At TennoCon 2019, Warframe developer Digital Extremes unveiled many surprises along its vision of space combat from the upcoming Empyrean expansion.
The studio revealed an all-new cinematic introduction directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane, Black Mirror: Playtest, Uncharted) that focuses on the Orokin Era, when the original Tenno rebelled against their masters. Also revealed was The Duviri Paradox, a new open world expansion now in development, The New War, the fourth cinematic quest coming in December, The Emissary, the new Nightwave season with its share of rewards and new story plus Wukong Prime, an enhanced version of the original suit. Jump inside for all the media and details.
Update: full 45-minute Empyrean demo now available to download in great quality (11GB / 35Mbps).
At TennoCon 2019 Digital Extremes Surprises Players With New, Instantly Available Nightwave Season 2 Update and Wukong Prime Access on all Platforms, Delivers Roadmap to Three Future Updates
The team also astounded players by unveiling a movie-quality cinematic introduction to Warframe by Director Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane, Black Mirror: Playtest, The Boys, Uncharted). This stunning re-imagination of the game's introductory story presents Trachtenberg's and Digital Extremes' vision of an older era in the Warframe universe. In the Old War -- the Orokin Era -- when the original Warframes rebelled against their Orokin masters, flashback scenes depict them in battle against Dax Warriors in action scenes with proto-Grineer soldiers looming in the background. The new intro brings new narrative context and intense cinematic action to the Warframe universe like never before.
Captivating new trailers of the open world expansion Duviri Paradox and the fourth Cinematic Quest The New War were revealed, along with an extraordinary contest that gives players the chance to win cash toward a trip to space.
Digital Extremes kept the surprises coming by unveiling two Warframe updates, Nightwave Series 2 and Wukong Prime Access, both available immediately across all platforms -- PC, PS4™, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch™.
• Nightwave is Warframe's free, rotating seasonal system. Each Series unfolds over several weeks and tells a brand new story. By completing daily and weekly challenges, Tenno will unlock limited-time, exclusive rewards (gear, cosmetics and more) while experiencing the story as they play. In Series 2: The Emissary players will meet a strange mute child (Arlo) who emerges unharmed from the Infestation and brings with him the miraculous ability to heal the sick.
• Wukong Prime is now ready for action! Available to earn through gameplay or purchase, the enduring, swift and unruly Wukong Prime brings eager Tenno an enhanced version of the original for the first time ever. Everybody's got something to hide, except Wukong Prime!
EMPYREAN EXPANDS DEEP SPACE COMBAT
Empyrean expands the premise of Warframe by handing players and their clanmates the keys to the powerful Railjack battleship. Prepare to soar through the Origin System, explore new territory, and fight hostile forces with serious firepower! With an in-ship interface to control speed and direction, shield deployment, offensive missile volleys and gunner fire -- including the ability to deploy Archwings and infiltrate enemy ships -- players are now armed with an arsenal of tools to fend off and destroy enemy opposition. Player ships can be upgraded, take damage, and be customized, among many other things.
New details from TennoCon 2019 bring an even deeper level of freedom, power and cooperative gameplay:
• Connect the Community With Squad Link!: This ground-breaking multiplayer system connects the world of Warframe in an entirely new way. Transcend beyond your solo objective and connect with the larger community by reaching out to other Tenno squads using the Squad Link. In multi-objective missions from space, players can call up on other squads of active players to help the bigger cause -- lower enemy ship shields, steal valuable data, and more.
• Assault, Steal and Pilot Enemy Ships: Players can now infiltrate opponent ships using Archwings and command them in a variety of missions. Become a swashbuckling #Spaceninja, Tenno!
• Customize and Upgrade Everything: The Drydock is your Railjack's personal space garage. Build out and upgrade your battleship's Equipment, Cosmetics, Systems and Reinforcements with a huge array of options, name your ship, and beautify it all by customizing primary, secondary and tertiary colors, accents, decals and more.
• Revenge: Enemies have begun adapting to Tenno lethality, and from it kingpins will emerge! Players familiar with Warframe's in-development Kingpin system will be rewarded with a first look at how these reactive enemies behave, starting with the Kuva Lich, Emra Rok, in an epic boss fight on the capital ship.
• Graphics Upgrade: Digital Extremes is dedicated to providing the single best graphic fidelity to AAA free-to-play gaming. Using a completely re-written rendering technology ("Deferred Renderer") in its proprietary Evolution Engine, Warframe's graphics have never looked better.
