Last year, Digital Extremes began to be playful with their fall updates. Whether it was being secretive with the titles to keep the company in suspense, or how they went about revealing them. Last year, they revealed Koumei and the Five Fates at Tokyo Games Show, which was an incredible move by the team to have a Japanese-themed update announced in Japan itself. This year, they took a traditional approach for the unveiling, as The Vallis Undermind was more rooted in older pieces of content like Fortuna in Warframe.
Usually, these updates felt like appetizers for the end-of-the-year updates. Koumei and the Five Fates, for example, just had a few reworks, a new warframe, and a new game mode. I thought The Vallis Undermind would just follow suit, with the promised new player quest, The Teacher, thrown into the mix. Oh, boy, was I ever so wrong. This update has to be the second biggest surprise from Digital Extremes this year. This is due to the fact that it not only had a great new warframe, a new rework, and that new player quest, but a deep and engaging new bounty system in Fortuna.
Unearthing a New Friendly Vendor
The Vallis Undermind is a return to Fortuna. Where the Tenno get to help Nightcap, an unearthed Solari fight against Nef Anyo and the Corpus in the Vallis Undermine. There are three new bounties that offer a massive array of different rewards. These include, but are not limited to:
- The 62nd Warframe, Nokko.
- A New Archgun named Arbucep.
- And arcanes that were once limited to some game modes, like Mars Mirror Defense and Conjunction Survival.
You are always guaranteed the new “Fargolyte” resource. This resource is used to buy any part of Nokko or Arbucep that you are missing. As well as any of the arcanes you want to purchase. But in this update, you are locked to reputational grinds with Nightcap through collecting various mushrooms. You will be given a certain amount for doing each bounty step perfectly, which entices paying attention to objectives.
Finding mushrooms also gives damage boosts and funny effects, like the big head mode you see above. Exploring the new Undermine is a lot of fun, too. It is very spacious and filled with little cave man drawings of Nokko’s mushroom companions.
Overall, the new bounty system in The Vallis Undermind is quick, fun, and rewarding as a result. I just wish credits and other resources were not rewards in the bounties. It should also be clear how many mushrooms you need to collect for Nightcap to max him out.
A New Player Centered Modding Quest
For new players who need to learn how to mod and veteran players who want a cool new gun to use, Digital Extremes made a new cinematic quest to teach the modding system. It is very informative and offers a tutorial on how electricity and magnetic damage are used on Corpus enemies. However, I feel like adding a step for armor stripping would have been important for Grineer enemies.
The new quest in The Vallis Undermind is focused on introducing Teshin to the player in the story. He is a very important character in many quests, but some context was missing. At the end of the quest, there are some great hints at future story beats and where to find Teshin in relays if you want to speak with him. I just hope one day the conclave gets some love so players who love Teshin can engage with his primary purpose (or just give him some dialogue options).
The new gun that is rewarded, Thornbak, is no slouch in a lot of activities. I just wish there were unique mods to earn for it to help it be endgame viable, like Higasa. But as far as the quest goes, The Teacher is excellent and should no doubt help new players on their journey.
The Fungus Among Us In The Vallis Undermind
Finally, like every update in Warframe, there is a new Warframe, a few new weapons, and a great rework for Oberon. For starters, Nokko, the mushroom-themed warframe, takes some getting used to. But after understanding his abilities, he becomes quite a formidable and strong frame to use, even in endgame content. His signature weapon, the Arbucep, is also really cool and hits like a truck with good synergies for his first and second abilities. I love seeing more synergies with signature weapons, similar to Oraxia’s in Isleweaver.
Oberon also received a fantastic rework. Making him into a very strong frame after feeling very outdated for several years. His Smite is mighty, his Hallowed Ground and Renewal are better than ever, and Reckoning can strip armor while having great crowd control.
The only problem with this update, as far as “quality of life” features go, is the new reticle recoil tracker. When firing a weapon, you can see the spread and where it ends up. I do not know how to describe it properly, but I feel like the tracker is forcing certain bullet patterns to be less magnetic towards enemies. When using the Thornkbak, it is easy and poses no issues. But using a Cedo Prime, I can see it missing more often than before The Vallis Undermind launched.
The Vallis Undermind is A Slam Dunk Update
When comparing The Vallis Undermind to previous non-major updates like Koumei and the Five Fates, Techrot Encore, and Isleweaver, it is leaps and bounds more bountiful in many ways. The progression with Nightcap can feel annoying, but it is engaging, and the bounties are quick and fun. Nokko and Arbucep are very strong with good synergies. Oberon is now no longer just a nostalgic favorite but a formidable frame to use.
But the best offerings in this update are the Undermine itself and The Teacher quest for new players. The Vallis Undermind is a fantastic update that makes me even more excited for the future of these smaller updates moving forward. Having this much to engage with before The Old Peace is a treat for the Warframe community, especially at the low cost of “free”.
