𒆙Back when Digital Extremes announced Soulframe, I must admit I was a bit skeptical; the name seemed too derivative, the combat was too slow for my taste, and while the aesthetic in the demo was interesting enough, I wasn’t too sold on the overall idea. After watching the Tennocon preview for the upcoming content, I realize I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Initially met with some resistance back in 2024, the Soulframe Preludes (which is the name for the closed alpha ver𝔍sion of the game) have gone through a journey of adaptation, renewal, and ambition. This game is, after all, born with the idea of bringing redemption and defying skepticism in cynical times, and we sat down with the people making it to talk about it.

“We've haꦑd a pretty big year where we've expanded Soulframe Preludes quite a lot, and now we're trying to determine when to open it up wide,” explains Creative Director Geoff Crookes. “We still have a bit more to explore on our game progression, crafting systems, and co-op systems, but with the pace we’re in and the kind of community-driven feedback we're getting, we feel pretty ambitious. I won't guarantee we're launching it at of the year, but we feel it'll be very close.”

“We're focusing on perfecting these core systems so that the game is ready for a wider audience,” adds Community Manager Sarah Asselin. “That's where a lot of our attention lies, as well as in the new player experience, because we wanna make sure that the game feels good before we open up. Tying all of the important fundamentals together is a big part of where our design team is at, and that's why we're working so hard on that 🌟for the year ahead.”

Hard Work Bears Fruit

Last year, the Tennocon 2024 live demo caused some mixed reactions; as the game is in a Pre-Alpha state, a lot of work is still going on behind the scenes, and some people felt it was too early of a reveal. However, in true Digital Extremes fashion,🍒 the development team wasn’t deterred, and the fruit of🃏 their labor has certainly shown up a year later.

While the combat in Soulframe is more slow-paced t🅘han in Warframe, every hit, parry, and dodge feels like a thoughtful decision for the player to take, instead of a dynamic, continuous flurry of attacks where you can adapt on the go. It’s a different approach, but one that gives this game a better sense of identity.

“To be honest, Warframe started sort of slow when we were first de😼veloping it,” explains Lead Designer Scott McGregor. “There were🎶 even cover mechanics in it, and then we started peeling away the layers and making it simpler and quicker, growing into the game that it currently is.

But for Soulfr♕ame, we asked ourselves, ‘how can we slow it down, maybe appeal to a different crowd or mood that the player is in? Sometimes you're in the mood for that fast-paced rhythm and energy, and sometimes you're in for something a little more chill and explorative. So I think looking for a distinction between the two games was a big part of that.”

Part of that distinction comes in the themes and ambience of each game. Where Warframe depicts constant conflict in the vast expanse of outer space, Soulframe occurs in a fant❀asy setting where t𝔉he arcane has a more prominent presence and its own unique aesthetic; from corrupted swamps to dark forests and ethereal planes, every new place you visit is like a painting in itself.

“We're pretty proud of the world-building,” says Crookes. “It's very important to build a role for the player and the problems in the game that they have to solve, for them to be encouraged to ha♓ng out there for a while.

We also put a lot of time into broadening the play styles that people can have, so that it's not just such a narro🦹w combat lane. We've got a really good foundation, and now the biggest challenge is to keep the world alive and make sure we hit a spot where players can invest from 30 to 100 hours in the game, and still have a lot of things for them to discover.”

Complemented by the amazing sound design in this game, the vibrance of Alca surrounds you like a blanket as you run through the woods. In a fantasy setting, you won’t be hearing laser shots and ship engines as you would in Warframe, but the environmental sounds aren’t the only difference; in combat, the clashing of blades feels more weighted and impactful, and you can hear the mag♓ic building up while using weapons like the magic staff Gwylen.

“It also goes back to the subject of speed; if there is more time for all the melꦯee combat, then that lets the sound speak more too, right?” says Audio Director George Spanos. “You can make weapons hit harder because the audio space isn’t as crowded, and you can make them feel like they have weight and feel l💟ike they're having an impact on the environment.

We also have a new sound palette for a lot of it; from the beginning, 𝐆I said to the team, ‘let's not use any synth sounds at all,’ and it’s just all organic stuff. From rubbing our fingers on glass to using rain sticks, all of that gives it a different identity, so the combination of slower speeds and more organic sounds has really helped us.” Then he adds, laughing, “and also the fact that we're not killing entire rooms of 35 or 50 enemies.”

