I added Warframe to my Steam library in 2015. Since then, it has remained a staple amongst my installed library across any and all systems. Hell, at least 50,000 people are on Warframe every day, and that’s just on Steam. Clearly, it’s doing something right. Warframe is a game truly unlike any other in the modern gaming ecosystem. It’s not a nonstop barrage to encourage spending every cent you own. Warframe’s asking price isn’t in the form of an upfront cost: it’s your time.
There’s no denying that I’m a huge fan and speak as such. I’ve done recaps for past TennoCons as well as conducted special interviews with members of the team. Digital Extremes (DE) is a team made up of gamers making their games for gamers. Should there be any pressing issues it is often addressed and handled within the same week. The level of communication between DE and their audience is simply unprecedented.
The community is quick to defend the game and the people who make it, thanks to genuine trust. All the generated buzz will, in theory, attract those on the outside to look in. However, it’s easy to look at Warframe’s myriad of systems, walls of paid weapons with weird cosmetics, and write it off as yet another greedy/grindy mess. Yet it is constantly urged that all players patiently stay the course. Why? Simply put, Warframe itself is more convincing of its strengths than any string of words could convey.
My goal here is simply to encourage anyone reading to just wanna play Warframe. Whether you’ve already played the game before or just remotely curious as to what the fuss is about, Warframe always welcomes all. There is very little barrier to entry, and there is an egregious amount of content to tackle as the game has over 13 years worth of content to digest. The best part is Warframe is free to play in the most true sense of the term.
All players can experience the entirety of Warframe’s ever-growing story by just playing the game. All quests are accessible to all players should they meet the prerequisites, but never at any point does Warframe require a premium cost for any in-game content. On top of that, all gameplay-oriented items (weapons, Warframes, Mods) can all be earned in game for free. There are ways to cut the process short, sure, but everything you could want is attainable.
In case you never heard the sales pitch, Warframe is a third person shooter where you control fleshy battle rigs aptly known as Warframes. All Warframes are incredibly agile with the term “space ninja” appearing often. Even if one doesn’t fit the ninja description or look the part (ahemgrendelahem), they all can move like one. Warframes are fast and violent machines meant to dominate the battlefield they fight on. Luckily, the game lets you live that fantasy out.
Yes, those are damage numbers. (Credit: Aiomina 無限, YouTube)
Despite Warframe being over 13 years old, it remains one of the most fluid shooters ever crafted. Animations blend into one another allowing you to go from a glide to a dodge roll to line up a headshot to fly out immediately after, all in seconds. Every weapon is punchy with sound effects filling up the room where guts don’t. My personal favorites being one shot kill archetypes: bows, shotguns, snipers.
Here’s the ticket to how Warframe builds up that perfect power fantasy for the player. You see, when you start off the game it is rather painfully easy. You could really only lose if you intend to. However, the game will gradually get harder which means you have to get stronger. That’s where you get to learn about Mods.
Now, the modding system is where a lot of new players get lost for one reason or another. On one hand, mods can look like meager stat bonuses. On the other, the modding mechanic isn’t properly explained the way it should be. Luckily, DE has taken notice and now presents all players, new and old, with a quest called The Teacher. It teaches you how modding works in digestible detail plus you even get a new rifle as a reward. Modding your gear is the difference between decent and excellent results.
The quest was added last year, but all players will have access to it fairly early.
All mods can be acquired via random drops from killing enemies, as well as their materials of various purposes. What you scavenge and find around the map all can contribute back to creating new gear and also upgrades. Credits, for example, are a plentiful source that can be used to buy blueprints. Blueprints for things such as weapons. Blueprints are made up of the items dropped from enemies and picked up around the world. Then you craft it, level it up, mod the hell out of it, rinse and repeat.
Warframe often gets called a looter shooter and while that can be true by basic definition, it’s much more focused than something like Destiny. In Warframe, you’re meticulously crafting a god roll instead of gambling with a boss for it. That process of getting stronger is where the grind of Warframe lies. However, you will always find ways to get stronger. You will always have something you can be reaching for, even if not explicitly asked for by the game.
Warframe’s missions are divided by planets with individual nodes acting as the missions. Everything connects along a futuristic version of Earth’s solar system called the Star Chart which resides in the Origin System. This is where Warframe has taken place in the last 13 years. With the new aforementioned Tau update, it will take us to a place we previously thought inaccessible. For the first time ever, it will not be connected to the Origin System.
I can make a whole article based on Tau alone (ahem), but remember what I said earlier? Warframe has no upfront cost. All new content released for Warframe can be accessed by meeting the requirements. Which mostly consist of completing story quests. These are unlocked naturally, with others requiring specific gear or other prerequisites. With there being 13 years worth of content to explore, and a whole new area unlocking for us soon, new players have so much quality gaming to tackle.
There is no way to progress through narrative content by any other means than playing. Hell, even the in-game battle pass system called the Nightwave prevents you from buying it. You can earn cosmetic items as well as exclusive Mods among other useful gameplay beneficial items all by doing free challenges that reset weekly. Most multiplayer titles out there right now, paid or not, charge at least $10 for a battle pass.
It’s important to note that Warframe is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s about the gradual increase of power building upon a strong foundation over granting instant gratification. Some gamers just aren’t interested in the story and Warframe knows it. Hell, the start of the game lets the characters talk while you fly around killing things on Earth. However, what starts off as yet another video game sci-fi military conflict transforms into two twins born in alternate timelines fighting to fix their doomed futures, for example.
The “Jade Shadows” storyline is a personal highlight for me, it’s just really cool.
Warframe has plenty of stories to tell with you at the epicenter of it all. This is your story that you embark on and everything can be fine tuned to feel, well, like you. Not just from a narrative standpoint where your input will be asked for on occasion. From the plethora of customization options on offer to the myriad of color palettes everything can be customized and colored to your heart’s content. Most players will tell you that fashion is the true endgame. I am inclined to agree with such a statement.
The only problem with talking about Warframe is that there’s too damn much to talk about. I am only just barely scratching the surface here. On top of story missions, planet nodes, you got things like Sorties, Archon Hunts, Bounties, The Icebind, Void Fissues, 1999’s dating simulator, like I said there is a lot. However, all of it can be learned and accessed with time. For as many systems as there are, none are as overtly complex as you think. Should you need help, Warframe has such a warm and welcoming community happy to help anyone with anything.
I can go on and on, but if there’s any takeaway from all this it’s to just give Warframe a fair try. A real, actual, good ol’ college try. Play up until the Second Dream quest, the update that originally changed everything. If at that point you aren’t hooked, maybe it’s just not for you. I promise you though, there’s a reason this game has stood the test of time. So I say get to it. There is a lot to love about Warframe and the only way to find out is by playing it.
Go on and join the over 90 million registered accounts, and next time with Warframe you’ll see why Tau is going to rule.
