Warframe, Digital Extremes’ venerable mechabody extravaganza, is finally getting a full second solar system, after a warm-up flashback tour in last year’s The Old Peace expansion. The developers just showed a first look at Tau, home of the game’s Sentients faction, during a presentation at Tennocon, the annual Warframe and Soulframe expo.
What is Tau home to? In short: a lot of dark themes. The first of the system’s two initial zones is a surrounded city, Fornax, whose inhabitants are plagued by the corrupting rain and addicted to a substance called Bloom. Fornax is home to Brysko, a chain-smoking, trenchcoat-clad “Chimera Warframe” with an inner monologue reminiscent of a Raymond Chandler detective (he’s actually voiced by Critical Role’s Matt Mercer). Before you read any further, seasoned Warfremblers, please understand: I’m trying to put this all in the language of ordinary mortals. I’m sure I’m wrong about all kinds of knowledge.
Fornax consists of three poles and is a putrid, dizzying and divided place. I’m not sure if this is literally the case, but it’s somehow built inside a giant corpse. There are not so much alleys as bronchioles. Imagine if they hired Giger to redesign New York, basically. The residents are golden or broken biomechanical machines. One is a talking hood ornament; another consists of two large gule chargers tied together at the waist.
The lower levels are tunnels where Bloom addicts pee against the walls or rest in makeshift tents. Higher up are glistening canyons of aerocars that, to my eye, are vaguely reminiscent of classic Cadillacs and other vintage American roadsters, but with a lot more vertebrae. Even higher up there is a neon casino with holographic effects. singerstinkling pseudo-roulette wheels and Warframe’s first-ever in-game card game, Portau. Which is a bit like poker, apparently.
During an introductory mission featuring Brysko, you’ll play cards with the city’s ruler, a crime lord named Hunra, who looks like a half-vaporized goblin walking around in a torn beetle tuxedo. Brysko also throws cards (explosive) in combat and has a grappling hook that you can use on both enemies and architecture. I love the costume design of Warframe. Much of Warframe is opaque to me, but Digital Extremes absolutely excels at designing sexy, butt-kicking gargoyles.
As I learned in a separate interview, the concept of Fornax reflects some pretty strong feeling about addiction and gambling in real life. Look for more on this, plus some interviews with Digital Extremes about Warframe (and Soulframe) in general.
Warframe: Tau will launch this year. If you’re new to the universe and intrigued by Tau, the problem is that you’ll have to go through the existing story and spend your time in progression mines to unlock access.
The expansion will come with a host of minor changes, including tweaks and new features for the existing Origins system. There will be new mission types and new enemies. There will be new plot threads for established characters – Brysko works for Albrecht Entrati, if you know that guy. As of this writing, Digital Extreme has just added a massive, dormant Sentient body to one of the game’s hangar environments – flying it live during the announcement. You can customize the presentation of the entity’s appearance and gender, for unknown purposes.
There’s another smaller Warframe update on the way this fall, Iceblade of Narin, which introduces a new Warframe ice element while treating the 2013-era Banshee to an overhaul. There is also a side story planned for release in August which consists of a “Fables and Frontiers” role-playing mini-adventure. This reuses the AOL-style messaging system introduced by the time travel expansion Warframe: 1999, and incorporates a new song from the game’s boy band On-lyne.
Did you know Warframe had a boyband? I’m starting to worry that Warframe contains everything. I just wish it didn’t involve so much grinding.
