Soulframe has been out in the wild for a while now, though access to the ‘Preludes’ closed alpha has been limited (developer Digital Extremes noted that out of over a million applicants, less than a third actually have access to the game). At the TennoCon 2025 expo, I got a deeper look at the game – and the promise that wider access is finally arriving. Am I excited? Yes. But I also have some fears.
For the uninitiated, Soulframe is a free-to-play action-fantasy title from the developers of Warframe (no, I’m not going to discuss the naming conventions going on here). It’s been sitting in the closed alpha test stage for a while now, but I’ve been keeping an eye on it nonetheless; Warframe’s tremendous success has earned DE that much, as far as I’m concerned.
Watching the live demo at TennoCon, which showcases a new narrative quest being added to the game, along with improved combat mechanics and customization options, I was struck by two thoughts. Firstly, this game is wonderfully, delightfully weird. Secondly, will that be enough to make it a success?
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Familiar fantasies
Digital Extremes is no stranger to bizarre, unusual, and downright silly content in its games. Warframe is a title that manages to blend multiple genres together with aplomb, yo-yoing between intense, emotional plotlines and downright ridiculous jaunts. Soulframe dials this up to eleven, with over-the-top accents in its voice performances and bizarre creatures that sing folksy songs.
I’ve spent some time trying to decode the DNA of Soulframe. Visually, it appears to draw from a wide pool of influences; a mushroom-filled underground area in the live demo immediately evokes Skyrim’s iconic Blackreach (and more recently the lush fungal forests of Avowed), while the bleaker areas of the overworld are reminiscent of any number of Souls titles and the gritty fantasy setting of The Witcher.
Digital Extremes’ in-house Evolution Engine can certainly make some pretty environments. (Image credit: Digital Extremes)
Enemies, too, feel a little familiar. A three-headed mutant bear with a jangling bell attached to its central jaw that served as the climactic battle of the TennoCon demo could easily pass for a Bloodborne boss.
To be clear, these aren’t criticisms of Soulframe. I love all of the games I mentioned above; for DE’s newest title to remind me of them is a good thing. There’s plenty of original weirdness going on here, too; the player character is accompanied by a ‘Floppet’, which is a criminally adorable little winged rat-creature that at one point flies through the entire digestive tract of the aforementioned bear monster and straight out of its posterior. There’s also a dedicated animation for punting smaller enemies away from you with a swift kick, which looks hilarious.
Keeping up with the competition
In short, I do think Soulframe is laying enough original groundwork for audiences to forgive any surface similarities to other fantasy universes. After all, the high fantasy genre is well-trodden ground at this point; there’s only so much you can do to keep things feeling fresh, and sexy French witches and colonoscopy-qualified rodents are certainly sufficient in my books. The audio work here is also spectacular across the board. Music, VO, and overall sound design are not areas that Digital Extremes neglects.
Look at this perfect little guy. I would gladly die for him. (Image credit: Digital Extremes)
The fear I have for Soulframe is that – in its current, early-development state – it might lack something that sets it mechanically apart from other games. A big part of Warframe’s ongoing success can be attributed to its uniqueness in gameplay; phenomenal movement mechanics nigh-unparalleled in shooters everywhere (well, except Titanfall 2), a hugely deep and complex gear modding system, and a massive variety of vehicles and different gameplay loops.
Soulframe doesn’t have that – not yet, at least. The gameplay in the live demo looks fun, but it’s nothing groundbreaking; there’s dodging and blocking, ranged attacks with both a magic staff and a bow, and melee with a dagger that can also be thrown (though the latter does have an admittedly rather satisfying mechanic where you throw the dagger and it ricochets back into your hand). The most unique thing I saw was an ability that turns you into a butterfly for stealthy approaches, but even that just functionally replaces the usual invisibility spell. In motion, it reminds me a bit of a prettier Greedfall – a comparison which I’m not sure is entirely flattering.
A changing landscape
Now, even as a massive Warframe fan, I’m not going to deny that the game was pretty janky in its early days. Hell, it’s a long-running community meme that the best way to move around in ‘old Warframe’ was to combine a jump, slide, and spinning melee with a dual blade weapon type – affectionately named ‘zorencoptering’, after the popular Dual Zoren weapon.
Warframe has come an extremely long way since then, of course. There’s a part of me that fully believes that, given time, DE will be able to fashion Soulframe into something similarly unique and exciting. But the unfortunate fact is that the games industry has changed massively since Warframe’s humble beginnings, making it harder to successfully take a bold stab at an entirely new IP.
All is not well in Alca, the world of Soulframe. (Image credit: Digital Extremes)
Audiences – and investors – are far less patient nowadays. Live-service games are routinely launched, cancelled, and even relaunched at the drop of a hat. While Chinese media giant Tencent (a majority stakeholder in DE) has seemingly been willing to give the studio complete free rein with Warframe, that relaxed attitude won’t necessarily extend to newer, unproven ventures. Soulframe looks like it could be something special, but there’s no guarantee that DE will have the same time and freedom to hone it the way it honed Warframe. After all, DE’s ‘main game’ is already popular and profitable.
Still, I’m hoping that I’m wrong. Warframe is and always has been a labor of love, and with DE’s CEO Steve Sinclair acting as a director on Soulframe after handing over the other game’s reins to new creative director Rebecca Ford, it’s fair to say that the game is in experienced and capable hands. If there’s any team that can shape this fantasy world into something fresh and unusual, it’s this one.
So I’m eagerly awaiting the next big update on Soulframe’s progress. You’d better be working on some rat customization options, DE.
