Sevagoth, the Edgiest Kid on the Block

The Call of the Tempestarri quest was all about a new Warframe: Sevagoth. A reaper of death, with a deadly shadow to back him up. An eldritch terror, waiting in the darkness to strike. Yet, somehow, Sevagoth makes pretty much no sense in any real way what so ever. There is a huge amount to unpack with this new Warframe.

Too many themes.

Sevagoth’s main theme is being a death bringer. He’s also a bit of a reaper, a guide to the afterlife. But also being a pirate. And also being an eldritch horror that haunts the mind and your dreams. But he is also kinda a berserker kind of Warframe too. There are so many themes built into Sevagoth, it’s genuinely kinda weird.

Yet the Call of the Tempestarii quest goes a completely different route. In that quest, Sevagoth was on RESCUE MISSIONS, and needed to complete one more rescue mission in order to move on. While this does kinda go with the theme of being a ferryman to the afterlife, it still kinda doesn’t make that much sense. Especially since Sevagoth was a sentient Warframe doing its own thing and now we’re using its memories to murder masses.

Borrowing too much from elsewhere.

However, not only does Sevagoth have a lot of themes, but he borrows a lot from other frames. Nekros’s theme is the most obvious example, because both frames are related to death and souls and stuff like that. Then there’s the sort of pirate or mystery of the sea theme, which kinda takes away from Hydroid as well.

But Sevagoth’s kit also kinda borrows from, well, everyone.

We have a meter that needs to be filled to use exalted weaponry, like Baruuk. The exalted weapons are claws, like Valkyr and Garuda. The Shadow has a dash ability that steals enemy health, a bit like Revenant’s Reave. Sevagoth has a wispy like ability where he sends out his shadow to confuse and distract enemies, just like Wisp does. There’s an ability to pull enemies towards you, a bit like what Mag and Zephyr have as well.

Maybe I’m being a bit harsh, but if it wasn’t for the whole separate shadow thing, I don’t think Sevagoth really carves out his own niche.

Somehow though, it doesn’t come together.

Despite all this inspiration, Sevagoth as a frame feels… like a lot of work. Somehow, all these similar abilities tie together well but lack reward. You need to fill up the death well and for what? Some exalted claws and a second set of abilities that only really work with said claws. It’s a cool transformation and the claws are pretty damn strong once modded. But I could have gotten the same effect playing Baruuk or Valkyr. Or Excalibur with his Exalted blade.

Honestly, we really didn’t need another exalted melee weapon. I suppose at least Sevagoth’s Shadow’s Claws are strong exalted weapons, but you probably want some attack speed on them. I found the claws a tad slow.

And on top of all of that, you need way, way more Forma to fit all those required mods in. Sevagoth, Sevagoth’s Shadow AND his exalted claws all need forma-ing. You probably can do a cheap build, with just 1-2 Forma per part, and they do all level up together. But it’s still tedious.

At least Sevagoth looks badass.

It is a genuinely awesome frame. The default look of Sevagoth is on point. I’m not a fan of the alt helmet, but the default one is exquisite. The animations for Sevagoth fit nicely and the sounds for him are great too. When it comes to looks and sounds, Sevagoth fucking nails it. But the actual gameplay leaves something to be desired.

Then again, that’s the Call of the Tempestarii update in a nutshell. Amazing sounds and visuals, kinda meh gameplay…