We’ve been intrigued by 10 Chambers’ Den of Wolves since its trippy reveal at The Game Awards. Like you, we’ve been eager to hear more about its premise, especially since it comes from a studio comprised of former Payday talent. Now, creative director Ulf Andersson rips apart the game’s trailer and its seemingly Call of Duty Black Ops style plot.
There’s nothing like the thrill of pulling off a slick heist with your friends – in multiplayer games, not real-life, of course. Den of Wolves has the potential to be one of the best co-op games of the year, if it can deliver on its wild premise, that is. “It includes a lot of mind-fuckery in the way of sci-fi thriller-esque storytelling,” says Andersson, while adding that its heist elements are here largely because of his work as the co-founder of Overkill Software, the creators of Payday franchise.
Revolving around the interrogation of a character simply known as ‘The Prisoner’, Den of Wolves’ gameplay is told through memories retrieved during this grueling process. Led by evil “corporate leader” Mr. Boeman, you’ll go deeper down into the game’s rabbit hole, including twists already in the trailer: Boeman is actually the person getting interrogated. Are you still with us? It certainly reminds me of one of the best FPS games ever made, Call of Duty Black Ops.
In Treyarch’s fan-favorite COD entry, the player assumes the role of Alex Mason, a CIA operative that is revealed to be brainwashed for very sinister intentions. Across the game’s narrative, flashbacks to Mason’s time in an interrogation room fuel the mystery behind his past. We’re you remember that haunting main menu screen, notably when you toggled Zombies mode. We still get goosebumps thinking about Kevin Sherwood’s Damned playing through our TV speakers.
As a new PS5 game and new Xbox game coming out in a saturated space, Andersson expresses his approach to getting players immediately engaged with Den of Wolves – which involves promoting the game. “We don’t try to do a trailer to hype the game […] it’s more to lock it in and say ‘stop fucking around and do the game’,” Andersson says.
Furthermore, he adds that when “you’re coming out of pre-production, and you show the first trailer, it forces you to lock down everything. That’s why I enjoy making them. Or I don’t enjoy making them, but they’re valuable.”
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