The War Within picks up where The Second Dream left off, answering questions about the Tenno that everybody and their buddy has been asking since last December. The cinematic quest includes more storyline to complete, along with new weapons, new enemies, and new secrets Digital Extremes promises to tease closer to launch. There's also a nice little trailer you can check out to put you in the mood.
Along with some new tilesets and areas to explore, "The War Within" content update also includes new (versions of) enemies to fight (the Kuva Guardians), new weapons, new customization options, and a new mission type, Assault. The Kuva Guardians are still Grineer enemy types, but they wear heavier armor, are tinted differently, and employ different tactics for taking out you and your fellow space ninjas. The weapons include new dual pistols, the Twin Rogga, a new rifle, the Zarr, that is "akin to a sci-fi musket," and a new melee staff, the Kesheg. The new 'Assault' mission tasks players with a multi-stage mission that requires both stealth and some action in order to infiltrate a base and prevent an attack on the Tenno.
Ok, so joking aside, this is some pretty creative design. The latest frame to join the space ninja ranks lets you create your own music that then gets played in-game when you use Octavia's abilities. The "Mandachord" allows you to build a song using percussion, bass, and melody tracks. Those tracks then provide the beats to Octavia's abilities, Mallet, Resonator, and Metronome. I can't speak to how well all that works out in the game itself, but the idea of it is really cool.
This feels like Digital Extremes' first steps into transitioning Warframe into more of a shooter/MMO hybrid as the update brings it with some of those features most commonly associated with titles in the MMO genre (i.e., quest-givers, a social hub, non-combat activities like fishing). It's an ambitious step, as so much of the game is centered around taking on discreet missions with friends and, more-or-less, grinding away at those. With the addition of an open area where players can accept different quests, experience a full day/night cycle, interact with vendors and NPCs, and take on bigger/tougher foes (the Eidolons), there's more to see and do, which is enticing to long-time fans and newcomers alike.
One of the things I've always admired about Warframe is its movement system. Sliding into a group of foes while wielding a katana and doing a sick spin that slices them into meaty bits ALWAYS. FEELS. GOOD! It's only gotten better with time, too, as Digital Extremes has tweaked the graphics, made the movement system even more fluid, and made changes to how melee combat works. One of the bigger improvements to the game has been a revamp of the whole first couple hours and the tutorial. You are eased into systems much easier than before and certain things, like how to use mods, new weapons, Warframes, and other features, are introduced through the course of all this in a gradual fashion that's not overwhelming. Honestly, if you're looking for a fun loot-grind co-op game, Warframe is in a pretty good spot right now.
Apologies in advance for the break in the middle where my kid decided to not only not sleep, but also to make a messy diaper. Parenthood is great, but there are some times...
UPDATE: As of May 10, 2018, this update is available for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game.
That's not all, though. The Canadian developers are getting even more ambitious this time around and revealed a new gameplay mode, currently titled "Codename: Railjack," where you and up to three buddies will all pilot a ship together as you engage in some real-time combat against A.I. enemies. What's more, you'll be able to hop into this mode directly from the Venusian landscape. However, don't get too excited just yet. While the "Fortuna" update is planned for a 2018 release (for the PC, at least), the Railjack mode won't be a part of that. It'll arrive sometime later.
While the entire trailer shows a lot of really cool sci-fi action, most of the co-op takes place in-game, which you can see in action in one of our previous streams. If you do check out the trailer, the best part is at the 0:58 marker, where an adorable Anteater-animal-thing is picked up. I have named him Burtis and he’s absolutely the best part of the trailer (for me).
The full recap of things can be found over on the official website, but here's a quick summary.
While the developer has done very little to show off little more than the new skin in the 7 Year Trailer (below) the skin itself is pretty sharp. Even better is the level of care that the developer has put into the game itself over these past seven years, taking what was once a small, third-person shooter and continuing to add and improve based on feedback from the community and the growing vision for the game. This level of dedication to the product and community is truly something worth celebrating. Pair with that with the high level of quality in the trailer overall and there is clearly a passion baked deep into Warframe, both from fans and the developers themselves.
The cross-platform announcement came during this weekend's TennoCon 2021. Sheldon Carter of Digital Extremes explained:
