During the third annual Warframe convention, the developer and publisher behind it, Digital Extremes, laid out their upcoming plans for the popular free-to-play co-operative shooter. Exciting times are ahead for Warframe players, that’s for sure!
The biggest news coming out of TennoCon 2018 is the Fortuna expansion, which is set to take you to an open-world Venus. Amongst the new gameplay experiences brought about by the sci-fi aesthetic of the Venusian landscape is the introduction of the Solaris United faction, with the accompanying lore depicting their struggle against their Corpus overlords.
Players will start the expansion from the underground Colony of Fortuna, picking up bounties and missions, before ascending to the surface of The Orb Vallis. Upon reaching the surface, you’ll be treated to the view of an exotic new terrain that’s covered with Orokin structures, towering mushroom stands, and oceanic flora. Best of all, traversing on the whole is much quicker with the addition of a single-player hoverboard, the Bondi K-Drive, which can be used nimbly manoeuvre across the landscape.
Key features in Fortuna include:
- The Orb Vallis, The New Open World — Building on the success of Plains of Eidolon’s earthen Landscape, The Orb Vallis is Digital Extremes’ massive new Landscape. Volatile, mercurial clouds of blue and orange loom over a sci-fi terrain populated with seascape flora, giant mushrooms, alien rock formations, rare creatures, and more.
- Solaris United and Fortuna — The cyborg Faction Solaris United live in the Blade-Runner-esque Debt-Internment Colony, Fortuna. Similar to the gathering bazaars of Cetus in Plains of Eidolon, Fortuna is an underground hub city that serves as a factory to clean coolant rivers and doubles as a trading hub for the region.
- New Combat Experiences — The Corpus occupiers, led by the profit-obsessed Nef Anyo, bring new technology and warriors to bear. Alongside new Corpus ground troop variants, monstrous new Spider Bot enemies of all shapes and sizes will challenge players to face their fears when they explore The Orb Vallis and face-off with the prophet of profit.
- Ride a Hoverboard — Blaze across the wide open Venusian landscape by piloting the Bondi K-Drive. Call up this handy customizable hoverboard and quickly glide, jump, and trick across a variety of terrain.
- Join the Conservation Movement — Switch your mindset from blast-happy mercenary to friendly saviour. The strange, wonderful animals of the Vallis are going extinct. Explore the new world of Fortuna and apply your new skills to track, lure, and capture them for relocation.
- Musically — The talented sound team at DE has engineered an alien-tech soundscape of eerie effects and ominous music that set the sonic tone for an incredibly rich experience, and they are joined by renowned sound composer Keith Power who has returned with an upbeat, hum-out-loud musical intro of Fortuna unlike anything you have heard before.
And if the expansion isn’t quite enough to satisfy your Warframe needs, how about a future update that looks set to launch players seamlessly into space for tactical ship-to-ship battles? Because that’s the plan for the Codename: Railjack update, which sees up to four players boarding a warship and then heading to space to explore and fight.
The idea is to coordinate responsibilities within the military spacecraft during PvE battles; whether that’s by manning a turret, making repairs, or keeping tabs on the shields. There’s quite a bit of freedom in the options here though, as you can even decide to attempt an infiltration of enemy ships, by launching Archwings into space, getting aboard these hostile ships and engaging in combat to decimate them from the inside. This future update looks to create a cohesive gameplay experience between Warframe’s open Landscapes, procedurally generated levels, and a new outer-space freedom in a unique sci-fi world.
Key features of Codename: Railjack include:
- Fly Seamlessly into Space — All new to Warframe, Digital Extremes’ ‘Codename: Railjack’ gives Tenno a trans-planet warship to band together with other friendly Tenno and seamlessly transition from the open Fortuna landscape to space combat!
- Coordinate Your Space Crew — Pilot the ship and over the whole battle, man a turret, manage the shields, make repairs, and work as a team to capture and conquer other hostile spacecraft.
- Archwing Attack: Go on the offensive by dispatching Archwings for onboarding attacks. Take out enemy cannons and board enemy ships to confront and eliminate swarming soldiers. Take out their core reactors, eliminate their crew, and emerge victorious!
There were also another couple of bits of news announced during an hour-long presentation, with two new Warframes being amongst the highlights. Players can look forward to codename ‘Revenant’, an Eidolon-themed Warframe with a deadly affliction, and codename ‘Garuda’, a vicious, gory Warframe that plays with her prey.
And finally, Warframe is currently in development for Nintendo Switch, which will widen Digital Extremes across all major platforms as it’s already available for free on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC!
For now though, we’ll leave you with some Fortuna gameplay footage…
