Everything was supposed to go smoothly. We had it all mapped out perfectly. In the lead-up to our big heist, my team and I were bouncing around, putting in the groundwork—scoping out the high-tech bank, gathering the equipment we’d need to smash open the windows and make a clean getaway, and deploying lethal drones to ambush our target area under the guise of just another delivery. We’d gone over every detail, convinced our plan couldn’t fail. But, as any seasoned thief knows, there’s always a hiccup.
Greed got the better of us. It always does. We’d already nabbed our main prize—sensitive data squirreled away in the mind of a technocrat CEO, preserved in a high-tech cradle. We cracked into his brain, snatched the plans we needed, and were ready to make our exit. “Why not hit the other vaults too?” my teammate, one of the 10 Chambers developers, suggested.
Sure, why not? Our getaway plan was foolproof—a daring base jump from the top of a Dubai-esque spire. Grabbing a few more bags of cash seemed like no big deal. As we took our spots on the mezzanine, a wave of security droids and mercenaries stormed in, guns blazing and shields up. One of our crew got pinned down in the lobby. A 10 Chambers staffer guarding the right flank got blindsided by a grenade. Meanwhile, I was covering the rear, ready to evacuate, when someone with a DMR took a shot at me across the hall. Our heist was over.
This is what makes a heist game great. I love how things can quickly spiral out of control. “I’ve never seen that many guards spawn so fast,” a developer commented. “Just shows, anything can happen!” That’s what sets Den of Wolves apart from games like Payday and its sequel, where you dive into a heist often unprepared. One might sneak stealthily to the vault, another barrels through mayhem, while a third just spins in circles.
In Den of Wolves, preparation is key. Think George Clooney in Ocean’s 11, orchestrating every move, with a laid-back Brad Pitt going along for the ride, and a fearless Matt Damon throwing in a dash of risk to prove his point.
“It reminds me more of Heat,” says 10 Chambers’ co-founder and narrative director Simon Viklund as we debrief our mission. “Remember Heat? The crew stocks up on explosives, steals an ambulance—all about the prep work.” And that’s precisely how Den of Wolves plays out, mirroring the strategic buildup from Heat. Before diving into the main heist, you tackle smaller tasks to get your gear, plot an escape, and stack the odds in your favor.
For instance, before our main event (which can last up to 40 minutes), we tackled a 10-minute prep mission, penetrating a fortified building to commandeer an assault drone. Thanks to this move, we breached the vault with minimal resistance—the drone was smuggled in a package and unleashed chaos inside our target location.
“It’s more serious and badass than Ocean’s flicks,” Viklund chuckles. “Plus, it offers greater player choice. You see a mission and decide, ‘Do I go stealth, bring a sniper, or opt for an all-out assault?’ depending on how you’ve prepped.” Perhaps this was my downfall. As a sharpshooter, I thrive with a battle rifle or DMR. But if I’d known there’d be such an influx of enemies waiting, I might’ve opted for an SMG or extra explosives. That’s a lesson learned from the afterlife.
This game deepens the Payday formula, a craft the 10 Chambers team knows well, given that the core architects behind Payday and its sequel are shaping Den of Wolves. There’s more on the line, more intentionality, and more room for error. It embodies the tension of a heist job, a lesson undoubtedly sharpened from developing the tough-as-nails co-op shooter GTFO. That’s not to say it’s insurmountable; in fact, part of Den of Wolves’ charm is its accessibility. The only reason our heist unraveled was our collective greed, our unyielding overreach.
The cyberpunk backdrop of the game adds to its punchiness; it’s sharp, responsive, and impactful. A DMR hits with satisfying force, and the pistol—packing more punch than your average sidearm—delivers a kick that sends human foes flying and scatters droids in pieces. Carrying a loot bag tilts your perspective, mirroring the real-world heft of $100k slung over your shoulder. Firing through an energy shield is a triumph—it feels both clever and gratifying as bullets flaccidly ricochet off its protective surface.
Mind you, the game hasn’t even entered early access. What I played was essentially pre-alpha, and it already feels fantastic. The rhythm of planning, prepping, infiltrating, robbing, and repeating promises to get even richer with time. The more tools and strategies you discover, the more engaging and rewarding the gameplay loop becomes. It takes everything that made Payday feel groundbreaking back in 2011 and cranks it up a notch. During the preview, 10 Chambers mentioned that Ulf Andersson (creative lead on Payday and Payday 2) had been pondering a sci-fi heist game long before the original Payday. Den of Wolves is the realization of that decade-and-a-half-long idea.
You can sense it. Den of Wolves is meticulously crafted, polished, and precisely aims to do what Payday 3 perhaps fell short of: putting gameplay at the forefront. 10 Chambers sees the void for a dynamic co-op heist shooter and is channeling its efforts into making Den of Wolves fill that space—and do so with flair. With its savvy approach to monetization and deep grasp of the heist/shooter genre, Den of Wolves is shaping up to be the most thrilling title in its field in years. Let’s hope 10 Chambers can hit the mark.
Den of Wolves is gearing up for an Early Access release soon, initially launching on PC, though exact dates remain under wraps for now.
