Alright, it’s been long enough. It’s finally time to fully delve into the latest content update in Warframe and talk about it in detail. Because let’s face it, I don’t think anyone was expecting Jade Shadows to get a sequel quest. But I don’t necessarily think anyone was expecting where this quest would go, and how the rest of the update would land.
Jade Shadows: Constellations landed in a similar way to The Duviri Paradox, where it had a lot of expectations to live up to, but decided to go the subversion route, for better and worse. All the while having some pretty fun post-quest content to enjoy when the game was functioning properly.
The Sequel of the Summer (Kinda)
Jade Shadows: Constellations focuses on the story of the original quest with the Stalker and his son. But things take a turn where Sirius and Orion, fully grown, appear from different timelines to converge on the current one. They are fighting, and the Stalker has to intervene, find out why they are fighting, and bring an end to the duel. It’s a different direction than the very emotionally driven story of Jade Shadows, and while it started well, it didn’t end well.
The problem the story runs into is the promise of a proper reconciliation between the Stalker and these 2 grown up sons of his. However, they only led up to that promise and never properly delivered on it. Instead, they tried to pull a last-minute attempt at mimicking the same emotional tone as the previous quest, and it fell very flat, for me at least. While it was a decent send-off in that regard, it tried to follow up on different plot threads instead of honing in on the main one.
Suffice it to say, it could have been handled much better considering how cherished Jade Shadows was in 2024 as a very surprising story in Warframe. It felt like it punched above its own weight when all it had to do was follow the same emotional tone from the original quest with the setup that they went with in the still amazing reveal trailer.
New Railjack Content in Warframe
Aside from the hit-and-miss cinematic quest, there were a few new activities in Warframe that got added in this update. These activities are genuinely fantastic. The linear approach for Railjack content worked perfectly for these activities. They are missions where you have to aid either Ryoku, Sirius’ Mentor, or Vena, Orion’s Mentor, in taking down the other. Ryoku’s had a really cool moment where you ride a freaking Orowyrm and crash into Vena’s ship with it.
With Vena’s mission, you have to get in a ramsled and fly your way to Ryoku’s ship, and his final fight was way more intricate in comparison to Vena’s, where she is just a bullet sponge that tries to bleed you to death.
Both of their ships are visually distinct and have unique rewards for doing a little puzzle. Speaking of rewards, these might be the most generous missions in the game, where farming out Sirius & Orion, their weapons, and other things just doesn’t feel like a chore. These activities and the reward pools are as perfect as missions can get in Warframe. The same can almost be said about the rewards themselves.
The Spoils of Jade Shadows: Constellations
The stars of the update, Sirius & Orion, were really great new additions to the roster in Warframe. Going with a 2-in-1 package that functions a little like Equinox, but with more fluid switching between the characters. I really love the ultimate, its really strong and super stylish.
Pride & Wrath could’ve been the same thing in theory. Where it would still be two weapons but swap with, say, a heavy strike or something. But instead it’s two separate weapons. The passive relying on slam attacks is a little weird, but the buffs from it are worth pulling it off for.
Finally, last and sadly least, is the War Prime. The original weapon came out about a decade ago and is still really strong to this day. But with a Prime version, you’d think there would be a unique passive of some sort…and no beating around the bush here, there wasn’t. It’s very disappointing to see such a cool weapon with awesome stats be just that. I wish they handled this Prime in a similar way to the Venato Prime.
A Very Buggy Update in Warframe
To be as fair as I possibly can, the number of problems this update had was very concerning. It was made more concerning that Digital Extremes had actually warned the player base ahead of time, which I cannot recall the last time that happened. Obviously, these updates are free, but if there are problems that need to be ironed out, a delay should be in order. The main problems I faced were related to the new Railjack content itself.
For starters, the ending mission screens were either showing as failed or not showing the rewards at all. This meant I had to keep going to the new vendor to see what I earned. Sometimes, when playing as Sirius & Orion, I can sometimes teleport to a different part of a map when swapping between them while using abilities. I also saw that Vena would get stuck going to the console in her mission after leaving the Railjack to progress. This isn’t a bug, but Ryoku, for whatever reason, kept pulling my camera to show him activating his stealth. He does this every single time.
But on the up and up, FSR3 is finally available on PC, and it helps the game run even better. They also uplifted the Corpus ship tileset with the new lighting system, and it looks amazing. No complaints here.
This isn’t a bug, but it is controversial. Digital Extremes added Steel Path missions to Railjack. They did this without adding more powerful equipment to brave the new frontier and recently nerfed the Steel Path Essence gains. Both of these were a mistake for different reasons. If MK3 Railjack equipment makes doing these missions harder than they need to be, the game mode should have been delayed until MK4 equipment was available. In addition to this, if people brave Steel Path Railjack with MK3 equipment, they should be properly rewarded for it. At this time, this is not a great look, and one change should’ve been prioritized over the other.
Closing Remarks on Jade Shadows: Constellations
To give a quick rundown on this update:
- The Quest was good, but missed the mark.
- The new activities are amazing.
- All the new loot is a mixed bag but mostly good.
- It was buggy, but now more stable.
- The Steel Path Railjack changes are confusing.
I haven’t even talked about Ryoku and Vena yet, and there is a good reason behind it. You do get to learn about them during the post-quest content. They are not particularly as interesting as other protoframes in the game. While I like Ryoku’s design and Vena’s personality, I do not like Vena’s design nor Ryoku’s personality. This is personal taste speaking, of course, but I have enjoyed every previous protoframe thus far and wish I could have felt the same connection towards Ryoku and Vena as I did the previous ones.
If I had to give it a score, it would be around a 7-8/10. I’ve loved playing the update overall. But when it comes down to brass tacks, it was “underbaked” to say the least. As a free update to Warframe, it is still pretty good and is holding over the community until TennoCon. I am still very excited for what comes next, and I hope Digital Extremes is taking the community’s criticism to heart.
