The sequel to Warframe, Soulframe, is being developed by Digital Extremes and is said to be a “mirror universe Warframe” set in a fantastical realm and inspired by Princess Mononoke from Studio Ghibli.
The director of Warframe, Steve Sinclair, who is leaving his post to work on this new adventure, Soulframe, was revealed during Tenocon 2022, according to The Washington Post.
Digital Extremes’ developers claim that while Soulframe and Warframe share many characteristics, there are also clear differences between the two games. For instance, while both games are primarily centered on cooperative PvE, Soulframe uses more physical weaponry, and the actual combat is slower than it is in Warframe.
The anime “Princess Mononoke” served as one of the inspirations for Soulframe, which will place a strong emphasis on the concept of nature and how humans interact with it. This is depicted in the game’s opening teaser.
The Soulframe universe is dissatisfied with what was done to it. Thus there is constant movement underground during the day, which affects the cave network. This is how procedural generation, which will be used in the game, will function.
Because Soulframe places a greater emphasis on exploration than Warframe does, it will contain expansive open spaces similar to those Warframe has just gotten.
Alongside such masterpieces as Princess Mononoke and The NeverEnding Story, Soulframe is a free-to-play open-world adventure that is “heavily influenced by themes of nature, restoration, and exploration.”
The environment created by the team will be “the clash of industry and nature, and in service of that, the planet will display its dissatisfaction against players who occupy it,” according to these inspirations.
Although the game is still in its very early stages of development, Sinclair emphasizes that it will focus on cooperative player-versus-environment combat and randomly generated environments, much like Warframe. And unlike Warframe’s “mesocarp perspective on the sci-fi genre,” Soulframe will be a “suitably weird take on fantasy.”
