Digital Extremes announces its upcoming fantasy title Soulframe will be a spiritual successor to its massively popular sci-fi MMORPG Warframe.
Digital Extremes, creators of the beloved sci-fi action video game Warframe, revealed it recently began ramping up development for a fantasy MMORPG titled Soulframe.
According to ComicBook, Soulframe will not be a direct sequel to Warframe and will instead be developed as a spiritual successor. Soulframe‘s combat will also reportedly lean more towards a melee playstyle to distinguish itself from Warframe‘s third-person shooter gameplay. Regarding their approach to Soulframe‘s style, lead developer Steve Sinclair said, “Where ‘Warframe‘ is focused on shooting, this one’s focused on melee. Where ‘Warframe‘ is super fast and crazy high-speed, this one’s going to be a lot more slow and heavy. But it still has a lot of similarities to the genre that we have experience in.”
Creative director Geoff Crookes additionally claimed Soulframe presented the development team with an opportunity to explore different themes in a new setting. Crookes revealed the title will focus on ideas of nature, restoration and adventure, with the developer citing Princess Mononoke and The NeverEnding Story as works that inspired the world of Soulframe. “The conceit [in ‘Soulframe‘] is that the world itself is a little angry about what’s been done to it, and the grounds underneath tend to shift throughout the day,” explained Crookes. “So there’s going to be proceduralism within the cave networks and crevasses and so on underneath the world.”
The developers further clarified their focus on methodical melee combat will not mean Soulframe will be a game in the style of FromSoftware’s Dark Souls series, though they also didn’t rule out the possibility of learning from the genre. Sinclair specifically named the massively popular title Elden Ring as a subject of conversation, hinting at how his team might take some inspiration from the open world Soulsborne‘s use of camera and combat pacing.
With Soulframe still early in development, Sinclair and Crookes refrained from sharing exact details on Soulframe‘s game mechanics. Sinclair further admitted he believed it was still too early to announce Soulframe, as the game only began to expand its staff in February 2022. The lead developer stated that the announcement was intended to showcase Digital Extremes’ commitment to transparency concerning who was leading Warframe‘s future, with Sinclair having stepped down from his role as Warframe‘s creative director. Though they could not provide an exact timeline, the developers assured fans they planned to showcase Soulframe‘s development as soon as possible.
Source: The Washington Post via ComicBook