Digital Extremes, the studio behind the free-to-play, smash-hitWarframe, has spent close to a whole decade focusing almost entirely on its flagship product. In the interim, some of its other prospects, such asThe Amazing Eternals, fell through without ever getting a proper release. Now, however, the studio has announcedSoulframe, an all-new production that may be its next major focus.
Though it’s still not fully clear whetherSoulframeis set in the universe ofWarframeitself, the visual inspiration behind the new project paints a clear picture.Soulframeis an environmentalist MMORPG that aims to deliver “slow and heavy” melee combat in an ever-changing world that seems to be reacting to some type of industrial development by shifting around on a daily basis.
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Digital Extremes trademarkedSoulframeearlier this year, which caused a fair bit of confusion inWarframe’s own gaming community. Whereas the title implies a direct relation toWarframe, it doesn’t seem like this is necessarily what the developer is going for. While there’s certainly room forSoulframeto be its own thing, Digital Extremes' lead director Steve Sinclair has said that it will be “the mirror universe ofWarframe,” which could mean a fair number of things at this time.
Curiously, much ofSoulframe’s newly established development team comes fromWarframeitself. Sinclair was one of the previous creative directors of the game (now having been succeeded by the former community manager, Rebecca Ford), for one, and he will be joined by Geoff Crookes, who had a similar role on the project. The pair seem to be excited to move onto Digital Extremes' major new endeavor, which they said would be inspired byPrincess MononokeandThe NeverEnding Story, among others. At the same time,Warframe’s delayed Duviri Paradox updateis back on track, and its development, too, will continue.
One ofWarframe’s biggest critiques over the years has been that it’s anunderwhelming MMO with a stellar campaign, and Digital Extremes may useSoulframeto deliver a project with a better balance between its disparate features and content islands. As a blank slate,Soulframewill allow DE to continue developing an evolving gameplay experience without being held back byWarframe’s own drawbacks.
SinceWarframeis considered to be one of thefinest live-service games on the market, it will be interesting to see if Digital Extremes can do something similar withSoulframe,too. Since the game’s just been officially announced, much of it is still a total unknown, and more information about it should be coming out over the coming months.
