Den of Wolves Is Everything I Want In a Co-Op Shooter - GDC 2025

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There were maybe 2-3 appointments that I was able to set up at GDC that I just knew I had to attend. These were either for games I was personally excited for or for developers/publishers I was personally a fan of. Den of Wolves was at the top of that list. I have been a fan of 10 Chambers since playing GTFO, their horror co-op shooter, and knowing that the team has a wealth of experience that includes working on one of the best co-op games around, Payday 2, I was going to be watching whatever the team was going to do next.

10 Chambers tested the waters with GTFO, but I really wanted to see what they could do with a co-op heisting game similar to Payday 2. Den of Wolves is the answer to that, and it's shaping up to be one of the best co-op shooters that will be out there. At GDC, I had a chance to play it for myself in its pre-alpha form, and while there's still a lot more work the team is doing, I can comfortably say I was blown away by what I played. At the 3-hour-long event, I was able to play through an entire heist for the game, and I left feeling overwhelmingly blown away by my experience.

Before going into the experience, I want to praise the visuals. I am a sucker for sci-fi, post-apocalyptic settings, and Den of Wolves is exactly that. The game takes place on a lawless island where corporations are able to operate without worrying about other countries' laws. It's free rein for them, and with the futuristic vibe, we have huge skyscrapers, neon lights, and tech galore. I felt like a kid in a candy store running around the maps and seeing the gorgeous sights.

It was incredibly dystopian to see in front of me, and even more so when hearing what happens behind the scenes. These corporations are able to do whatever they want without punishment, which has helped give rise to the successful island they are on now. They have even been able to "upgrade" their network security, turning it from a regular network into operating out of the brain of a human being. Apart from the obvious ethical concerns, doing this stopped more traditional hackers from getting in and stealing their information and money. However, there are ways around it, and that's where we come in.

If you've played Payday 2, it's going to feel quite familiar. Each heist has a planning level and the actual heist, and you will go through both with your team of four. How you perform in the planning level dictates what you have going into the heist. There are multiple different types of heists, but the one we got to try was an espionage heist. We needed to steal information from the corporation, and to do that, we would have to utilize our guns and different gadgets to go through swaths of enemies.

While the primary and secondary weapons are standard for the genre, the gunplay feels fantastic, with shots that feel responsive and impactful when they hit enemies. Your gadgets range from more offensive options like auto turrets to great defensive ones like a one-way shield. I went for the shield myself and was able to set it up at choke points to make sure we could get by and kill any enemies coming our way.

Planning will also be key, and while many games say that, Den of Wolves really requires cooperative gameplay. Our planning level consisted of us breaking into a vault to steal a specific item. To do that, we needed to sneak by guards undetected, or at least try to. Our team of four was cloaked and undetectable unless we got too close to the guards, so we had to plan accordingly to make sure we got in just close enough to neutralize them.

We were not successful in this. Admittedly, it was my fault in the first area. I got in a little too close and alerted the guards, which made us have to go loud and take them out. We did recover and get to go stealth for the next one, where we encountered an enemy that could send out these digital tentacles that could detect us from further away. We were communicating almost constantly to make sure we didn't get hit by any of those, and we were successful, for the most part.

Then came drilling into the vault. We knew it was going to take some time, so we had two people working on the vault, while the other two provided support on the two entry points from which enemies could come. I was stationed on the right side, and thankfully, I had that fantastic shield gadget with me. I used it to give myself cover in a more open area to get a better vantage point for enemies coming out. Ultimately, I was able to succeed in defending my team, though our escape was not as graceful as our defense, and I went down two times while giving my team room to run to the escape elevator.

Our actual heist was even more chaotic. This is where we had to dive into the person's mind and steal the important information. To get to the human, we had to find three keys hidden in one of the 10+ vaults around the room. To maximize our time, we split into teams of two, one going left and one going right, to open all the vaults to find the keys. We also wanted to grab extra loot, so we ultimately wanted to open every vault. Throughout this, we were constantly updating each other on enemy positions, getting each other's backs, and sometimes stopping what we were doing to help the other team. And it was constant shooting, explosions, enemies coming at us from above and below, and it was awesome.

Other than getting the keys, we also had to lift the security gates to make sure we could escape through the window. My team was responsible for doing that, so after a couple of vault break-ins, we found ourselves at the office, where we lifted security. After defending the office from enemies, we continued on with our original mission.

Finding the keys let us through the final gate that brought us in front of our target, and we set up the device to jump into his mind. We had to do this multiple times to break through their brain and grab the secrets they were hiding. While there, we had to platform and jump from wall to wall, figuring out where to go and making it to the end within the short time limit. I almost constantly missed my jump timing, but it was cool seeing how much the space could change and being able to walk on walls and figure out where to go quickly.

Finally, once we had our information, we made our escape, celebrating our victory. It was sweet, with a little hint of sadness knowing how many times my team had to revive me, but it was still the most fun I had while I was at GDC. I wanted to stay and play longer because it was so much fun, but alas, I had to go.

10 Chambers is nailing Den of Wolves in every aspect, and I am devastated that I can't continue playing right now. If you are a fan of action-packed co-op first-person shooters, this game needs to be on your radar, or at the very least, on your Steam wishlist. I could easily see this becoming the next big co-op shooter. It feels like the best parts of Payday 2 put into a sci-fi dystopian world with more intense, refined combat, and I can't wait for its eventual release.

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