Soulframe Preludes: Gameplay

Thick Thighs Save Lives

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Washed ashore on the northern isle of Midrath,
A new adventure begins.

Omen beasts in Ode'n chain bellow in mourning.
The voicing trees sag 'long tortured streams.
The worldflesh of Alca splits with rage.
Who will find the Silvern Seas and awaken our Ancestors?
Who will learn the melodies of soul unbinding,
And break the gaunting spellsong?
Who will hold in their heart the wanderers,
the wild, the world?
You will, Envoy.
Click to expand...


c48a7ad999a34464af3f29aa81f455e3.webp


7b96b3b5d1e04ed3ae7a8b62ca83edf9.webp


ea41eba0fe8e420198ed1b72ca434b5f.webp
 
Last edited:
A few more details about the game.

What Is Soulframe?

Soulframe is the next game in development from Digital Extremes, the creators of Warframe. Soulframe is described as being a "sister-game" to Warframe rather than a successor or a sequel. The game is a co-op action hybrid-MMORPG featuring a large open-world hub which branches off into smaller procedurally generated dungeons/instances. Whereas Warframe has a very strong sci-fi aesthetic, Soulframe will be much more fantasy inspired, with Studio Ghibli's "Princess Mononoke" being cited as a major influence on the title. Adventure, restoration and the conflict between industry and nature are the core central themes of the game. In terms of gameplay, the game will have a much stronger melee focus than Warframe, and will feature slower paced, heavier combat.

What Is Soulframe Not?

Soulframe is not a "Soulslike", a genre popularised by FromSoftware's "Dark Souls" franchise. Souls represent a core theme and gameplay mechanic in Soulframe, hence the inclusion in the title.

Will Soulframe Be Free To Play?

Yes.
 
Last edited:
I think their games have really good artistry now, especially the audio, but the whole single player third person action game genre bores me and this is like a "greatest hits" implementation of mechanics.
 
Looks like ay number of UE soulslike asset flips that don't have any idea about why people like FROM's games. Just saying in a bullet point that you're not a soulslike doesn't make it true.

Pure garbage.
 
It's a shame the reception at Tenno Live was so muted to this but I can't blame the community as they're all there for Warframe, not Soulframe.

I'm a lapsed WF player and even I was shouting at the screen to get it over with lol, the demo was way too long and, without any sort of context, carried no weight. Still curious to see what it brings to the table mind you but the two Warframe expansions that were shown looked absolutely amazing and completely overshadowed it. So much so that I've reinstalled WF again to get my grind on.

Anyone has a Railjack I can borrow to take care of this Lich? :lollipop_grinning_sweat:
 
Last edited:
VN1X said:
Warframe's engine.
Click to expand...
I thought Warframe was based on UE as digital extremes started out as unreal contractors - "Founded by James Schmalz in 1993, Digital Extremes leapt from early shareware hit Epic Pinball to the innovative Unreal Series (co-created with Epic Games)" https://www.digitalextremes.com/about

It doesn't say wether they stayed with unreal derived tech after - I just always assumed that as they were effectively masters of it they would continue to use it.
 
foamdino said:
I thought Warframe was based on UE as digital extremes started out as unreal contractors - "Founded by James Schmalz in 1993, Digital Extremes leapt from early shareware hit Epic Pinball to the innovative Unreal Series (co-created with Epic Games)" https://www.digitalextremes.com/about

It doesn't say wether they stayed with unreal derived tech after - I just always assumed that as they were effectively masters of it they would continue to use it.
Click to expand...
As far as I know it's a proprietary engine by themselves. Could very well be based on UE mind you but I think, like Titanfall/Apex Legends, it's very much its own thing now where not a lot of the original code remains.

Over the past few years they've overhauled a ton of stuff, one of the most recent additions is a new lighting system for the new tileset. It wouldn't surprise me if Soulframe also uses the latest branch of the WF engine.
 
Last edited:
VN1X said:
As far as I know it's a proprietary engine by themselves. Could very well be based on UE mind you but I think, like Titanfall/Apex Legends, it's very much its own thing now where not a lot of the original code remains.

Over the past few years they've overhauled a ton of stuff, one of the most recent additions is a new lighting system for the new tileset. It wouldn't surprise me if Soulframe also uses the latest branch of the WF engine.
Click to expand...
They said on stage that Soulframe is the main development focus for the engine now, and new features are back-ported to Warframe.
 
This makes it for me. I was never much into the gameplay of Warframe but played it more for the world and lore. This is like combat has more weight, but not in the same department as Ghost of Tsushima and God of War but still closer to these than to Warframe itself. The whole druid thingy with ancestors and exploring/learning about their past reminds me a lot of what studios like That Game Company and Giant Squid do with Journey, Sky: Children of Light, Abzu, The Pathless and I AM ALL FOR IT.

It has both combat and learning about the world in a way that mashes two totally different of games that I appreciate a lot. I expect a lot of repetition in the gameplay aspect with the dungeons, relieving memories, and purifying the world at launch. It is that type of game that builts up through the course of a few years. It might not be for many depending on their delivery, but I expect the social aspects and gearing will do the heavy lifting if the core gameplay loop proves too bland or repetitive.

I can already see myself playing this for the long run if they get it all right at launch.
 
