On Friday last week, Digital Extremes gave an in-depth look at The Duviri Paradox. This long-awaited expansion has left players of Warframe very hungry for more information about it. Since it was revealed in 2019 and got a small verticle slice of gameplay during TennoCon of last year.
The Duviri Paradox will be the biggest update to Warframe since the Plains of Eidolon. However, this is not an exaggeration. As it not only brings a fresh new open world but a new story that will be beginner friendly. As well as whole new gameplay systems and much more. Here is everything you need to know about The Duviri Paradox.
A New Starting Story
At the beginning of the newest gameplay reveal during Devstream 168, Creative Director Rebecca Ford explained that The Duviri Paradox can be played at any time. Including if you try out Warframe for the first time. Rebecca stated that you can choose to either play the opening mission of the game, Vors Prize, or this whole new expansion first. The story, even for a veteran of Warframe like me is completely new. So you should not feel too lost starting this new experience up as I will be just as confused as you are.
The setting of The Duviri Paradox centers itself around a child king, Dominus Thrax. Who is new to the game as a whole in a strange land that is sometimes colorful and sometimes colorless known as Duviri. You will be playing as the Drifter. A fully customizable character from race to gender who is being tormented by Thrax. While the Drifter is not a new character to Warframe, this story will be their origin story. But outside of the main quest that pertains to the Drifter’s origins, what about Duviri itself and what you can expect to play during and after that main quest?
Bold New Gameplay for Warframe
The Duviri Paradox will be Warframe’s first foray into the Roguelite territory. As every play session in Duviri will allow you to pick a loadout for the Drifter and as you play through the world and its objectives you will be given Decrees. In a nutshell, Decrees give a random assortment of upgrades to pick from. Ranging from tripling the effectiveness of status effects to giving you more movement speed. The latter option will be a major boon as the gameplay of Warframe is changing for the Drifters themself.
They will fight similarly to the souls-like genre but will not have a stamina bar. This means you will have a set amount of health and have to be more careful when approaching combat sections as when you die you will have to start back at the safe haven and pick a new loadout to try again. Players will have a pistol but will be more melee reliant. As well as making use of four unique abilities that were not described in the Devstream or the TennoCon gameplay reveal. But these abilities should be similar to their kit in The New War.
However, alongside this new combat system, you will also get to use warframes and weapons from the main game. When choosing your Drifter loadout in the game’s safe haven, you can choose from up to five random warframes and five random weapons from your arsenal in the game. If you are new, you will get to select loaned warframes and weapons to bring with you on your journey.
Meet the Kaithe in The Duviri Paradox
You will also have with you a loyal skeletal metallic steed to bring with you during your play sessions. This horse will be fully customizable and nameable as well.
The Kaithe will also be able to fly at will. Allowing you to journey out to faraway islands or allow you to just take in the breathtaking scenery that Duviri has to offer.
While you will have a varied arsenal to take advantage of, Duviri itself will have a lot of activities to put your skills to the test.
New and Renewed Activities in Duviri
Duviri will be an open world with some twists. For starters, you will have standard enemy encounters with metallic knights that are under Thrax’s rule. Including giant knights as well. You will be able to use your warframe in the open world for a short time as well if you are finding certain encounters or bosses too difficult to handle. You can also find random activities like the one shown in the Devstream. Where you venture into a cave, shoot some objects, and fight a shadowy figure.
But you will also be able to take on the Undercroft as well.
The Undercroft will allow you to take on endless missions such as survival, defense, and void flood. These activities, as well as the random encounters and the activity in the cave, will reward you with Decrees to help you survive longer and fight the boss of that specific play session. No details have been given on what to expect in terms of bosses. But the gameplay during TennoCon showed a very strong knight and it has been confirmed you can fight the giant Orowyrm and a smaller one under Thrax’s care.
You can also fish as well. But it will not be spearfishing like in the other open worlds of Warframe. You will be controlling a metallic fish in a mini-game to reward you.
Intrinsics, Incarnons, and Mood Spirals
Alongside the Decrees granted from activities, players will also get Intrinsic points to spend on your Drifter. This will be the long-form progression of the expansion that will give you perks from four specific Intrinsic trees. Such as Endurance, Combat, Riding, and Opportunity. Credit to Reddit user EinartheBlack for putting together a handy list of the specific perks from all of the Intrinsic trees you can read here. All of the perks sound great and I reckon most players will level up Endurance and Combat first since they sound the most essential
There will be three specific moods that Thrax will go through and affect Duviri. They only showed Joy during the Devstream and what seems like Anger during the TennoCon gameplay reveal. There will be a third mood, Envy as well. But no details on how that affects the world. Joy seems to make Duviri peaceful and perfect for grinding Intrinsics. While anger seems like it will focus on Thrax trying to kill the Drifter.
There will be three game modes to The Duviri Paradox as well. The Duviri Experience will feature story and side objectives. Lone stories will allow you to journey into Duviri without a focus and just play for fun. While The Circuit will be focused on giving players rewards to use in the Warframe side of the game. Such as Incarnon adapters.
Incarnon adapters will be used to give a selection of thirty weapons the ability to transform into new and crazy styles of weapons. Take for example the Lato pistol shown in the Devstream where its Incarnon form fired glaives that bounces between enemies. Or the Innodem dagger from Angels of the Zariman that fires projectiles when attacking in midair.
Release Date and New Vendor
The Duviri Paradox will be launching in April with no specific date just yet. This expansion will, like all updates to Warframe, be completely free to all players, old and new. You will be able to play normal Warframe if you need a break from this expansion to get a feel for “The Other Side” and the story content it offers as I suspect the new vendor Acrithis will offer rewards aiming to reward players with items to use in the normal content of Warframe. As shown during the Devstream you can play this expansion with friends as well.
If you would like to watch the Devstream, you can do so here. You can also watch the TennoCon gameplay reveal here which shows story details with commentary by Rebecca Ford as well.
