Digital Extremes hosted its first in-person TennoCon since the pandemic, bringing Warframe players from all over to London, Ontario, to celebrate the tenth year of the game.
Heirloom Collections
At TennoCon, Tennos got their first look at the limited edition Heirloom Collection skins, a series of custom skins for the Frost and Mag Warframes. Designed by original art director Mynki, the skins are a celebration of the last ten years of Warframe.
Available in three tiers of pack, the new Heirloom Collection skins also feature a new cosmetic slot, the Sigma. These are cosmetics that look like halos adorning the heads of the Warframe and can be used across all your other Warframes as well. Those who grab the skins will get an accolade on their profile, signifying they were part of the "Heirloom Era."
Warframe's Whispers In The Walls, Coming Winter 2023
Whispers in the Walls is confirmed as the next major content drop coming to the MMO, bringing a new cinematic storyline to Warframe. The story seeks to answer some questions that have been swirling throughout the decade Warframe has been in operation, such as exploring what Albrecht Entrati has been doing all this time.
According to creative director Reb Ford, one of the major keys to the update is going back to familiar places and "recontextualizing" it for the current state of Warframe. During the 30-minute demo on the TennoCon 2023 stage, attendees were treated to the first quest in the large cinematic update coming in Winter 2023.
Set in the depths of Deimos in the Entrati Lab (which really looks like that of a futuristic mad scientist), Tennos are tasked with helping to kickstart what is known as the Kalymos Protocol. The Deimos and the Necrolis will expand with a new procedural tileset. While exploring the depths of Deimos, new factions, such as the Murmur, appear, threatening the player and a new droid companion called Loid.
Loid the Droid. Well, Necroloid, but I like my rhyme.
This "great indifference" sees creatures, or parts of a creature, erupt from the sands, threatening the Tenno in the demo. Eventually, they combine into one solitary creature, going from The Fragmented Tide to the "Fragmented One," a centipede-style enemy that can break apart, burrow into the earth, and even summon more fragmented horrors to overwhelm players.
Another new enemy type, the Necromech, also haunts the halls of the labs, which the demo shows varying different enemy types, such as canine Necromechs, as well as walking husks that force Tennos to take out their limbs to dispatch quickly. A new weapon type, the Grimoire, was highlighted, seeing the Tenno sling spells from Entrati's tome.
Ardoning the background of the actual lab are giant constructs known as Vessels, which the demo shows the Tenno is able to conduct a little Transference on - though the actual Construct in action was saved for another time.
Warframe's Whispers in the Wall also highlighted some graphical improvements coming to the MMO, with a new lighting pipeline, including global illumination. While right now, it's restricted to just the new content, it is planned to roll out to the whole of Warframe over time.
Whispers in the Wall is slated for a Winter 2023 release, though no exact date was given.
Warframe 1999
An abrupt shift, Warframe players were treated to a little preview of next year's major content drop, aptly named Warframe 1999. The next drop brings a "what if Y2K actually happened?" vibe to Warframe, transporting players back in time to the beginning of it all.
Set in a grimy subway tunnel, the brief showcase highlighted Arthur and the Excalibur Warframe, though with some drastic changes. For one, the weapon Arthur wields looks like an in-universe variant of an AK-47, and while there are definite callbacks to the late 90s (the Nine-Inch Nails track definitely sets a mood), from random CRT monitors to the floppy disk drives. I got flashbacks to my childhood when I heard the modem boot sounds kick up as Arthur uses the terminal.
It also features a major reveal that ties 1999 back to the story that's starting to be told in Whispers in the Wall: what exactly has Albretch Entrati been doing all this time?
It's certainly looking like an interesting direction for the game, and I'm definitely interested to see more.
New Warframe: Dagath
The new Warframe, Dagath, is coming with a new seasonal update, Abyss of Dagath, in October. The upcoming Frame comes alongside some Quality of Life re-works for the MMO, as well as a new Halloween-themed content piece. Grendel Prime will also be released around this time to coincide with the Halloween-themed content.
Some of these quality-of-life changes include things such as a rework of the Hydroid, including a new ability, accessibility options to help make enemies more visible, auto-melee, and more. There are also updates to Companions, reworking how they...well...work. Companions will have about 50% more health now and will no longer have permadeath, instead being incapacitated now.
Dagath evokes some great horror-esque vibes, especially with the large axe that is definitely not an executioner's axe. Also, those stilettos, though.
Warframe's Cross Save (Finally) Coming In 2023
One of the longest-awaited updates to Warframe, Cross-Save, is coming this year. Announced during TennoCon Live 2023, the feature isn't ready just yet but will be coming in 2023. The feature will bring some data unification to the MMO, and opens the door to cross-save with the upcoming Mobile release, which is slated for 2024.
TennoCon 2023 celebrates 10 years of Warframe, bringing players together for the first time since 2019 in person. Also showcased during TennoCon 2023 was the first major look at the next game from Digital Extremes, Soulframe.
