Summary
Den of Wolvesis a heist game set in a lawless city on an island in the Pacific. Midway City came to fruition due to pressures from corporations to be able to conduct research free from any restrictions. Naturally, it became a paradise for crime, human rights violations, and corporate greed.
While its setting and some of its morals differ vastly from the incredibly popular HBO TV series Succession, 10 Chambers co-founder and audio and music director Simon Viklund told me that Den of Wolves shares a lot of similarities with the show.
Apparently, Den Of Wolves Is Just A Cyberpunk Succession, With More Heists
I recently visited Copenhagen to go hands-on with Den of Wolves and Viklund first introduced the idea that the game and show were similar in a pre-brief, making a quick comparison between the two. I then got to sit down with the audio director and had to ask him if the links were intentional and if the team had taken inspiration from Succession or whether the similarities came about later.
“I just made the connection when we were already working on the backstory,” he told me. “It’s a little bit like Succession, I thought. That’s the type of story we want to tell, where it’s all corporate greed.”
With dozens of mega-corps prevalent in Midway City, each trying to outdo one another, Viklund said that our character is just a small part of the game’s wider events.
It shows how s****y people are when they only focus on success.
“You can project whatever you want to your character, like what their backstory is and why you’re in Midway City. But it’s not really about you. The real story is being told as you see the residents interact. They’re your clients, essentially, and they’re competitors. It shows how s****y people are when they only focus on success.”
While I only got to play two missions from the game, a prep mission and a full heist, I didn’t really feel the Succession vibes, but I can certainly see how they could be folded into the game as it progresses.
You can read my full thoughts on my time with Den of Wolvesright here, and my interview with audio and sound director Simon Viklundover here.
