If Payday 3 has disappointed you, the of Wolves could be something for you. The co-op shooter will be the new title of 10 Chambers founded by former Payday developers. Meinmmo editor Nikolas Hernes was able to play 2 missions and above all a mechanics did it.
What is the of Wolves? After the release of Payday 2, Ulf Andersson Overkill left software and founded the Studio 10 Chambers together with Simon Viklund.
The first game that the studio developed was GTFO, a horror co-op shooter. Now you want to go back to the hot roots with the of Wolves. While Payday plays in the present, the of Wolves relies on a new setting: a cyberpunk world that you describe as a techno thriller.
10 Chambers invited Meinmmo to Denmark to play two missions of the new co-op shooter, and above all a crazy mechanics. I was also able to ask Simon Viklund in an interview.
Gameplay trailer for the co-op shooter of the Wolves
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Like Payday, but cyberpunk
At first glance, the of Wolves looks like Payday, but sci-fi. In the co -op with up to 4 players you go to missions that can be solved with different approaches. There are stealth options, but also weapons to shoot through.
The first major unique selling point is the setting. Instead of modern banks, there are cyberpunk high-rise buildings and perfidious companies that control everything.
Of what we could see, it also fits very well. You work as a kind of mercenary and are booked by companies to do something against other companies. It is not just about coal, but also about corporate secrets or new technologies.
That fits pretty well into the hot topic. Especially because the of Wolves is not too futuristic. The game plays almost 70 years after today, but you still want to keep it grounded. No laser weapons, holograms or teleporters. You are in an advanced world, but not in a futuristic. A good comparison is the future vision of Blade Runner, one of the inspirations for the of Wolves. The film takes place in 2019.
We also spoke to Simon Viklund about this in an interview:
We want to create a future in which the people who work in the financial district still wear suits, it is not that everyone is dressed as in Star Trek or something. So it is a fairly grounded future in 70 years. In our imagination, people often see the future more futuristic than it is in reality.
Simon Viklund about the future vision in the of Wolves Man remains loyal to the co-op shooter roots
When playing the two missions, you quickly realize that you are fully relating to the co-op experience for the of Wolves. The coordinated interaction was not only more efficient, it was also a lot of fun.
The new gadgets complement each other in the gameplay and shooting felt good. Even if the hit feedback was still quite laff in this early version. You can still incorporate a little worn, especially because it was occasionally difficult to recognize the opponents compared to the background.
The various weapons we could play differed significantly and thus also had their own functions on the battlefield. With our missions you had to manage the ammunition well, otherwise it got tricky and you were quickly encircled.
As in Payday 2, 10 Chambers does not only want to put on a blunt ball in the orders. We mainly did the first mission we could play. The surroundings were also used and you always knew when you stand out and when not.
Here I also have to highlight the audio design. The game sounded massive and always suitable for the situation. The techno soundtrack in battles makes the adrenaline shoot well.
These are all aspects that have already been known and learned as a fan of Payday 2. The setting uses the of Wolves, especially in a new mechanics that I really liked: the dives.
The big highlight: the dives
The dives offer great potential. In the course of the second mission we could play, we had to use a Dive to get the knowledge of an important person. In keeping with the setting, we jumped into the head of the goal. We did not have to shoot again there, but stood a parkour in a dark, distorted world.
It was not only visually cool, but also playful. In a rather short interval, you not only had to face the real opponents in the Heist area, but also the head of the target person. The dives should not only be a course. As the developers revealed to me in an interview, they want to let off steam for the dives:
This is the point where we can really go crazy and it gives us a lot of creative freedom to create these interesting scenarios, because what you could play today is like a Platformer Dive, but it could also be something completely different. […] Because the Dive is an environment with little risk in which, when you die, you are only thrown back into the real world and set up a new dive and try again.
Simon Viklund about the Dives in the of Wolves
The dives should play with rules and concepts that players challenge players in a different way than the normal hots. As examples of dive concepts, he gives the possibility of a horror sequence in which one is followed by a monster in a forest or a labyrinth. He even calls the dives in the context of micro raids.
That made me listen directly, because, If it is well implemented, it offers an interesting new way of keeping different missions fresh and varied. The classic hot pace is interrupted or even more action-packed.
However, it is relevant how they are implemented, but I am happy to be able to play the upcoming dives.
You want to put on more story
In our interview it was also about the topic of story and how to implement it properly without getting in the way of the multiplayer structure.
As we could see in the 2nd mission, there are smaller intro sequences for special orders that tell us something about the world. Since you do not want to disturb the gameplay loop, the of Wolves should rely on the menu away from the actual game at the story.
We couldn’t see that ourselves, but in the interview Simon Viklund said that when you choose missions you can listen to dialogues that tell us more. The mission structure should also help. Smaller preparation missions are not only important in terms of story. As you do it, there should be an impact on further missions. This should influence which options you have at the end of the end and how you are doing.
But these are just impressions after 2 missions and the trailers that you could see so far. Many of the aspects are based on what 10 chambers do with it, because a lot of creative freedom also offers a lot of potential for frustration. After the first allocation, I am waiting for the release full of anticipation, because the of Wolves is promising. Payday 3 was able to make up for a lot despite the moderate start: 12 months after the release, Payday 3 finally gives the fans what they want – tripled players on Steam