Warframe is a free-to-play cooperative third-person shooter video game developed and published by Digital Extremes. Originally released for Microsoft Windows in March 2013, it was later ported to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. In Warframe, players control members of the Tenno, a race of ancient warriors who have awoken from centuries of cryosleep to find themselves at war in a planetary system with different factions. The Tenno use their powered Warframes along with powerful weapons and abilities to complete missions. While many of the game’s missions use procedurally-generated levels, newer updates have included large open world areas similar to other massively multiplayer online games. The game includes elements of shooting and melee games, parkour, and role-playing to allow players to advance their Tenno character with improved gear.
The concepts for Warframe had been in place at Digital Extremes since 2000 under the name Dark Sector. The company reintroduced Dark Sector in 2004 in preparation for release on the upcoming seventh generation consoles but could not find a publisher due to its theme. Ultimately Digital Extremes released a game called Dark Sector in 2008, far different from their original plan. By 2012, looking at the success of free-to-play games, the developers took their earlier Dark Sector ideas and art assets, to present it as Warframe.
Initially, the growth of Warframe was slow, hindered by moderate critical reviews and low player counts. However, since it’s release, the game has experienced positive growth through development by Digital Extremes over the years. The game seen around 38 million players in 2018 and it is now one of Digital Extremes’ most successful titles, with it receiving a large chunk of developer attention through the introduction of new game content and modes. The game is supported by microtransactions, which lets player purchase in-game items for real money that would otherwise normally be obtained through grinding.
Set in an extremely far future, players control the members of the Tenno, a race of ancient warriors who have awoken from a century long cryosleep to find themselves at war with the Grineer, a matriarchal race of militarized and deteriorated human clones built upon metal, blood, and war; the Corpus, a mega-corporation with advanced robotics and laser technology built upon profit; the Infested, disfigured victims of the Technocyte virus, a reference to Dark Sector and the Sentients, a race of self-replicating machines returning from a stellar system known as the Tau system after being driven back centuries ago in an ancient war. To fight back, the Tenno use remotely controlled bio-mechanical suits to channel their unique abilities – the eponymous Warframes.[1]
All of the factions encountered in the game, including the Tenno, were created by or are splinter groups of the old Orokin Empire, an ancient civilization and former reigning power in the Sol system that was led by an elite caste of trans-humans known as the Orokin. Although most of them are long dead by the time of the Tenno’s awakening, their lingering presence can be still be felt throughout the Solar system.
Warframe is an online action game that includes elements of shooters, RPG and stealth games. The player creates their Tenno character, which includes a basic armor unit called a “Warframe” which provides the player with special abilities, basic weapons (a melee weapon, guns, and sidearms), and a ship. Through the ship’s console, they can select any of the available missions to them. A main storyline set of missions requires players to complete certain missions across planets and moons in the solar system, to be able to access relays that they can progress to other planets or locations. Other missions rotate over time as part of the game’s living universe; these can include missions with special rewards and community challenges to allow all players to reap benefits if they are successfully met. Aboard the ship, the player can also manage all other functions for their Tenno, including managing their arsenal of equipment, customizing their Warframe and weapons, crafting new equipment, and access the in-game store.
Missions can be played alone or with up to four players in a player versus environment cooperative manner. Each mission is given a ranking that indicates how difficult the mission is. Missions are generally played on randomly generated maps composed of “tiles” of map sections. Missions have various objectives, such as defeating a certain number of enemies, collecting data from terminals without activating alarms, rescuing prisoners, or defending points on the map for set periods of time. Newer updates have added space-bound combat using Archwings, and a large open-field environment where numerous bounties can be completed. Players can use their weapons, special abilities, and a number of parkour style moves to navigate through and overpower forces within these missions. Downed players may be revived a limited number of times on any map. Once complete, players are rewarded with in-game items, as well as in-game currency and items picked up while exploring the map; failure to complete a mission causes these rewards to be lost. In addition to cooperative missions, the game includes player versus player (PvP) content through the multiplayer “Conclave”, which also rewards the player for placing high in such matches.
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