First teased at TennoCon back in 2018, Warframe's next major narrative expansion, The New War, is scheduled to finally arrive on December 15. The long-anticipated quest will expand on the narrative threads introduced in the Second Dream, which is one of the game's most impressive and best-loved quests. Second Dream introduced new mechanics to the Warframe experience, as well as narrative developments that changed players' understanding of key figures like the Lotus, the Tenno, and the Sentients. Digital Extremes promises that The New War will lay the groundwork for the future of Warframe in 2022 and beyond.
With launch just under a week away, Digital Extremes' Live Ops and Community Director Rebecca Ford revealed footage and insights about The New War's offerings, including the cinematic quests, narrative elements, the new playable POV characters from the various factions of the anti-Sentient alliance, and the new warframes being added to the game's considerable arsenal. Ford also sheds light on the requirements for the upcoming quest, so Tenno can be prepare themselves for a quest of unprecedented length, scope, and stakes.
Fresh Perspectives
Facing an apocalyptic threat, Grineer, Corpus, Dax, and Tenno forces have united against Natah and her Sentient army to protect the Origin system. When The New War was originally shown off in a stunning trailer by Blur Studio, it was revealed that players would be controlling several non-Tenno characters for the first time, each representing various factions of the Warframe universe. These characters include the Grineer Lancer, Kahl-175, the Corpus Tech, Veso, and the fan-favorite ally, Teshin Dax.
Based on Ford's preview footage, these new POV segments will arrive fairly quickly in The New War questline. While the story begins with an intense Railjack battle with alliance ships taking on sentinels, players will quickly step into Teshin's boots, as he infiltrates a Sentient vessel to disable the orphix reactors that nullify the Tennos' ability to use their warframes.
Consequently, players will need to have access to a Railjack (and Necramech), before they can begin The New War. Fortunately, Ford assured players that the new quest will be very accessible to long-time players, even if they have never taken a step on the Steel Path advancement system. Similarly, players will not need to have boosted intrisincs for their Railjack, or Necramech upgrades.
Like most of Warframe, these new POV sections will feature combat prominently, but Ford kept the curtain closed on the specifics of what Teshin's gameplay would entail (apart from butchering Sentients). Not all of The New War is focused on firefights and melee slaughter, however. Digital Extremes is trying to tell a story that will forever change the status quo of Warframe, and several sections of the quest are purely narrative.
The Second Dream's Successor
The Second Dream was a literal game-changer for Warframe, introducing entire gameplay and advancement systems like operators and amps. While Ford was coy about what new systems The New War may lay the groundwork for, she repeatedly emphasized that The Second Dream was the primary source of inspiration for The New War. After Teshin's boarding action, Ford showcased an interactive cutscene set aboard the Zariman Ten Zero Orokin ship, with the player sitting through an interactive lesson on varying concepts of time, as taught by a cephalon named Melica.
The cephalon presents "Presentism" as a paradigm based on a linear conception of time, which is now erroneous and obsolete. The competing concept, "Eternalism," seems to be based on dimensional/time travel via the Void and suggests the possibility of seemingly contradictory or competing realities coexisting, which is an intriguing concept that could further develop Warframe's impressive sci-fi setting.
In this section, players take a brief, interactive test after watching the cephalon's lecture. Upon completing the test, the Tenno students are directed to look outside the Zariman to observe what appears to be a Void Jump, though Ford ended the preview before everything could (presumably) go wrong.
It is clear that Digital Extremes is continuing to build off the interactive-narrative modes like the evidence gathering sequences in the Glassmaker nightwave episodes, as well as the epic storytelling of The Second Dream. Ford stated that the second act of the quest would be the longest, with plenty of twists and turns to keep players engaged. She also noted that the entirety of The New War would be released at once, so prepared players can binge the story from start to finish, as soon as it launches. Finally, Ford advised Tenno to select their warframe carefully, as The New War is a lengthy cinematic quest that will not allow players to change their load-out mid-run.
New Warframes
Like most narrative quests, The New War will introduce a new warframe to the game: Caliban. Designed by the series' current big bad, Erra, Caliban is a warframe based on Sentient tech. Its kit includes the melee AOE attack, "Razor Gyre," a radial crowd control and damage enhancing spell, "Sentient Wrath" (which also serves as the frame's Helminth ability), and the ability to summon allied conculyst units with "Lethal Progeny." Caliban's showstopping ultimate ability, "Fusion Strike" is an AOE cone of death where three lasers fire and converge on a single line for focused damage.
The New War will also see the release of a new prime warframe: Harrow Prime. This suped-up version of the dark priest-like warframe boasts improved stats, but both the original Harrow and Prime alike will receive significant tweaks to their kit, including modable range-scaling with its "Condemn" ability, an intermittent burst heal on "Penance," and an increased charge rate for the "Thurible" ability. Finally, Harrow Prime access will award players with prime versions of Harrow's signature weapons, Knell and Scourge, in addition to a new syandana.
The new playable characters, Warframes, and narrative quests are just the tip of The New War's spear. New cosmetics will also be available, including a Templar Prime operator suit, a sentient theme for Mesa, and the Electrolyst skin for Volt, which transforms the warframe into a hollow lightning chamber.
Warframe is currently available on PC, Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S.
