Payday 3 is still going through a tough time. Since the heist FPS sequel launched back in 2023, things have certainly improved. Successive updates from Starbreeze have fixed some of the most frustrating and criticized parts of the game, and its lifetime Steam reviews have risen from ‘negative’ to ‘mixed.’ But still, compared to the dizzying highs of Payday 2, the follow-up is struggling. Now, a new rival is on the way. Created by 10 Chambers, a studio led by former Starbreeze and Payday developers, Den of Wolves is a robbery shooter with some fresh ideas. Speaking to PCGamesN, the team shares more about its vision, while also offering insight into the status of Payday 3 itself.
Den of Wolves makes some drastic changes to the Payday, heist FPS game formula. First up, it’s set in a dystopian future where society is controlled by sinister megacorporations that are the deserving targets of your various robberies and burglaries. Secondly, the focus is much more on preparation and synchronization.
In Payday, the decision to go loud or stay stealthy is typically made on the fly, from match to match. In Den of Wolves, before you can execute a heist proper, you need to complete some short prologue missions. Depending on your performance here, the robbery itself will be designated as either loud or covert – anyone joining your game will know ahead of time how to play.
It’s an approach that potentially remedies one of the longest standing issues in the Payday series, whereby players might enter into matches with very different ideas of how to operate, undermining the coordination that should be fundamental to a heist game. Nevertheless, although it’s trying to improve on the Payday formula, 10 Chambers says that if Payday 3 were better received, it would help push the quality of Den of Wolves itself.
“Here’s the thing. I know it hasn’t gone well for them, and I find no joy in that,” 10 Chambers’ co-founder and developer on both Payday 2 and the original game Simon Viklund says. “There’s room for two successful heist, first-person shooter games, so it would have been better if it went really, really well for them, because they would make us better. We would have to be even better if the competition is good. And they might still turn it around.”
“I have friends working at Starbreeze, so we definitely don’t find any joy,” 10 Chambers’ community manager Robin Bjorkell adds. “And I agree: there’s room for two.”
Starbreeze recently spoke to PCGamesN about its plans for Payday 3’s future, and how it wants to continue trying to turn around the game’s fortunes. As for 10 Chambers’ debut, we’re still waiting on the Den of Wolves release date, but it will be exciting to see how another heist shooter attempts to upend the genre.
In the meantime, you might want to try some of the best co-op games, or maybe the best crime games available on PC.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or join our community Discord to stay in the know.