The Tennocon 2025 Demo Presents Bromius

In Soulframe’s Tennocon demo, we witnessed The Waste Bear fable, telling the story of Bromius, a giant bear who deals with a corrupt infection inflicted on him by a villainous wizard. However, where Warframe capitalizes on revenge and𒊎 conflict, the Envoy’s journey is one of healing.

“It's very much a story of redemption and healing,” says Crookes. “As you discover what♍ the envoys are in this world, you’ll find out they🌸 are castaways who have healing to do for themselves, and we want that to reflect what the player's role is in this world.

Every story we're going to tell will have an angle of redemption in it. Part of the reason why Steve and I decided to commit to this is that we’ve been over 20 years in the industry, and today, it's kind of easy 🔯to be a cynic with how things are going. For us, we want to reflect stories where things are a bit more hopeful, and give you more of a positive role in the actions you take.”

While the fantasy setting and a slower pace help to achieve that angle of redemption, it is also worth mentioning that the transition to a different narrative genre doesn’t happen overnight. And many lessons learned after 12 years of working on a ﷺheavy sci-fi game also help Soulframe gain a different perspective.

“W🃏hen we decided to do a fantasy game, we wanted to make sure we had a flavor to it, and one thing we'll start to see more in the game is the main antagonists, called the Ode,” explains Crookes. “The Ode is the main driving force of corruption and pollution in the world, but while they have a magic-based system, they lean𝔉 more into technology.

So they aren't just pure kind of sorcery, there’s a sci-fi element to it. I'm hoping that, as we bring more of tha🦩t into the world, it'll help create a unique identifier to the flavor of fantasy that S𝐆oulframe is, to give it a twist on how the magic works.”

“I think from a design side, there's a lot of overlap and a lot of lessons learned from Warframe's development,” s🏅ays McGregor, “because sometimes we fin💯d a solution for a problem in Warframe that fits with its themes and the sci-fi elements, and then we run into that same problem in Soulframe, and we have to find a different solution that makes sense for that game.

The Skill tree is a hilarious example of that; very early on in Warframe, we had skill trees, but we even𓆉tually tore all that out and put in the Mods system. And here we are, years later, adding a skill tree to Soulframe instead of Mods.”

Yet Again, A Passionate Community Makes The Difference

Of course, none of this would be possible without the ever-passionate community of Warframe players, who have received ꦇSoulframe with open arms. During Tennocon 2025, I was able to take a new look at the upcoming content demo, and the audience re♛acted as excitedly with this demo as they did with its sci-fi sibling, proving that Soulframe is on the right track.

“Ever since we announced it, we've had a lot of interest from our community,” says Asselin. “And expanding our game at the rate of 💮the audience’s interest, adding more content, more Pacts, and more Weapons, is a priority.

I think we're really ✨lucky to have such a dedicated player base in these Preludes, and you see it in things like 🌃the new World Tree message board system, the in-game chat, and in our Discord server, where they work together to figure out every new thing that comes out, and their feedback has helped us make the game grow.”

“The way that the Warframe community has embraced the development of Soulframe and what we're trying to do with it is heartwarming,” says McGregor. “A lot of communities, when the developer decides that they're g꧅oing to work on another game, feel like they're abandoning the first project, and that hasn't been the case with the Warframe community.

They've embraced the fact that we're looking to try to do something new creatively. They're excited about what we're doing, and I love what Rebb [Ford, Warframe’s Creative Director], Megan [Everett, Community Director], and Sarah have built as a community. It does꧙n’t feel like the Warframe and Soulframe communities; it feels like it's the Digital Extremes community. So I think that'ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚs worked really well for us, and I'm really proud to be a part of that.”

The Soulframe demo I watched on Tennocon 2025 was a shortened version of what that fable will be, but knowing the philosophy and dedication behind such a b๊eautiful game, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw Bromius finally accepting to befriend the Envoy. I might have been undecided before, but I’m sure about one thing now: Soulframe has found its own identity, and whether you like sci-fi, fantasy, or any mix in between, you should be excited for the games that the talented people at Digital Extremes are cooking.