The new story update “The Sacrifice” significantly boosted player numbers on Steam for Warframe. The online shooter even broke its record set with Plains of Eidolon, the first open-world map. There are good reasons for this.
Warframe increased its record by 7,625 players: With the new update “The Sacrifice,” more players logged into Warframe than ever before. The old record was 121,377 players, achieved with the Plains of Eidolon. With the story quest “Sacrifice,” a whopping 129,002 players logged in. How did this happen?
Note: Spoilers for the story of Warframe follow
1. The hype in the community was indescribable
Players tried to summon the “Redtext” and thus the update: The “Redtext” consists of short messages in the public chat, which Digital Extremes posts shortly before updates. No update was anticipated as eagerly as “The Sacrifice.”
On the day of the update to Sacrifice, a crowd of players gathered and painted their Warframes red in honor of the Redtext. They met in the relays, where players can see each other in Warframe. Wild dances were held here to make the “Redtext” appear. But see for yourself:
2. Warframe bids farewell in 2017 with a shocking story twist!
Digital Extremes took away the players’ “Space-Mom” Lotus: Warframe may fundamentally be a loot shooter, but Digital Extremes excels in crafting an engaging and touching story. At the end of last year, players were left astonished when a small story epilogue to “The Sacrifice” was released. At the end of the epilogue, the mother of all players, Lotus, disappears into nothingness.
Who is Lotus? The Lotus is a character in Warframe who has been the motherly voice from the void since the beta. Players lovingly call her Space-Mom, guiding her star-children through Warframe. There’s even a veterans program called Guide of the Lotus, where experienced players take on an official community role and help newcomers in the game. The Lotus symbolizes the nurturing mother.
The suspense was high, and everyone wanted to know what happened to Lotus: Many players likely came to “The Sacrifice” just to finally find out what was behind Lotus’ disappearance. The epilogue and preceding quests raised too many open questions. Players will have to be patient. Because why Lotus left is still a mystery even after the completion of “Sacrifice.”
3. Great secrets are unveiled in “Sacrifice,” the tension was high
Every story quest in Warframe gives the player a piece of the overall puzzle: The story and world of Warframe are still full of mysteries. Each individual quest always answered a few questions while simultaneously raising new ones. In addition to the disappearance of Lotus, there were more questions players hoped to get answers to. Thus, “The Sacrifice” answers:
- “What are the Warframes now, anyway?”
- “Where did the Warframes come from?”
- “What exactly is Umbra?”
The tension was generally quite high.
4. Players waited 3 years for the special Umbra Warframe
“Yes, but what about Umbra?!” – A hype in the community: In 2015, the mysterious Umbra Warframe made its first appearance. In China, it was released as a special skin for players. Since then, a unique dynamic around Umbra developed in the Western community. Everyone wanted to know when Umbra would finally make its way to the West. Digital Extremes frequently hosts livestreams about Warframe. It became a running gag to keep asking about Umbra in the chat. When would he finally arrive, and what would he bring?
Umbra’s appearance also attracted many veterans: The consistently maintained hype around Umbra piqued the interest of many veterans. Players who hadn’t logged in for a while returned for Umbra.
Umbra is a new type of Warframe: In the West, Umbra became a special variant of Excalibur, with unique properties. He possesses his own mods and can act independently from the Tenno, the operator. Many players were eager to check out this new form.
5. UI was revamped and gave Warframe a new look
The update took the first steps for a more modern UI: For weeks, Digital Extremes has been showcasing bits and pieces of the new user interface. It had long needed a complete overhaul, as it had become outdated. Additionally, many new players often find the UI confusing.
With “Sacrifice,” the first steps have now been taken, and players can customize their own loading screen. More UI updates are to come, which will also improve clarity.
The new UI might not have been a significant reason for players to log in for Sacrifice, but it was certainly worth a look.
In addition to the story quest, work continued on other new content. A new Warframe is already in the pipeline:
