist with enemies who were already aware of our presence and intentions. The design of this heist was much more open than the previous mission. A spacious office floor with multiple stories, desks and filing cabinets dotting the arena to be used as makeshift cover in firefights as you move around the battlefield.
Our objective lies at the center of the floor, but requires three key cards before the way can be opened to our target. These three key cards are randomly spread amongst vaults on the floor, forcing us to make a decision on whether to split up and sweep either side of the arena or move as a four player unit from vault to vault. Each one needing to be cracked and defended, at the very least offering ammunition or other loot to extract with if a key card is nowhere to be found.
Once all three keys were acquired and the vault was cracked, we plunged into the mind of our target. After a rather liminal platforming section, we returned to the conscious world only to be met with an overwhelming force of enemies that swiftly wiped us out. It was clear that we were inexperienced and unprepared, so we hit the drawing board again to revise our approach. Our second attempt was much more successful when armed with the power of foresight, more apt weapon types, and proactive communication.
Much like the preparation mission, the heist also dangled a carrot in front of us in the form of extra loot. Between low ammunition, multiple dives into our target’s mind, and an exponential increase in enemy assailants, we opted to hold our ground to see the heist through to its conclusion, but there’s plenty of room here for flexing skilful shooting and cohesive teamwork.
While most of my time with Den of Wolves was a positive experience, it’s clear that there’s still some kinks to be worked out here. Outside of the standard graphical issues you can expect from a game at this point in development, there’s a degree of awkwardness surrounding certain interactions. Small things that happen quite frequently in these games like reviving allies, grabbing loot bags, opening vaults, and more. It sounds insignificant, but rears its head so often that it’s very difficult not to notice.
Still, these issues are minor in the broad scope of what I was able to experience with Den of Wolves, especially at this stage of development. In true 10 Chambers fashion it’s an immensely satisfying shooter rooted in teamwork, preparation, and knowledge of the mission and everything entailed with it. Even from this small slice, it’s clear that the team is making the most of the game’s dystopian setting to redefine what a heist can be and how you can gamify its many moving parts.
Den of Wolves is releasing into early access when it’s ready. For more on Den of Wolves, check out our interview with Ulf Andersson.
Harry was a guest of 10 Chambers with travel and accommodation covered for the purpose of this preview.
