After shipping its debut title GTFO, Stockholm-based studio 10 Chambers is venturing (back) into heist games with Den of Wolves, its upcoming techno-thriller set in a cyberpunk, ultra-corporate city that may put Night City’s greed to shame.
10 Chambers’ co-founders were key players in Payday and Payday 2, and they’ll draw from that experience to build another title. Chief executive Ulf Andersson was a creative director for the first two games in the franchise, while narrative director Simon Viklund composed the songs that helped give the games their unique atmosphere. They also voiced Wolf and Bain, respectively.
The fact 10 Chambers is working on a heist game has been public knowledge since Andersson admitted it to NME last year, but the cinematic shows off a bit more about the game—including the first official mention of its name, which had been kept carefully under wraps.
The game takes place in 2097 in Midway City, a type of sovereign nation run by corporations, as narrative director Simon Viklund called it on a press tour with travel expenses provided by 10 Chambers.
In the mid-21st Century, technological advances such as deep-learning AI made basic security measures obsolete. To come up with solutions, corporations set up in Midway City and came up with a new, neural-based security system—through lots of experimentation and little regard for human life.
These new security developments made Midway City the only “safe” place to be for Fortune 500 or blue-chip companies, and that’s exactly where you’ll go to steal from them. Den of Wolves’ universe and storylines tell tales of corporate greed, espionage, and rivalry. While you, as a player, will be a bit of a pawn in them, you also have your own agenda, according to Viklund.
Despite being heavily based on science fiction, the universe of Den of Wolves is grounded in truth. Deep-learning AI is already evolving, corporations keep trying to push boundaries, and even the setting of Midway City has a real-life counterpart; Midway Atoll on the Pacific Ocean, administered by the Department of Interior. (If the powers that be would come together and wring a piece of land, Midway would be it, Viklund said on the press tour.)
While 10 Chambers is known for GTFO, Viklund assured us Den of Wolves won’t be as lethal or dark as its predecessor. Players can expect its difficulty to be much more in line with Payday 2 than its sibling’s hellish expeditions, according to him.
Den of Wolves doesn’t have a set release date yet, but players can stay tuned into the game through its official website and by following 10 Chambers. The game will only be available on Steam at first, though console players may see a release later.
