Soulframe is the new game by Digital Extremes, the studio behind Warframe. MeinMMO editor Karsten has extensively played the online RPG with a fantasy setting. While he didn’t find an MMO, he did experience something special.
You have certainly heard that the developers of Digital Extremes (Warframe) recently enabled all interested parties to access the current test version of Soulframe – although only for a short time.
Well, my access has been sitting here for quite some time. However, my first visit to the fantasy island of Midrath was a disappointing experience. There was hardly any player guidance, the character window was not intuitively designed, and the labels were at times vague, confusing, or hidden behind cryptic symbols. I haven’t struggled this much to get into a new fantasy RPG in a long time.
Since then, there have been further updates, and thanks to my vacation, I finally had more time to really devote to Soulframe. And it was worth it! After about 25 hours, I’m so fascinated by the world that I’d like to play in every free minute. But don’t expect a true MMO! More on that later. First, I want to celebrate Soulframe’s greatest strength.
One of the trailers for Soulframe:
Nature is the star
The first surprising moment is delivered by Soulframe right upon logging in. On the start screen, I see my hero, sitting by a tree, surrounded by animals.
As soon as I type in my login details, the immersion-breaking text field disappears immediately. The camera zooms in. My character gets up. Fawns and rabbits tumble off my lap. I’m immediately in the action right after entering the password. Fantastic!
The fact that the animals of the world feel so comfortable around me is no coincidence. On the island of Midrath, there is an evil force that corrupts nature, locks up harmless animals, and turns the spirits of nature into dangerous monsters. As a messenger, I fight the local troops that wage war against nature, freeing every living being and cleansing the corruption.
So I rescue raccoons, squirrels, and rabbits from cages. I pull corrupted spears from majestic world trees and gradually uncover more parts of the world map. At another place, I manage to save a large white wolf from certain death. This was not a pre-assumed quest or anything like that; I stumbled into this adventure quite by chance.
Afterward, I also rescue the wolf mother’s pups, where the four-legged warrior assists me in battle from time to time – and with an action I don’t want to spoil, I was treated to one of the funniest boss moments of all time.
Now one of her adorable fur balls is waiting for me at my base (more on that shortly), where he regularly comes for cuddles. If he grows as big as his mom, he would make a great mount or at least a wonderful companion… will that actually happen?
A highlight so far have also been the fights against the corrupted nature spirits. The production, musical background, and atmosphere presented must not hide behind any boss encounter from From Software (Dark Souls and so on). It’s already pretty great cinema.
If you want to be slightly spoiled, check out this 31-minute gameplay from the developers where a singing bear plays an important role – goosebumps!
Lastly, nature is the star for me in Soulframe also because the world is simply wonderfully immersive.
Thanks to the understated user interface (apart from the current version of the chat) and atmospheric sounds, you can wonderfully dive into this special adventure while exploring. And you don’t always run into other players named Shàdówróuge1995 bouncing through the screen.
The developers themselves refer to their new game as a sister project of Warframe because both games have similarities that the “Frame” in the title is supposed to indicate. However, these parallels refer to the gameplay experience and not to the worlds, which are completely different and unrelated.
In Warframe, the titular Warframes refer to the exo-armor, which have various pros and cons, and you complete them with a melee weapon, a secondary weapon, and a primary weapon. You can also switch between such a “Frame” or equip build in Soulframe.
However, the term “Frame” first appears in Soulframe when choosing your gender during character creation.
The developers are not entirely happy with their choice of name: The new MMO by the creators of Warframe struggles with the name “Soulframe” because it sounds like “Dark Souls”
Homeopathic doses of multiplayer
Indeed, I haven’t encountered a single other player in my first 20 hours. Even the recently mentioned chat was long deserted. At least the latter changed when the developers recently invited significantly more players to the current test version. Since then, one question follows the next; others clearly also have difficulties getting into this Soulframe.
That I still roam the world alone is due to the fundamental structure of Soulframe. Outside of certain social hubs where you may encounter other players, interaction only occurs when you form a group and explore the world as a team. Soulframe is thus more of an (optional co-op) online RPG, and not an MMO.
The core of Soulframe
In Soulframe, I stomp through this mystical world in a close third-person perspective, consistently following a bird that leads me to important locations at the push of a button, and fight opponents in an action-packed combat system. In battles, I chain light attacks to heavy ones, block, dodge, or use one of the 3 skills activated via my selected pact.
While exploring, I stumbled upon the enclave of the so-called Kith of Kings, where I managed to defeat a knight and unlock a faction. Since then, small, rather generic tasks appear everywhere in the game world for the king loyalists, which allow me to increase my reputation.
Unfortunately, it takes forever to gain reputation this way – and to clear the same camps, intercept messengers, defeat corrupted creatures, or explore underground vaults.
The dungeon-like areas at least bring some variety in the form of smaller puzzles. Sometimes I have to drain water from a flooded room somehow to progress to the ground floor. Other times I must extinguish the deadly flames blocking my path. The ability to throw and recall my weapon also helps in these moments.
Combat gameplay as a mage in Soulframe:
Through won battles, rescuing animals, completing tasks, and more, I gain experience points. Level-ups, through which I can increase the values of courage, grace, and virtue, are rare. Levels for the weapons used and the bond with the aforementioned pact increase much faster – allowing me to unlock improvements in the respective skill trees.
All these level-ups take place, by the way, in the so-called Nightfold, your own base which you can access from anywhere by pressing the Tab key. There, alongside the wolf pup, unusual NPCs you meet throughout your adventure gradually come together – including a blacksmith.
With her, I can have new weapons and armor pieces crafted as soon as I have the necessary reputation and provide the materials.
My tip: Start destroying every barrel and chest in the world as soon as possible. Otherwise, it takes forever to get your first equipment upgrade – especially since crafting usually takes several real-time hours (unless you want to whip out units of one of the in-game currencies for faster crafting).
Why do I do what where and how?
All this feels significantly slower and more tedious than in many other action-RPGs. Partly, that is certainly intentional from the developers and refreshingly decelerated. Partly, it also has to do with the fact that Soulframe doesn’t explain many things well in several places (yet?) – and as a player, you often walk through the world with question marks overhead.
Here are just a few of the questions I’ve yet to find answers to within the game:
- How do I unlock additional packs? So far, only 1 of 7 is showing up, even though I’ve been playing for a while.
- What is the relationship between my character level, the power level from equipment, and the level displayed for opponents?
- Weapons and packs can be upgraded through so-called Motes. Where do you get them from? What do they bring in detail?
- At a weapon rack, I increased the capacities of packs and weapons by paying in-game currency. I haven’t noticed any effects from that so far (except that the money is gone).
- When I found the enclave of the Silent Rose (this is one of the social hubs but also the base of a faction), I encountered an already known NPC there. However, nobody wants to interact with me in the enclave – it’s currently a dead end.
- Where can I finally get bombs or grenades or something similar to destroy the annoying turrets of the enemies?
Since the game leaves much unclear, and I’m currently playing an unfinished version of the game, I constantly wonder: Is this a bug or a feature? The constant questions in the chat show me that many other testers are dealing with the same.
This is something the developers should definitely address before launch. Otherwise, they will lose many interested players in the first hours, who don’t want to painstakingly figure out all these details.
That would be a shame because Soulframe already offers a fascinating, immersive gaming experience that significantly stands out from typical mainstream RPGs.
For my part, I hope that the developers use the remaining time until the free-to-play release on PC to address the existing issues. However, there is still no specific launch date. By the way, the YouTuber TheLazyPeon is also excited about the game: Popular MMORPG YouTuber plays Soulframe for the first time: “The game is so damn cool”
