Following two years of preproduction, recreation developer 10 Chambers lastly introduced its new heist recreation—Den of Wolves—Thursday throughout the 2023 Sport Awards. Set in 2097 in a extremely corrupt metropolis positioned in the midst of the Pacific Ocean, it’s, based on narrative director Simon Viklund, the sort of recreation “the place you are imagined to really feel like a badass.” For Viklund, who additionally serves as the sport’s composer (he did the compositions for PayDay: The Heist and PayDay 2, too), which means “the music must, like, [grunt noise].”
True to its identify, Den of Wolves’ fictional metropolis is a spot the place principally something is authorized so long as it’s finished within the pursuit of supercharged innovation and groundbreaking expertise. Think about PayDay meets Cyberpunk 2077 set in a metropolis that is a mix of Venice and Hong Kong. The idea is sort of completely different from 10 Chambers’ earlier work with horror game GTFO, but it surely structurally performs to the studio’s core energy: 4 particular person co-op video games.
Quite a bit is on the road because the studio works on its second launch. 10 Chambers acquired an funding from Chinese language tech and leisure conglomerate Tencent to construct this recreation and develop from a small workers of round 10 folks to just about 100. Viklund emphasizes that the sport could have a extremely detailed setting however that players mustn’t anticipate an open-world expertise. The general vibe, Viklund provides, pulls from a litany of sci-fi and thriller motion pictures, like Warmth and Decide Dredd (the Stallone one, not the 2012 reboot).
Whereas he loved engaged on horror recreation music for GTFO, Viklund is worked up to maneuver away from that style and again to a PayDay-esque heist expertise. “My wheelhouse is that this energy fantasy kind of music,” he says. By no means performed that franchise earlier than? Give “Razormind” from PayDay 2 a pay attention any morning you neglect your espresso at dwelling and wish a fast jolt of adrenaline.
So, what can gamers anticipate from the music in Den of Wolves? “So, there’s going to be parts, after all, which might be just like PayDay,” says Viklund. “However I’m eager on taking it some other place when it comes to tempo. Making it heavier, slower paced.” He additionally seems ahead to incorporating completely different parts of percussion impressed by the Pacific Ocean setting.
Because the recreation remains to be in early improvement and received’t be launched for some time, WIRED didn’t see any precise recreation footage throughout a latest preview occasion 10 Chambers held for the title. Just like the launch of GTFO, the corporate plans to launch the sport at first to gamers by means of Steam early entry. Den of Wolves does not have a launch date but, however PC players can anticipate receiving it earlier than their console counterparts.
Followers of GTFO could also be disillusioned that their recreation’s content material updates are ending, however Viklund factors to 10 Chambers’ first recreation as vital for constructing the corporate’s confidence round design. “It was very liberating to have the ability to have a undertaking the place we may have that ‘fuck it—we’ll simply do it’ type of angle,” he says. One of these confidence is a driving drive behind 10 Chambers’ determination to develop one thing contemporary for gamers quite than counting on a franchise idea that already exists.