A BIGGER STORY
The new introduction to Warframe builds a bridge between two eras. For the first time, players can catch a glimpse of the original Warframes fighting in the Old War using their robust Abilities and incredible fighting skills. Couched in a larger narrative, the three enticing flashback sequences are designed to introduce players to choose one of their first chooseable Warframes (Excalibur, Mag and Volt). The new six-minute introduction sets up players with a better understanding of the universe they are about to embark on with a deep, meaningful and more comprehensive storyline for Warframe.
"Getting to work so collaboratively with the dev team at DE has been an awesome experience," says Great Guns' Director Dan Trachtenberg. "As a massive fan of the game myself, having logged in hundreds of hours of play time, it's been so much fun crafting a story that both sets up the universe for new players in a pretty epic way, while sprinkling it with moments that, I hope, make it doubly rewarding for hardcore fans with a better understanding of the game's lore."
Digital Extremes plans on incorporating the new introduction in late 2019/early 2020.
ROADMAP TO THE FUTURE
The Devstream crew revealed several additional surprises on stage. After the massive Empyrean demo ended, Digital Extremes delivered a new Duviri Paradox update trailer. Following the first two open worlds, The Plains of Eidolon and Fortuna, the Duviri Paradox takes players on a reality-bending journey of the surreal. Digital Extremes teased players with the third open world comprised of an ominous new environment where Operators have grown up to become mature adults.
Digital Extremes also unveiled a new trailer from the fourth entry in Warframe's narrative series with The New War. The team's short teaser video relays a new chapter in the saga of the Lotus and the rise of the Sentients.
WIN CASH TOWARD A TRIP TO SPACE!
This year's TennoCon moves the space needle even further with a spectacular opportunity. In this incredible contest, Digital Extremes will offer players a chance to win $250,000 USD toward a trip to space by playing Warframe in the "Become a Real #SpaceNinja" sweepstakes today. Strap in and prepare for the Gs! Get full details here
All efforts behind TennoCon are designed for the benefit of Digital Extremes' players and this year's charity partner Canadian Mental Health Association, Middlesex Branch (CMHA Middlesex). CMHA will receive a portion of proceeds from TennoCon ticket sales as well as from online donations during the live show. CMHA helps to bring a greater understanding of self-care and mental health to the digital and gaming industry at large. For more, go to
Would you like to join the Warframe community? Head to our forums to start a conversation. Check our official website at www.warframe.com. To keep up with the latest updates from the development team, be sure to follow Warframe on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
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All comments (6)
Commented on 2019-07-07 20:26:05If it's not too much to ask, could you guys reach out to Digital Extremes and kindly ask if they can share the "Warframe - Empyrean Full Demo - TennoLive 2019" in high quality?
It's 44:29 duration and shows a lot of the cool stuff described in the details, all in real-time - bugs and all. Either way, again, thanks a lot for these.
Commented on 2019-07-07 21:11:23 In reply to SdartsIt is now on our server (torrent only for the moment), enjoy :)
Commented on 2019-07-07 22:05:44I hope one day they consider going single player with a next gen engine. that would be a great sight to see.
Commented on 2019-07-08 01:09:45 In reply to Game2k@GunsnSwords:
They're not likely to do a single-player alone, though they did co-develope a D&D game with another studio and are always working on side projects. For the engine, they're constantly working on and updating the current Evolution Engine that is used for Warframe.
But as much as I would love for them to build a new engine, that might take years since the new rendering, lighting and shadow pipelines the creative director talks about in the 45 minutes video are in preparation for the next gen consoles. Which suggests they plan to keep updating it for the next 2-4 years at least.
Building a new engine usually costs around U$ 10-60 million from articles I've read - I'm talking about an engine for AAA games, where you need a team with 20-40 people with many years of experience working for 2-4 years. If you go for a more modest engine, with around 5-10 people and working in 1-2 years, probably U$ 2-5 million.
It's very expensive, which is most likely why Bethesda still uses their shit engine, they have far more than enough money to have created a new engine every 7-10 years, but instead they're too stingy with their money on that area and are happy to just update it.
Since Digital Extremes doesn't have even 10% of the money Bethesda has, last year's Christmas Prime Access' sales was largely responsible for them having a great end of year bonus for the developers, they talked about it a lot and thanked the community for the support and how much it meant for them. So they don't have that much money to spare on a new engine, so it will most likely take a long time.
Though the creative director loves realistic graphics and new technology/techniques. He tweets about these things a lot and talks with many AAA developers like from Santa Monica, Naughty Dog, CD Projekt Red, etc. Some of the stuff he implemented in Warframe over the last 2 years are things he learned from them.
Commented on 2019-07-08 13:24:40
Commented on 2019-07-14 17:41:01 In reply to agni_rzm