The big-ticket item of TennoLive and TennoCon 2026 was promised last year during TennoCon 2025. That being Tau. Tau has been in the lore of Warframe for the longest time, and this update is going to finally take us to the promised land after The Old Peace last year. During TennoLive, we got to watch half an hour of gameplay of the update. Featuring the first new location, the next story beat, and much more. Here is everything we learned from the gameplay today!
A Memory of the Lotus
The demo opened with Natah, in the form of the Lotus, fighting through Lua in the moments before teleporting it into the Void. Ballas, of course, is making remarks about Natah being insane (because we can’t leave Ballas dead). After this moment, we see what this wish with the Indifference cost Natah: some strange sentient baby or pet that is given to the Drifter when he interferes with the memory.
From here, a new scene plays out, where the Tenno goes to the Kronia relay on Saturn. At the dry dock, we can see necramechs dragging a Vessel from the Entrati Labs over. They showed off that there will be male and female versions of these with customization options. The male is named Arturos, and the female is named Zioa.
After jumping into the railjack, we are treated to a transition cutscene to the Tau system with multiple planets.
The planet they decided to start with is Fornax, the ringed planet of Tau. The story is centered around a mysterious sentient named the Hunra, and of course, Albrecht Entrati.
A Cyberpunk-Themed City and a Film Noir Setting in Warframe
In the demo, they showed gameplay of the warframe coming in that update, Brysko. Brysko is a chimera detective-themed warframe that is voiced by Matt Mercer in the demo. His abilities involve using cards and summoning a pistol named the Corecracker that leaves auto-targeting orbs upon killing enemies. He will also have a hound companion that they were not able to show off during the demo.
Through the demo, we see Brysko investigating and discerning things around him: the citizens, the thugs, and the kids. It is an interesting direction to take for the first planet of Tau. As he keeps moving through the city, he gets stopped by a mafia-style sentient duo in a flying car, telling him to go to the docks. Upon doing so, Brysko is stuck in a fight against two bosses in a warehouse-like arena. If this update sounds like a fever dream, join the club; this is pure, unadulterated Warframe weirdness.
Other parts of the demo include a ship you drive around in with giant holograms of a female sentient, slot machines that give loot, and a new gun with a circular frame that fires tracking rounds. Not to mention a full-on casino, a singer, gamblers, and a big crime boss design for the Hunra, with an in-universe poker card game called “Portau” waiting at the end of the demo.
Portau is described as an iteration of poker, with its own suites of cards. It is unclear at this time what rewards you can earn from this card game. But it is very cool to have a little card game to enjoy in-game.
New Music and When You Can Expect to Play the Tau Update in Warframe
This next update for Warframe will also feature a new noir hip hop track called “View From the Top”. This track was sung by Canadian Vocalist Jill Harris.
Tau is slated to launch this winter, like every major update in the game in prior years. So expect it during December of this year. This update will be completely free and available on all platforms, including PC, Nintendo Switch 1|2, PlayStation 4|5, Xbox One, Series X|S, and iOS and Android devices.
The full demo can be found on their stream here. Or a condensed version through the official trailer here.
