TennoCon 2024: Warframe 1999 Gameplay Breakdown

Last year, The Duviri Paradox was such a different type of experience for Warframe players. It was on the level of something that just felt new and refreshing, from its progression system to the combat system and the unique tonally changing world based off emotions. But Warframe: 1999 may end up being the most experimental content the game has ever received. As the headliner and finisher of TennoCon 2024 and TennoLive not only keeps that same great Warframe flavor but puts its next big expansion in a nostalgic wrapper and does not shy away from its many, many cool influences.

The Introduction of Proto-Frames and a new Syndicate

Warframe: 1999 had a very massive blowout of information at TennoLive. They showed off over 20 minutes of real gameplay and it started off with a reel of old school commercials. Harkening back to the day of PNGs and wacky voice overs before panning to Arthur Nightingale, the main character you will play as. Changing the tone from something very normal to very grim, before showing Arthur depressingly sitting in silence and trying to fight against the control of a mysterious entity.

Arthur is an Excalibur Proto-frame, the prototype of warframes in the year 1999, where a cataclysmic event is taking place in the city of Hollvania. From here, Arthur groups up with the rest of his squad of proto-frames. Amir, who is the Volt proto-frame, Aoi the Mag proto-frame, Leticia the Trinity proto-frame, Quincy the proto-frame for a new sharpshooter warframe coming to the game with this expansion called Cyte-09, and Eleanor, the Nyx proto-frame and sister of Arthur.

The six proto-frames are going to be part of a syndicate called the Hex and the main hub for this expansion will be the Hollvanian Central Mall. One important thing to note is that Digital Extremes worked with the Make-a-Wish foundation to let a boy named James Conlin voice act for one of the Arcade Machines in this mall. Creating a sweet and heartwarming voice acting debut be immortalized forever Digital Extreme’s marque title.

Before moving on from the mall, they explained during the demo that the Hex will be the first syndicate you can engage in a romance/friendship system with. But what is the story and gameplay going to be like?

Hunting Entrati in Hollvania

The plot of Warframe: 1999 is centered around some of the plot from Whispers in the Walls. As Arthur you will be hunting down Albrecht Entrati, a legendary orokin scientist through the streets of Hollvania. But there are a lot of new enemies in this expansion that will be impeding your hunt. Such as a new faction of venom using soldiers lead by Major Resulka, who taunts Arthur while throwing everything she can at him. Including a tank that you need to shoot the plating off its treads to kill. This fight in the demo was particularly cool because you can pick up a rocket launcher and use it alongside Arthur’s signature sword, rifle, and suppressed pistol.

When navigating in Hollvania, you will have a motorcycle called the Atomicycle to use and it includes the ability to drift and other neat tricks. Hollvania is also designed with ramps and breakable objects to make using the Atomicycle more fun. The Atomicycle will not have mods, and will be usable in all open worlds. There will be skins and color options for it as well. Hollvania will not be an open world, however, it will still use linear paths and procedural generation like past Warframe areas, including the recent Entrati Labs in Whispers in the Walls. But there are a few more cool factors that was showcased.

In Warframe: 1999, when you are hacking the computers, you will now have to play more interactive mini games. Such as a Snake mini-game, and failing one infects Arthur with something that might be the key to triggering the new boss fights against sentient warframes.

The Gemini System and Infested Liches

They finished the demo by showing off some new railjack gameplay that will be pivotal to engaging with the new Infested Lich system. But there is a very unique twist to the new Infested Liches. You are not going to be jumping into a Grineer Galleon, or Corpus Flagship. Rather, a stadium that plays boy band music from the in-universe band “On-Lyne” and the Liches will be apparently mimicking the characteristics of the members that make up On-Lyne. The Infested Liches will have “Technocyte” weapons, which can either be the name for upgraded Infested weapons, or unique weapons from Warframe: 1999 specifically.

Finally, they talked about a new deluxe skin system related to proto-frames. If you buy the skin, you can swap from that specific warframe’s fashion set up and the proto-frame fashion set up at will. This system is called Gemini, and the idea behind being able to swap between the two set ups is no doubt to help avoid spoilers for new players. One of the best features about the proto-frame skins, however, is the fact they will have unique voice lines for various activities.

But that is all we saw from the demo at TennoLive today, they will be making more streamlined attempts at the new player experience to make getting to Warframe: 1999 much easier. For players who are interested in the music from the demo, including “Party of Your Lifetime” from On-Lyne, they will be launching the song sometime today with a nostalgic music video.

Warframe: 1999 will also launch with a unique animated video created in partnership with The Line. This animated video may be similar to the Anime-themed video Digital Extremes created for Styanax in 2022 for Veilbreaker.

Warframe: 1999 is slated for Winter this year and will be a free expansion to Warframe on all platforms, including PlayStation 4|5, Steam, Nintendo Switch, Epic Games Store, iOS, and Xbox consoles.

You can watch the full gameplay demo here.