Warframe’s Duviri Paradox update just dropped and I have been playing it non-stop since its release. It was a long wait since the update’s official announcement back in 2019 and the update left me with mixed feelings. The update is a step in the right direction for new players and it gives current and returning players a glimpse into what the next chapter of the game looks like in the post-New War era.
Warning: There are some minor spoilers in this review but I will not be revealing important plot points of The Duviri Paradox or previous updates.
The Perfect New Player Experience
One of the biggest complaints about Warframe is how difficult it is to get into. After loading into the game for the first time and going through the Awakening and Vor’s Prize questline, there is very little that you would understand about the game and its mechanics. The new player experience is something that both Warframe miserably failed at, until now.
Whether you are a new player or a returning player. The game will let you choose between the Warframe and Paradox paths. The Warframe path is the old-school tutorial of the game featuring the Awakening questline. The old tutorial has nothing inherently wrong with it, but it is the experience that comes after that happens to be wildly confusing. You have no sense of direction and you have this massive star-chart map that you try to progress through.
Unless you have a friend, use the in-game chat, or use a wiki, there is very little direction that the game provides. While that is something that has worked very well with popular AAA titles, Warframe doesn’t quite do it right. The in-game wiki known as the Codex is unintuitive and players have to look up how the Relic system works, how to get new Warframes, learn about mods, and more.
The Duviri Paradox addresses this very problem by introducing an alternate path to getting into Warframe. You can jump right into the story and experience a fleshed-out campaign. You spend the first four hours knowing more about
The Paradox Path addresses this issue by giving players access to all the gear that they need without requiring players to farm XP, credits, or other resources. You can just hop right in and experience the content and if you enjoy what the game has to offer, you can move into the real game.
How Does Duviri Paradox Feel to Veterans?
I read a Steam user review of Risk of Rain 2 a while back and it said, “You either get to kill god or live long enough to become him.” The same statement can be applied to Warframe and it fits perfectly. You get a power fantasy like no other and with a single press of a button, you can annihilate hundreds of enemies in game modes like Elite Sanctuary Onslaught. The power ceiling in Warframe is incredibly high and you can tear through anything the game throws at you without breaking a sweat in most cases.
The rush of power is unmatched, but it also is a cause of burnout for a lot of veterans. There is very little in the game that makes you think about how you want to approach enemies and while that is fun for the first few hundred hours, it does admittedly get a bit boring at times. There are no raids and things like Eidolon Hunts are way too easy in 2023 considering how powerful our gear is currently.
You play as the Drifter, who does not have the same powers as the Operator and the combat experience is a whole lot different. You also don’t have permanent access to your Warframes and are forced to use the tools that you have access to. It is not for everyone but if you enjoy the gameplay the mode offers, you will like Duviri Paradox’s content.
While new players get access to “loaner” Warframes and weapons, veterans can get Incarnon Adapters for their weapons to unlock power-ups in the Duviri Paradox. But this is tied to the Steel Path only so if you are planning to try out Circuit Missions, make sure you have the right gear.
For veterans, this felt like a four-year wait for just another open world with not much to do. But if you have been away from the game for a while, there is plenty to catch up on and you should definitely give the game a try.
Warframe Without The Warframes Doesn’t Quite Feel Right
My biggest problem with the Duviri Paradox is that it is not a true representative of what Warframe actually is. It is a solid introduction to the lore as the game takes you through the past few years of content in a condensed story format.
The Duviri Paradox is meant to be a rogue-lite game mode but once you get all the rewards, there is not much incentive to hop back in. The entire appeal of rogue-lite/roguelike games is the replayability and gameplay. While the content is replayable due to how the objectives are structured, Duviri Paradox is not going to draw a lot of veterans in for the gameplay.
Warframe is defined by its namesake Warframes and not getting to use them for most of the content is just disappointing. I appreciate what Digital Extremes has tried to do with the content and it is a fantastic rework of the new player experience, but it does not have the essence of what makes the game great to begin with.
I have accepted the fact that no game can push out content at the rate at which dedicated players complete said content, but a four-year wait for this update that does not add much to the core game is slightly disappointing. I absolutely adore what the Duviri Paradox update is trying to do for new players but if you are a veteran, the experience can be hit-or-miss depending on your expectations.
Was It Really Worth The Wait?
This is our first major content update in years and a lot of players might be returning to the game with high expectations. So was it worth the wait for veteran players? Not quite.
The story and atmosphere are fantastic and I loved exploring the area. The story feels a little disjointed and there is no real explanation for certain plot points. I will not spoil anything from the update to ensure you have the best first playthrough possible, but if you have played the New War content you will notice that a lot of things are left unexplained even after a four-year wait.
The rogue-lite system plays great but some of the systems in place do not quite feel right. Being able to choose different frames or weapons as you progress through the quest would be fantastic instead of being locked into a single Warframe is a bummer. It is something that did not cross my mind and after seeing feedback on social platforms from players, it makes perfect sense.
A new player would want to try out what the game has to offer in terms of its “classes”. Every frame in Warframe plays out differently and there is so much customization available. Benign forced to play the entire story with one frame doesn’t quite give new players a glimpse into how cool Warframe can be.
The melee combat felt really solid and an overall upgrade to how the Drifter felt in previous content updates. In terms of the core combat itself, I have absolutely zero complaints and I had a blast playing through Duviri as a standalone experience. But as a roguelite, it falls short and there are some improvements needed which will hopefully be added in the future.
There are plenty of unanswered questions that have been set up for years and we still do not have answers to them yet. We have an understanding of how the Paradox was created but there are recurring characters who make an appearance and we are never told why. Hopefully, the location gets more story content and replayable missions to flesh out the story even further but I doubt it is something Digital Extremes will address anytime soon.
Verdict: Should You Play The Duvri Paradox?
If you are a new player, absolutely. Warframe is a fantastic free-to-play game that has hundreds of hours of content on offer. Duviri Paradox is the perfect gateway into the game and you will hopefully enjoy it as much as I did. If you are a veteran and were looking for an expansion that expands on the game’s lore and answers unanswered questions, the update does not quite do that. It is worth coming back to and playing for a bit, but the rogue-lite mode is not something that will keep you in the game after a few playthroughs. Even if that sounds disappointing, I urge you to give it a try as the environment and character interactions alone make the experience worth it.
