There are few games as ridiculously wild, visually inventive, and endlessly ambitious as Warframe. Digital Extremes seemingly has one mode when designing the game’s world, and it’s going full balls to the wall.
The best proof of this is the full reveal of Warframe 1999, an update that takes the slick sci-fi imagery of Warframe and adds helpings of the Metal Gear franchise, classic anime, boy bands, and early instant messaging services.
Warframe takes place in a far, far away sci-fi future. The ancient Orokin empire has colonized Mercury, Mars, and the other planets in the Origin System. Their attempts to colonize other systems backfired, leading to an AI war. The player takes up the role of a Tenno, an ancient warrior caste inhabiting a super-fast and strong robot body. From there, they bullet-jump, slash, and dash their way through scores of enemies.
The world of Warframe is so alien and unrelatable that it can turn players off; Warframe 99 flips that formula on its head. The Protoframes are all humans, with their faces clearly visible. They ride sick motorcycles, play arcade games, and hang out at the mall. The decoration is relatively modern and highly recognizable; the stylized “S” graffiti on a wall, red plastic Pizza Hut-style cups, old arcade games. Everything seems like it was ripped out of the doodles in the margin of a teenager’s notebook, and then brought to life.
That’s just the basic premise, of course. As the TennoCon presentation shows, once Arthur — the man wearing the Excalibur Protoframe — delves into the infested tunnels beneath the mall, he finds all manner of weird shit. This culminates in a sequence where, in the far future of the Origin System, a giant boy band stage emerges from the majesty of the cosmos, playing a ’90s bop while Railjack spaceships cautiously investigate.
I’ve seen many a space battle before, but I’ve yet to see one against the metaphysical reincarnation of a pop group, re-emerging and re-constructed out of borrowed flesh and memetic ideas. It’s these hugely creative swings, pulled off with sincerity and style, that make Warframe so much fun.
The biggest problem with getting excited for Warframe 99 is that you have to get through the rest of Warframe to get there. I love Warframe, but it’s a big and deep game — and if someone new is interested in the characters in 99, they’ll have to get through a good chunk of faceless robot gun guy gameplay before they can play with them. That journey is packed full of imagination, character, and a few really good twists, but it is a journey that requires a time commitment not everyone will be able to muster.
It takes a while for Warframe to take shape for a new player, and while Digital Extremes has put in new player experience changes over the year — and has plans to do more in the near-future — it can still be an uphill struggle. But I have so much appreciation for the visual and creative design of the game, and the reveal of 99 at this year’s TennoCon only sealed it further. I’d rather take an imperfect, wild ride of a game than a sanitized, safe, and smooth journey.
