It’s been a little 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 undertaking – 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 top 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 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 firms, and the place the participant will work as a felony 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 concentrate on strategic planning in play, Den of Wolves blends stealth and motion in a manner we haven’t fairly seen earlier than.
We had been in a position to preview some choose missions from Den of Wolves, which nonetheless doesn’t have a launch date, however might 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 conventional load-out display the place you choose weapons and how much instruments you wish to use for the mission. There’s a collection of weapons, knives, and different provides like shields – the latter particularly will come in useful later.
So with weapons in hand, the primary smaller mission we tried concerned getting some provides, and a drone that might be necessary in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later.
A variety of the extent design right here seems like GTFO – you’ll go in, take out stationed enemies with stealth or power, after which meet up at scanning factors to proceed. There are additionally vaults that may be opened utilizing drill instruments, and it’s necessary to control these as a result of they do should be repaired on occasion as they go.
The co-op nature of those missions comes into focus right here too since you’ll wish to coordinate what everyone seems to be doing – particularly when there’s some enemies that may detect you with proximity, or while you’re in the midst of scanning and there’s a rush of enemies, you’ll have to take them out effectively.
As soon as we’d obtained the drone, it was on to the subsequent, larger mission we’d get to see in Den of Wolves. For this we truly 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 through the heist.
Our first thought was to separate up. The mission would have us discover a set of three keys randomly inside three completely 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 some nefarious means, we executed the plan. Two of us took the upstairs flooring, and two of us went to the ground under. Whereas we had been beginning to acquire our keys, nevertheless, we got here below fireplace, and the staff ended up regrouping however finally dying and failing the mission as a result of we weren’t geared up nicely 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 some powerful firefights.
Den of Wolves’ distinctive mechanic, the Dive system, got here into play through 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 top.
It’s not as straightforward as going from level A to level B, nevertheless. The gravity is irregular, and perspective can change after a single soar. There’s platforming too, and it may possibly get difficult 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’ll be able to’t keep in there perpetually.
It’s all pretty hectic and once more, it’s why speaking along with your staff will be the distinction between success and failure. We did handle to finish the mission, and it actually did really feel like the proper style of what’s to return in Den of Wolves.
For these searching for a deep co-op problem or simply wish 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.