It’s been a bit over a 12 months since we final checked in with 10 Chambers, creators of GTFO. Whereas we’ve been away, they’ve been onerous at work on their subsequent venture – Den of Wolves, an all-new co-op shooter that calls again to the studio’s heist sport roots when their founders labored on initiatives like the unique Payday.
Whereas Den of Wolves was introduced in the direction of the tip of 2023, we’re solely now simply attending to see the way it’s formed up within the time since then. 10 Chambers has referred to as it the sport they “should make”, and all of that is coming collectively by means of gameplay, its themes, and design philosophies.
Den of Wolves is about in a dystopian near-future place referred to as Halfway Metropolis – one managed by companies, and the place the participant will work as a prison for rent as they have interaction in industrial espionage, sabotage, and assassinations to assist rival corporations.
A lot of Den of Wolves facilities on conventional first-person gunplay, however there’s additionally an all-new mechanic referred to as “Dive”, which lets gamers hack into human neural networks with distinctive gameplay components.
With a give attention to strategic planning in play, Den of Wolves blends stealth and motion in a approach we haven’t fairly seen earlier than.
We had been capable of preview some choose missions from Den of Wolves, which nonetheless doesn’t have a launch date, however shall be accessible on Early Entry when it launches sooner or later. That mentioned, the preview was largely targeted on two missions that helped draw up an image of what gamers can sit up for within the full launch.
For the primary half, 4 of us gathered up collectively, assembly in a standard load-out display the place you choose weapons and what sort of instruments you need to use for the mission. There’s a choice of weapons, knives, and different provides like shields – the latter particularly will turn out to be useful later.
So with weapons in hand, the primary smaller mission we tried concerned getting some provides, and a drone that shall be vital sooner or later sooner or later.
Plenty of the extent design right here looks like GTFO – you’ll go in, take out stationed enemies with stealth or drive, after which meet up at scanning factors to proceed. There are additionally vaults that may be opened utilizing drill instruments, and it’s vital to control these as a result of they do have to be repaired infrequently as they go.
The co-op nature of those missions comes into focus right here too since you’ll need to coordinate what everyone seems to be doing – particularly when there’s some enemies that may detect you with proximity, or once you’re in the course of scanning and there’s a rush of enemies, you’ll must take them out effectively.
As soon as we’d obtained the drone, it was on to the subsequent, greater mission we’d get to see in Den of Wolves. For this we really took a step again in the true world and deliberate out this mission on a scale map to work out how every of us was going to work in the course of the heist.
Our first concept was to separate up. The mission would have us discover a set of three keys randomly inside three totally different vaults. Then we’d meet up and blast some home windows out for an eventual escape, while additionally combating off enemies after which attending to the entire Dive portion of the sport.
We gave it a go, and after moving into the vault constructing by means of some nefarious means, we executed the plan. Two of us took the upstairs ground, and two of us went to the ground beneath. Whereas we had been beginning to acquire our keys, nonetheless, we got here beneath fireplace, and the crew ended up regrouping however in the end dying and failing the mission as a result of we weren’t outfitted properly sufficient.
However Den of Wolves encourages attempting once more, in order that we did, and this time we determined to go round to every vault as the whole thing of us, break down these vaults and get the keys shortly. We additionally grabbed sufficient shields within the load-out display to get us by means of some robust firefights.
Den of Wolves’ distinctive mechanic, the Dive system, got here into play in the course of the a part of the mission the place we needed to maintain our floor. This neural hyperlink counts down three separate instances, and all 4 of us are seemingly transported right into a digital world the place the objective is to get to the tip.
It’s not as straightforward as going from level A to level B, nonetheless. The gravity is irregular, and perspective can change after a single soar. There’s platforming too, and it will possibly get tough to time with all of that thought-about.
There’s a little bit of leniency, although, as just one individual must scan in on the finish of the map. There’s a countdown, so you possibly can’t keep in there ceaselessly.
It’s all pretty hectic and once more, it’s why speaking along with your crew could be the distinction between success and failure. We did handle to finish the mission, and it actually did really feel like the right style of what’s to return in Den of Wolves.
For these in search of a deep co-op problem or simply need to have enjoyable with some heist gameplay, it’s definitely one to observe, every time it will get round to releasing.
TechRaptor was invited to an occasion to preview Den of Wolves by the writer.
