Digital Extremes is back with its 10th round of TennoCon, its massive showcase convention, and there's no shortage of news for Warframe and the studio's in-progress fantasy title, Soulframe. Since its launch in 2013, Warframe has become a juggernaut of a game and one of the most popular free-to-play shooters on the market. The game has come a long way over the last decade, and this year's TennoCon shows that Warframe isn't slowing down anytime soon. Meanwhile, Digital Extremes' follow-up, Soulframe, has been making steady progress, with a major announcement that should be welcome news to fans hoping for a chance to play.
The Best War Games was given an early look at everything Digital Extremes planned to reveal at TennoCon, and it looks like the studio has had its hands full working on both titles, with some very promising developments regarding Soulframe. This year's TennoCon also features the debut TennoConcert, where Digital Extremes' own Rebb Ford (the voice behind The Lotus) will be performing bass guitar alongside many other talented performers. Digital Extremes has also generously donated $100,000 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and is assisting with the construction of two houses in its native Canada to provide a much-needed home for families in need.
Warframe Techrot Encore: New Protoframes Explained
As part of the feature buffet coming in Warframe's Techrot Encore expansion, four new Protoframes are being added into the game.
TennoCon 2025 Soulframe Reveals
The event kicked off with a focus on Soulframe, which has a significant piece of news for fans: Soulframe is opening its doors to anyone who has signed up to participate in Preludes, including those who sign up during TennoCon weekend; now, anyone can play Soulframe during this period. Afterward, players will then re-enter the usual lottery system. By opening the veritable floodgates to the game, it appears that Soulframe may soon be ready for an open beta.
Soulframe Yearly Recap
Next, Soulframe went on to recap some of its major combat changes this year, which include:
- An improved stagger system with smoother enemy animations
- More grounded movement with less sliding and clipping
- Smite: a new critical hit that allows Envoys to 'soul steal' enemies
- Reworked bow combat with a new Arrow Hail ability
- The combat arts system, where pacts and weapons are leveled up through combat to unlock new Arts
There have also been improvements to the new player experience. New players now choose to align with Spirit, Courage, or Grace. Players can choose to join one of the three Enclave factions, including Alca's Children, Kith of Kings, and Silent Rose. A new fable arrived in the game called The Wolf Snared, and new festivals like Festival of the Cricade and the spooky seasonal Ocfomar have been introduced. Additionally, the Sparrows Tales mission system has seen an update, with faction-tied missions, XP rewards, and more length and type variety.
The world of Alca has expanded, with new World Trees and an overall map expansion. New enemies have joined the fray, including the medicant king, will-o-wings, corrupted slugs, voltaic snares, and corrupt ode hound enemy types, and new elemental puzzle hazards have appeared in Dermak Undercity.
Soulframe's UI has had some touchups, including loadout switching, a gear wheel, HUD improvements, and crafting previews. There are also ongoing improvements to loot drops. On the visual side, dynamic reflections, volumetric fog, mesh streaming, and lighting have all improved the overall fidelity of the game.
Soulframe's arsenal has grown with new weapons: Wulder, Vetch, Unsula, Gathannan, Bog & Myrtle, Juniper, and Duhk Halic. New magic weapons have also arrived, including Odiac and Gwylen. To top it off, sidearms have been added, with Skilter, Nettle, Virdigris, Precklies, and Grin being the first of this new secondary weapon type.
There have also been several new Pacts for players to try out, like Orengall and Mora's Hand, Oscelda, Tethren, and Sirin.
Meanwhile, armor has had some work done: armor now carries defensive stats tied to magical and physical resistance and stability, and new armor sets such as Orengall, Circade, and Mednicant King have arrived to highlight this improvement.
What's Next for Soulframe
Coming soon to Soulframe is the new Waste Bear fable quest with a compelling, fully-voiced narrative and plenty of enemies to test out those new combat mechanics against. Also on the docket is a new mote system, tiered joineries, new player experience improvements, expanded customization, new Sparrow's Tales missions, more fables, additional ancestors, and even wider access to more players.
The Soulframe segment of TennoCon capped off with over half an hour of live gameplay footage of this upcoming fable, showing off the new magic ranged combat throughout the quest.
- Developer(s)
- Digital Extremes
- Publisher(s)
- Digital Extremes
- Engine
- Evolution Engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Number of Players
- Single-player
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Action, Adventure, MMO, Open-World
