Soulframe's full reveal shows a "slow and pensive" fantasy RPG built on the bones of Warframe
I like Warframe, Digital Extremes’ shockingly enduring free-to-play action RPG, but I do find its sci-fantasy direction a bit much. The mashing together of tinted alloys and astral flame, the blend of over-the-shoulder shooting and swordplay, the environments that occasionally look like GPU boxart on steroids – it’s impressive, but a lot to digest.
The Canadian developer’s new project Soulframe has the same sense of swagger, with menus consisting of beautiful, quasi-medieval illustrations decorated with scrolls and dancing figures. But it’s a quieter thrill, a stately and absorbing world of hazy forests and sun-pierced catacombs, which calls to mind both Dragon’s Dogma and the overlooked tiny MMO Book of Travels. After catching a hands-off presentation in advance of this year’s Tennocon, I am pretty keen to play.