The New War is an end of sorts; not a definitive end – Warframe’s continuing status as an enormously successful free-to-play live service shooter does rather dictate that – but an end to a chapter that’s been almost eight years in the making.
The New War, for the uninitiated, is a three-act slab of strictly single-player, heavily cinematic sci-fi adventure telling the story of a massive Sentient invasion from the perspectives of multiple playable characters – including a Grineer Lancer called Kahl-175, Corpus engineer Veso, and Conclave Master Teshin. It’s also a culmination of – and, in many ways, a celebration of – every major narrative arc and mechanical addition Digital Extremes has brought to the game thus far, laying the groundwork for new adventures to come.
Or as Digital Extremes’ live operations and community director Rebecca Ford puts it to Eurogamer, “It’s kind of like we’re releasing our Infinity War… we’re getting to the point where everything we’ve done since 2013, 14, 15 has been leading to this moment. It’s the finale of sorts for the story we’ve given you so far about who you are”.
“We don’t tell players the truth about Warframe until they reach [acclaimed story quest] The Second Dream,” Ford elaborates, “which for some players is 100 hours into the game. The New War takes everything The Second Dream introduces and concludes the chapter in a way that you’ll know the stakes of the universe. And you’ll know what you’ll need to do next. It’s not the end of Warframe’s story, it’s a way for you to move on to what’s next with closure.”