Soulframe has been out in the wild for a while now, although entry to the ‘Preludes’ closed alpha has been restricted (developer Digital Extremes famous that out of over 1,000,000 candidates, lower than a 3rd even have entry to the sport). At the TennoCon 2025 expo, I obtained a deeper take a look at the sport – and the promise that wider entry is lastly arriving. Am I excited? Yes. But I even have some fears.
For the uninitiated, Soulframe is a free-to-play action-fantasy title from the builders of Warframe (no, I’m not going to debate the naming conventions happening right here). It’s been sitting within the closed alpha take a look at stage for some time now, however I’ve been maintaining a tally of it nonetheless; Warframe’s super success has earned DE that a lot, so far as I’m involved.
Watching the dwell demo at TennoCon, which showcases a brand new narrative quest being added to the sport, together with improved fight mechanics and customization choices, I used to be struck by two ideas. Firstly, this sport is splendidly, delightfully bizarre. Secondly, will that be sufficient to make it successful?
Familiar fantasies
Digital Extremes is not any stranger to weird, uncommon, and downright foolish content material in its video games. Warframe is a title that manages to mix a number of genres along with aplomb, yo-yoing between intense, emotional plotlines and downright ridiculous jaunts. Soulframe dials this as much as eleven, with over-the-top accents in its voice performances and weird creatures that sing folksy songs.
I’ve spent a while making an attempt to decode the DNA of Soulframe. Visually, it seems to attract from a large pool of influences; a mushroom-filled underground space within the dwell demo instantly evokes Skyrim’s iconic Blackreach (and extra lately the luxurious fungal forests of Avowed), whereas the bleaker areas of the overworld are harking back to any variety of Souls titles and the gritty fantasy setting of The Witcher.
Enemies, too, really feel a bit of acquainted. A 3-headed mutant bear with a jangling bell hooked up to its central jaw that served because the climactic battle of the TennoCon demo might simply cross for a Bloodborne boss.
To be clear, these aren’t criticisms of Soulframe. I really like the entire video games I discussed above; for DE’s latest title to remind me of them is an effective factor. There’s loads of authentic weirdness happening right here, too; the participant character is accompanied by a ‘Floppet’, which is a criminally lovable little winged rat-creature that at one level flies by means of your complete digestive tract of the aforementioned bear monster and straight out of its posterior. There’s additionally a devoted animation for punting smaller enemies away from you with a swift kick, which seems to be hilarious.
Keeping up with the competitors
In quick, I do assume Soulframe is laying sufficient authentic groundwork for audiences to forgive any floor similarities to different fantasy universes. After all, the excessive fantasy style is well-trodden floor at this level; there’s solely a lot you are able to do to maintain issues feeling contemporary, and attractive French witches and colonoscopy-qualified rodents are actually ample in my books. The audio work right here can be spectacular throughout the board. Music, VO, and total sound design should not areas that Digital Extremes neglects.
The worry I’ve for Soulframe is that – in its present, early-development state – it would lack one thing that units it mechanically aside from different video games. A giant a part of Warframe’s ongoing success could be attributed to its uniqueness in gameplay; phenomenal motion mechanics nigh-unparalleled in shooters in all places (properly, besides Titanfall 2), a massively deep and sophisticated gear modding system, and an enormous number of automobiles and completely different gameplay loops.
Soulframe doesn’t have that – not but, a minimum of. The gameplay within the dwell demo seems to be enjoyable, however it’s nothing groundbreaking; there’s dodging and blocking, ranged assaults with each a magic employees and a bow, and melee with a dagger that will also be thrown (although the latter does have an admittedly quite satisfying mechanic the place you throw the dagger and it ricochets again into your hand). The most unusual factor I noticed was a capability that turns you right into a butterfly for stealthy approaches, however even that simply functionally replaces the same old invisibility spell. In movement, it jogs my memory a little bit of a prettier Greedfall – a comparability which I’m unsure is fully flattering.
A altering panorama
Now, whilst a massive Warframe fan, I’m not going to disclaim that the sport was fairly janky in its early days. Hell, it’s a long-running group meme that one of the best ways to maneuver round in ‘previous Warframe’ was to mix a leap, slide, and spinning melee with a twin blade weapon sort – affectionately named ‘zorencoptering’, after the favored Dual Zoren weapon.
Warframe has come an especially good distance since then, in fact. There’s part of me that absolutely believes that, given time, DE will be capable of trend Soulframe into one thing equally distinctive and thrilling. But the unlucky reality is that the video games trade has modified massively since Warframe’s humble beginnings, making it tougher to efficiently take a daring stab at a completely new IP.
Audiences – and buyers – are far much less affected person these days. Live-service video games are routinely launched, cancelled, and even relaunched on the drop of a hat. While Chinese media big Tencent (a majority stakeholder in DE) has seemingly been prepared to provide the studio full free rein with Warframe, that relaxed perspective gained’t essentially prolong to newer, unproven ventures. Soulframe seems to be prefer it might be one thing particular, however there’s no assure that DE can have the identical time and freedom to hone it the best way it honed Warframe. After all, DE’s ‘main game’ is already standard and worthwhile.
Still, I’m hoping that I’m flawed. Warframe is and at all times has been a labor of affection, and with DE’s CEO Steve Sinclair performing as a director on Soulframe after handing over the opposite sport’s reins to new inventive director Rebecca Ford, it’s honest to say that the sport is in skilled and succesful palms. If there’s any crew that may form this fantasy world into one thing contemporary and strange, it’s this one.
So I’m eagerly awaiting the subsequent huge replace on Soulframe’s progress. You’d higher be engaged on some rat customization choices, DE.