Warframe’s New Update Continues To Prove Why We Don’t Deserve This Game

Warframe Should Not Exist.

There’s no logical financial reason as to why a game would release so much free content on a microtransaction model specifically built so that players never have to spend a dime on it.

There’s no logical reason as to why the devs of such a game had previously REMOVED MICROTRANSACTION MECHANICS from the title because they made too much money.  And yet it exists. And I play it sometimes, because hey, it’s pretty cool.

The game has grown to such a degree that it has become worthy of its own convention. Dubbed TennoCon, the convention’s largest 2018 event just concluded. Last year, the game debuted its open-world Plains of Eidolon expansion. Fans were skeptical that this year’s announcements will be able to out-do what last year brought to the table.

And now, it is safe to say that they are no longer skeptical.

Warframe has just announced its second large Open-World map, since the first map pushed the limits of what players could accomplish using all the game’s advanced movement mechanics that were just begging for a wider playground and more room for experimentation.

The update will also include the addition of hover-boards, a fourth opposing alien race for players to carve their way through, and new giant robotic bugs for players to fight, parkour off of, or just see and immediately jump-dash-boost-launch in the opposite direction.

But let’s talk a bit about this new open world. It’s been dubbed Orb Vallis, which is a pretty cool name, and is aiming to be even more impressive and diverse than Plains of Eidolon. While the plains were certainly quite a treat, much of the landscape was covered with nothing but rolling, simple, and to a point, quite repetitive – grassy hills.

Orb aims to fix that with a slightly-alien snowy wonderland complete with odd alien fauna, giant mushrooms, a scattering of spooky architecture, mountains, and massive mechanical insects that want nothing more that to gnaw on your tasty little robo-ninja skull. It’s a distinct improvement over the last map to be certain.

There’s also fishing. Because of course there is.

The new alien race will be known as the United. These cybernetically enhanced mechanical slaves have a certain culty-creepy feel to them that makes them a good fit for the new map. And with the existing opponents already challenging players in so many different ways, it will be interesting to see what these new opponents will bring to the table.

The open world will be functionally identical to the last open world, mostly working through the now much-improved bounty system that will feature more dynamic and interesting rewards for those who were disappointed with the system’s past offerings.

An all-new addition, however, is a new system involving the re-location of endangered animals and alien creatures to other sections of the map. The process requires players to equip themselves with the appropriate variety of lures and technologies to lead the creatures they want to move. What follows is an interesting mini-game where players must fool the creatures into following them into a certain zone. It’s a bit slower than Warframe’s traditional lightning-paced everything, but this is a welcome change for players who feel like taking things a little bit slower for a change.

Hopefully, many of the improvements to Warframe’s latest open world experience will be added back to the Plains. If these year-on-year content updates keep up at their current pace, Warframe might soon move towards a format with an open world featuring a randomly-generating level landscape that creates massive levels for larger combats, a natural blend between its regular, more enclosed missions and all the motions the game has been making towards accommodating more open spaces.

Or it might evolve into sentience and take over the world, turning everyone into real-life robot ninjas. Call me crazy, but at the pace the game has been going, I’m hard-pressed to say that anything is really impossible.

Featured Image Via Flickr / Zhi Lee