Warframe, a Digital Extreme MMO game, is a free-to-play science fiction action third-person shooter video game. It is a Massively Multiplayer Online game (MMO) developed and published by Digital Extremes. The game was released initially on Windows in March 2013. Later, it was ported to PlayStation 4 in November 2013 and Xbox One in September 2014. It was soon ported to Nintendo Switch in November 2018, PlayStation 5 in November 2020, and Xbox Series X/S in April 2021. Events planned for 2022 include support for cross-platform play and cross-save and ports to mobile devices.
Players in Warframe control members of a race of ancient warriors called the Tenno. These warriors have woken up from centuries of cryosleep far into Earth’s future. They find themselves at war in the universal system with different factions. The Tenno use their power-driven exoskeletons, Warframes, and various abilities and weapons.
Newer game updates include vast open-world areas and some specific tasks. These are necessary for massively multiplayer online games. The game contains elements of role-playing, parkour, shooting, and melee.
The game has player versus environment (PVE) and player versus player (PVP). The players can participate in missions involving Sabotage and Extermination, to name a few.
Warframe is supported by microtransactions, which lets players buy in-game items using real money. But, it also offers the option to earn them free through grinding.
Setting of the Game
In the Solar System, the Tenno find themselves at war with various factions. These include the Grineer, a matriarchal race of human clones built upon metal, blood, and war; the Infested, disfigured victims of the Technocyte virus; the Corpus, a mega-corporation with advanced robotics and laser technology; and the Sentients, a race of self-replicating machines made by the Orokin.
All these factions, including the Tenno, were created by or are splinter groups of the old Orokin Empire. The Orokin sent colony ships through the void, a trans-dimensional space. This enabled fast travel between solar systems to search for a potential new home. They had sent out the Sentients to arrive in these systems first and terraform them.
But, none of these residential ships returned. Those that had been packed with Sentients returned, now deciding to wipe out the Orokin. This led to the Old War and, finally, the Empire’s collapse.
In the game’s “The Second Dream” quest, the player discovers that the Lotus is a Sentient. It is rebelling against the others to protect the Tenno knowing of their importance.
Gameplay
The player starts with a silent pseudo-protagonist in the form of ‘Warframe’. Also, a selection of basic weapons (melee, primary and secondary) and a spaceship named ‘Orbiter’. Later in the game, the player gains direct control of the ‘Operator’, the true Tenno protagonist in physical form.
Players can engage in combat using a secondary combat platform called ‘Archwing’. This mounts on a Warframe, which gives a new set of abilities.
Later in 2019, an update was introduced, letting players manage a different space ship Railjack, a combat vessel. This was a co-op experience with up to four people doing different jobs to keep the ship operational while destroying enemy ships.
Through Orbiter’s console, the player can choose any of the available missions to them. The main set requires players to complete specific missions to complete the storyline. Other quests rotate over time as part of the game’s universe. Aboard the ship, the player can manage all functions of their character. These include management of their arsenal, customizing Warframe and weapons, and crafting.
Missions can be done alone or with up to four players in a player versus environment cooperative manner.
Players can use their unique abilities, weapons, and several parkour-style moves to move through and defeat forces within the quest. Fallen players may choose to revive themselves up to four times or can be revived by other players.
After Completion, players are given the in-game items, the in-game currency, and loot picked up while searching the map. Failure to finish a mission causes these rewards to be lost.
Weapons and other equipment can be gained over time through casual gameplay, which involves grinding.
Expansions
The Second Dream (2015)
The War Within (2016)
Plains of Eidolon (2017)
The Sacrifice (2018)
Fortuna (2018)
Empyrean (2018)
The Old Blood (2019)
Heart of Deimos (2020)
Deimos Arcana (2020)
Corpus Proxima (2021)
The New War (2021)
Angels of the Zariman (2021)
Reception
Warframe got “mixed or average reviews” on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. The PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch versions received “generally favourable reviews”, according to Metacritic.