A couple of days ago, Steve Sinclair, former Creative Director of Warframe and current CEO of Digital Extremes held a Prelude stream for Soulframe over on his Twitch channel. This stream went on for an hour and was very chill. It was focused on just showing off the game in a very early development build. It was very impromptu and despite how many times he mentioned Soulframe was in pre-alpha, it looked very impressive. Here is everything that we learned from the stream!
The Beauty of Midrath Island
Steve spent a lot of time in the stream exploring in Soulframe. Showcasing a lot of Midrath Island and a lot of the content you can find and see. Such as destroyed villages, fortresses, and even a sky palace that you can see in the distance. We also saw the day and night cycle in the game. Steve explained that the night cycle is supposed to make the world more green-ish due to an iridescent ring around the moon called Alka. It was also detailed that the open world will be static, but dungeons will have procedural generation to their layouts.
There was a new archer enemy, and more gameplay from the Undercity that we saw during TennoCon 2023. As well as a new Mine dungeon with heavy enemies and explosives you can use when you throw your sword. When adventuring in the open world you can see an assortment of random missions marked by very visible blue lanterns. The world is packed to the brim with different locations, such as the College of Pensives that was a higher level than Steve.
But a very cool feature was showcased. There are Death Shrines that when you activate them, if you die during an encounter, you can spawn as a ghost from that shrine and run back to your corpse to keep fighting. Steve said you will be on a timer and if you reach your body you will get a healing potion to help you continue your fight. You can also summon a guide to help find your body if you get lost. The shrines may also have fast travel capability. Finally, there were these shrines in a cave that if you toss a coin in, it will spawn a chest you have to find via a still image instead of a waypoint. The open world will also feature mining, fishing and cooking. But there will be a unique take on them according to Steve.
New Nightfold Details in Soulframe
The Nightfold will function as a main hub for the player. In the stream, Steve showed him petting his wolf mount. While also showing a weapon rack for the player inside the main tent. But the coolest part of the Nightfold is that the ancestors you collect, that will act as vendors, will have sections dedicated to themselves in your Nightfold. Steve showed a new ancestor called Tuvalkane the Blacksmith who acts as the blacksmith for the player. Her section rose through the water in the Nightfold across from the main tent.
The Nightfold can still be accessed from any place and time in the game via a seamless transition. Steve also mentioned that they will be looking into make the flashing light in the transition to make it easier on players eyes. There will be crafting in Soulframe similar to Warframe. This means players will have to wait hours in real time to get the items they start crafting.
New Gameplay Details
The combat in Soulframe is starting to look heavier in comparison to past reveals. The melee strikes look they have a real weight to them as a result. There are new moves, such as knocking down foes to execute a finisher on them while they are on the ground. Steve also showcased a new spell that spawns a flock of birds that peck away at singular foes. While also showing off a focused vision that shows absorbable magic to recharge your spells. The movement is also very fluid looking and you can see the fabric on the Envoy’s clothing moving around flawlessly.
Steve mentioned there are ranged weapons such as Bows in the current build. As well as a Polearm and Dual swords, no gameplay of this was shown, however. There also seems to be a similar level up pop up for equipment, just like Warframe. He also mentioned that player vs player is not in the works currently. But you can chat with other players when you are playing with them via a very similar chat window system.
When can you play Soulframe?
Right now, the game is still being play tested by lucky players who have been invited into “Preludes”. The reason being is that even in the current development build, Steve was finding a lot of stuff that needs fixing. This is all part of the process, and if you watch the full stream, please understand that most games do not show themselves this early a lot of the time. That being said though, the game looks very impressive and seems to play well. There is controller support in the development build as well.
But to answer the question of when you can play it, it will be a while longer, especially if you are a console player. The game will launch on PC first with compatibility for the Steam Deck and they are estimating a year afterwards for console players. However, if you do play on PC and want to carry your progress to the supported consoles, there will be cross save. As well as crossplay to play with your friends on PC.
But this is all we learned from the stream, you can find it here. Just be aware that you are looking at an unfinished game.