Whenever you ask Morrigan her identify at first of Dragon Age: Origins, she retorts with “names are fairly, however ineffective.” It’s an announcement that’s sat with me for a very long time. What actually is in a reputation? For some, it’s an id; for others, it’s a jail – a reminder of what they’re not. In videogames, it’s usually make or break: in case your sport doesn’t sound cool, individuals received’t need to purchase it. Naming a sport is equal components a model train and an expression of ardour, and as somebody whose gamertag is ‘Morri’, it’s not a process I envy. Digital Extremes’ upcoming RPG Soulframe suffers from a confused id that each one comes again to – you guessed it – its identify. After plowing hours into its Preludes pre-alpha checks, I can say the title merely doesn’t match the sport, and I fear it’ll undergo for it.
The brainchild of Warframe’s Digital Extremes, Soulframe is many issues. Its core gameplay loop is much like motion video games like Black Fantasy Wukong, however its sprawling open world and newly unveiled participant hubs really feel extra like one thing out of World of Warcraft and different MMORPGs. Multiplayer looks as if it’ll operate equally to Warframe’s, with these social hubs mirroring the ninja sport’s Relays versus the bustling metropolises of Orgrimmar or Stormwind.
It’s laborious to pin down precisely what Soulframe is. Having performed loads of Preludes, I’d say it’s aesthetically beautiful and boasts unimaginable worldbuilding, but it surely appears like a set of disparate components that don’t fairly match collectively but. Preludes is in fact a pre-alpha construct, so a few of that is to be anticipated, however as stable as the person gameplay parts are, Soulframe’s total id stays muddy.
Let’s begin with the ‘soul’ a part of its identify. It’s one thing I’ve requested Digital Extremes CEO Steve Sinclair about earlier than, and whereas he notes that the staff is “taking loads of inspiration” from the likes of Elden Ring, the ‘soul’ within the identify comes from the heavy narrative give attention to the thought of using “the souls of our ancestors.” The staff has since stated that it understands why gamers may get confused.
Having performed Soulframe’s opening sequence and related boss combat, it’s definitely much more forgiving than a Darkish Souls or an Elden Ring. Dungeons really feel extra open, and whereas encounters aren’t a cakewalk, they’re by no means near brutal. The Girl Deora and Torment Stag fights, for instance, have the majesty of a FromSoft encounter however lack the life-and-death depth you’d anticipate from a bone-crunching Margit-style opener. Calling it a soulslike units the unsuitable expectation, then, even when ‘soul’ is correct there within the identify. A swap to ‘Spiritframe’ is hardly the reply, however no less than it will get throughout the ancestral focus and sidesteps the fast FromSoft comparisons.
After which there’s the ‘body’ half. It’s no secret that Digital Extremes likes to have a throughline in every thing it does – Darkish Sector morphed into Warframe, which borrows the ‘Tenno’ a part of Hayden Tenno’s identify, as an example. Rightly or wrongly, Warframe’s Duviri Paradox spinoff has oftentimes been labeled because the testbed for Soulframe, with its aesthetics and melee-focused fight definitely feeling much like what we see within the sister RPG.
Warframe as a unit, nevertheless, is thought for being fast-paced and frenetic – its slogan is ‘ninjas play free.’ Soulframe is the polar reverse: fight is sluggish and weighty, with heavy polearms, swords, and shields the first weaponry versus katanas and weapons. From the identify, I hoped that Soulframe would supply a mashup of methodical soulslike fight with the velocity and ferocity I like from Warframe, however pace-wise it’s very like an early Darkish Souls sport.
Equally, Soulframe isn’t only a Warframe spinoff like Duviri; it’s a brand new journey in a brand new universe doing fully new issues. Whereas the essence of Hayden Tenno is preserved with Warframe, maybe it’s time to embrace the thought of making one thing fully totally different – one thing that doesn’t have that apparent connection however as a substitute nods subtly to its predecessors in its mechanics and community-centric strategy. Given Digital Extremes’ pedigree, I need to see what the long run appears like for them and fear that clinging to the previous might turn out to be an inhibitor.
However let’s not get it twisted: I would like Soulframe to be a very good sport. Aesthetically, it’s absolute perfection, mixing The Lord of the Rings’ people-centric fantasy with otherworldly sci-fi themes. Its fight is crunchy and satisfying, and the Torment Stag combat is definitely probably the greatest I’ve performed in a videogame, delivered to life by an impressive and transferring soundtrack.
My concern is that Soulframe’s identify is indicative of a deeper challenge. The hardened soulslike fan will bounce off the motion, and people searching for a fast-paced, mission-focused expertise like Warframe will go away disillusioned. They’ll by no means get to expertise that nice combat or the sense of surprise as magical workshops erupt from a shimmering pool within the Nightfold, and that’s a rattling disgrace.
I’m going again to the query ‘what’s in a reputation,’ and with Soulframe it’s a case of confused id. Digital Extremes’ concepts are sturdy in isolation, but when I’m struggling to place my finger on what precisely the sport is after hours of play, I can’t think about how the broader potential playerbase feels. I hope individuals give it the shot it deserves when the broader Soulframe launch lands someday subsequent 12 months.