Last edited:
Here's a couple of gifs:

92otgxy7q4f91.gif

communityIcon_3dhyg8dwo1d91.png


There's also this older reddit thread which I found interesting, as the poster goes through the deeper meanings and origins of the symbols shown in the trailer released a year ago, as the dev previously said that Princess Mononoke was a source of inspiration for the world-building (lore/mythology) of the game.

 
Last edited:
I've made a few more gifs with some of the more intimate and atmospheric scenes I liked from the 30 min demo presentation I've posted in the OP.

c48a7ad999a34464af3f29aa81f455e3.webp


7b96b3b5d1e04ed3ae7a8b62ca83edf9.webp


ea41eba0fe8e420198ed1b72ca434b5f.webp


The music and sound design is also very well done imo.
 
Last edited:
Everything dies in 1 hit for first part of the video...
And then it looks like single player dark souls/tsushima but it is apparently an mmo ? nah man. I don't know about that.
But also, I don't play warframe so I dont know.

And graphics are way too good... but it's digital extremes so IT IS A REAL GAME. We know that.
 
NanaMiku said:
Warframe is also like that, especially if you already at higher level
Click to expand...
Yeah, Warframe you're overpowered through the roof and above. Most foes are all fodder so you can look cool while doing your own thing and flexing your frame build. One of the reasons the gameplay never grabbed me long term. This seems to has potential to offer more challenging encounters than Warframe due to the nature of the game.
 
So is this still an MMO? I remember last year they announced this as one. But judging from the footage here I wouldn't guess that anymore
 
They have shot themselves in the foot with that title - whether it's a place holder or not. It looks souls-like, it plays souls-like, which means it looks 10 years too late to me. I'm a big warframe fan and to me it only has one interesting hook: it's link to warframe - which I think will be minimum at best. The souls like game play is already in the Duviri part of the game, and it's not that much liked by a lot of players as it is. The fact they took a large chunk of the time at Tennocon to show this was a shame also, when we could of got more info about warframes future in place of this.

The only advantage I see for this game is it's use as a test bed for new engine features before committing them back into warframe.
 
Last edited:
mitch1971 said:
They have shot themselves in the foot with that title - whether it's a place holder or not. It looks souls-like, it plays souls-like, which means it looks 10 years too late to me. I'm a big warframe fan and to me it only has one interesting hook: it's link to warframe - which I think will be minimum at best. The souls like game play is already in the Duviri part of the game, and it's not that much liked by a lot of players as it is. The fact they took a large chunk of the time at Tennocon to show this was a shame also, when we could of got more info about warframes future in place of this.

The only advantage I see for this game is it's use as a test bed for new engine features before committing them back into warframe.
Click to expand...
They have done a lot of things that I didn't like over the years, but Duviri was the first thing that I found totally unenjoyable. Even Railjack, though at launch it was largely an unplayable mess to me, had some fun to it.
 
This is going to be so trash it's not even funny.

Gameplay is slow, graphics are shit probably is going to be pay to win like warframe, gameplay is slow and dumb I cringed so fucking much watching this shit at their stream.
 
It's extremely rough around the edges(especially those hitboxes) but I like the weird hybrid fantasy and the idea of 'healing' bosses back to normal instead of just killing them like most games.

The Cockatrice said:
Lmfao what a fake ass video. Cmon, how are you falling for this?
Click to expand...
I don't understand, wouldn't a fake ass video look as crisp as that one E3 Cyberpunk gameplay showcase, and not this jankfest slice of gameplay with unfinished animations in cutscenes, covered in fog and 360-gen bloom effects?
 
The Cockatrice said:
Pre-render target video. You can tell by the weird animations, extreme overuse of post-process effects and just instinctively i guess?
Click to expand...
I dunno it just looked like Fantasy Warframe to me. Don't see anything here that couldn't be done in the current WF engine. Basically a more developed Duviri Paradox.
 
VN1X said:
I dunno it just looked like Fantasy Warframe to me. Don't see anything here that couldn't be done in the current WF engine. Basically a more developed Duviri Paradox.
Click to expand...
March Climber said:
It's extremely rough around the edges(especially those hitboxes) but I like the weird hybrid fantasy and the idea of 'healing' bosses back to normal instead of just killing them like most games.


I don't understand, wouldn't a fake ass video look as crisp as that one E3 Cyberpunk gameplay showcase, and not this jankfest slice of gameplay with unfinished animations in cutscenes, covered in fog and 360-gen bloom effects?
Click to expand...
Thats why I think it looks fake. The animations are...very off..dunno how else to say but it looks like AI made. Doesnt look gamey? No idea how to describe it but its just very weird.
 
The Cockatrice said:
Thats why I think it looks fake. The animations are...very off..dunno how else to say but it looks like AI made. Doesnt look gamey? No idea how to describe it but its just very weird.
Click to expand...
Hmm I get what you mean but Warframe has very 'jerky' animations itself. For all the success and features that it boasts in some areas it still maintains that janky look so that might explain why.

Time will tell I suppose but if anything I think Soulframe will only start to look better over time, not worse. What was shown so far is definitely not outside the realm of possibilities for the engine in any case.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

17 Minutes of Soulframe Gameplay Demo
Trailer  2
54
6K
Solarstrike replied
Warframe dev new game Soulframe- Coming in 2025 Trailer
Trailer 
9
1K
Mayar replied
Kromlech Gameplay Trailer
2
151
Gonzito replied
Soulframe Gameplay Demo
1
520
SnapShot replied
Screamer - Gameplay Reveal
Trailer 
6
188
RAIDEN1 replied
Top Bottom