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When it comes to a passion project, Warframe did it better than anyone in 2021. Digital Extremes had promised players for years of changing Warframe’s future with The New War. And on December 12, DE’s narrative team delivered their best.
But it might not have been enough to satiate the needs of their player base.
The New War is Warframe’s storyline reaching a pinnacle
Warframe’s The New War starts hot on the heels of its Empyrean storyline. Throughout Empyrean and Heart of Deimos, players were told of the impending Sentient threat. Empyrean was a major point in understanding that the Sentients were already invading the Solar system, as the Veil Proxima region was being harassed by the Murex warship.
Since Sentients can theoretically adapt to any technological systems in place, it was only a matter of time until they figured out how to respond to Tenno threats. To counter the Warframe’s killing potential, Sentients developed Orphixes which can disable Warframes in their vicinity. These troop transports became mobile control points launched at critical ships and planetary destinations to cripple the Tenno.
Despite such severe resistance and setbacks, the Tenno were able to respond in kind. To fight on equal grounds with the Condrixes, the Tenno rediscovered Necramechs deep in the vaults of Deimos. And to fight on equal space, the Tenno revived the Railjacks. In quite an ironic fashion, relics from The Old War became tools for The New War.
Amidst these preparations, the Sentient fleet finally unleashed the horrors of war upon the Origin system. Numerous Murexes and Condrixes with their uncountable sentient fighters laid siege on every planet, every spaceship, and on every faction. Old rivalries were forgotten in an instant as survivors scrambled for a beacon of safety. Bitter enemies from all factions banded together in an all-out battle to spell out the victor.
To avoid any spoilers of the story, we will leave it at that here. It is a quest that players should NOT rush through for the rewards. It’s a wonderfully paced, spectacularly weird, and visually stunning questline. And it leaves room for more fun and quirky narrative avenues down the line.
Everything isn’t fair in The New War
Previously on Warframe, every major story beat was accompanied by a game-changing mechanic. The Second Dream introduced Focus and Transcendence, The War Within brought Transference, Empyrean brought Railjacks, and so on. The New War is the only major update to be released without any mechanics to change the gameplay.
For every major update released in 2021, Heart of Deimos and Empyrean had the most amount of raw content offered between the two updates. Empyrean launched with a whole new version of the star chart and later on, unleashed the Sisters of Parvos through Call of the Tempestarii. Similarly, Heart of Deimos released all the Necramech and Cambion Drift as an open-world zone.
Yet, in contrast, The New War only offered one bounty each for the Plains of Eidolon and Orb Vallis. While it brings a new Sentient Warframe and three weapons into the game, the actual quest arguably offers far better rewards, all spoilers considered. For a quest that changed the course of the game’s narrative, it has very few actual examples in-game to show for it.
The battle is won, but the War rages on
Warframe’s biggest pro in this case is the longevity of The New War. A few years ago, Warframe unveiled their upcoming open-world region called the Planes of Duviri, alongside the questline called The Duviri Paradox. The New War, in its current state, leads directly into The Duviri Paradox, which gives players an insight into Digital Extremes’ plan for Warframe in 2022.
Since The New War was released so close during Christmas, very few players have felt the content drought. Alongside the quest having specific requirements like having a Railjack and Necramech, it also restricted the quest. Thus feedback has been relatively more limited than previous quests.
The New War has only released the first act, as promoted in one of their trailers. And with Digital Extremes promising “a year full of doing the right things for Warframe,” it sounds like music to all the players. Now that the world has entered 2022, players will be eager to sink their teeth into Warframe, with all the festivities now slowing down.
In conclusion, The New War has just begun in Warframe. While it is futile to expect Planes of Duviri so soon in Warframe, it isn't too late to see improvements across the board. The New War's act one merely offered a glimpse into what can be done in an already expansive game. It is entirely up to Digital Extremes now to deliver on a promise, years in the making.
