My Very Early Thoughts on Soulframe

So it looks like Digital Extremes are making another game. At Tennocon 2022, a brand new game, built on the same engine as Warframe, was released at the end of the show. Dubbed Soulframe, while it had the same artistic style, what little we saw definitely set it apart from Warframe. This is high fantasy, a stark contrast to Warframe’s high sci-fi. And what we’ve seen so far as been… interesting. Curious even. But also rather vague.

In the trailer, we see a new land, some new people and a lot of fog. There’s story in there somewhere, hidden behind mystical narration, a natural landscape and clearly intelligent animals. It’s a sight to behold, even if there isn’t much of it.

The art and music are amazing

What’s selling the game for me is just how beautiful Soulframe looks. It’s absolutely stunning. Genuinely gorgeous. It’s definitely a fantasy world I really want to explore and sink my teeth into. I’ve already seen what DE have done with natural landscapes in Warframe, so I assume that the landscape in Soulframe will also be beautiful. After all, Tennocon 2022 showed off the mysterious landscape of Duviri, which is vaguely similar to the world of Soulframe, so we know that we’ll have an interesting and gorgeous land to explore in.

On top of the good looks, I’m also astounded by how good the game sounds. Sure, it has a kinda generic fantasy song tying it all together but with the underlying sounds of nature and birdsong, the music is almost haunting.

Speaking of birdsong, the spirit animals are what I like most. Mystical, godly, patient. I have no idea how they relate to everything, but they are truly amazing.

Nothing really about gameplay yet.

Well, we know something. There’s gonna be magical swords and some sword fighting. The pacing of said fighting seems to be slow and fast at the same time. I’m hoping the gameplay isn’t going to be too… Dark Souls-y, because I’m not a fan of that sort of gameplay. But I can easily see Soulframe as a Dark Souls-like game. The bad guys, fighting and magic tricks are all there. However, I have no idea how much of the trailer was actual gameplay or eluding to it. Could have just been a cool scene with no connection to the game as possible.

All that being said, Warframe’s melee system is already pretty good, so at least Soulframe will have a solid foundation to work on.

Honestly the thing that puts me off the most though is the name.

I just feel that it doesn’t really fit. Or maybe I’m just biased in some way, because it’s so close to Warframe? I’m not sure. I suppose, when we have more info about Soulframe, things will start to make sense. But as of writing, there’s no real… like, anything to explain why the game is named as such. Are the animals the souls or the frames? Are we the souls? Are the Envoys us or the ‘omen’ animals? Who knows. There’s very little to go on. Heck, we’re not even 100% sure what sort of game Soulframe will be. Apparently it’ll be some sort of MMORPG but the details just aren’t quite there yet.

Overall though, I have very high hopes for Soulframe. They’ve nailed that high fantasy aesthetic and created something absolutely beautiful to both look at and hear. Even of it turns out the gameplay isn’t to my liking, I can still see myself getting utterly immersed in Soulframe. We just need a bit more info first, that’s all.