Once you ask Morrigan her identify in the beginning of Dragon Age: Origins, she retorts with “names are pretty, but useless.” It’s a press release that’s sat with me for a very long time. What really is in a reputation? For some, it’s an identification; 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 gained’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 activity I envy. Digital Extremes’ upcoming RPG Soulframe suffers from a confused identification that every one comes again to – you guessed it – its identify. After plowing hours into its Preludes pre-alpha assessments, I can say the title merely doesn’t match the sport, and I fear it’ll endure 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 Delusion 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 like it’ll perform equally to Warframe’s, with these social hubs mirroring the ninja sport’s Relays versus the bustling metropolises of Orgrimmar or Stormwind.
It’s exhausting to pin down precisely what Soulframe is. Having performed plenty of Preludes, I’d say it’s aesthetically beautiful and boasts unimaginable worldbuilding, nevertheless it looks 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 strong as the person gameplay components are, Soulframe’s general identification 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 workforce is “taking a lot of inspiration” from the likes of Elden Ring, the ‘soul’ within the identify comes from the heavy narrative concentrate on the concept of using “the souls of our ancestors.” The workforce has since stated that it understands why gamers may get confused.
Having performed Soulframe’s opening sequence and related boss battle, it’s actually 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 Woman Deora and Torment Stag fights, for instance, have the majesty of a FromSoft encounter however lack the life-and-death depth you’d count on from a bone-crunching Margit-style opener. Calling it a soulslike units the flawed expectation, then, even when ‘soul’ is correct there within the identify. A swap to ‘Spiritframe’ is hardly the reply, however at the very least it will get throughout the ancestral focus and sidesteps the quick FromSoft comparisons.
After which there’s the ‘frame’ 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, for 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 actually feeling much like what we see within the sister RPG.
Warframe as a unit, nonetheless, is understood for being fast-paced and frenetic – its slogan is ‘ninjas play free.’ Soulframe is the polar reverse: fight is gradual and weighty, with heavy polearms, swords, and shields the first weaponry versus katanas and weapons. From the identify, I hoped that Soulframe would provide 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 utterly new issues. Whereas the essence of Hayden Tenno is preserved with Warframe, maybe it’s time to embrace the concept of making one thing utterly totally different – one thing that doesn’t have that apparent connection however as an alternative nods subtly to its predecessors in its mechanics and community-centric method. Given Digital Extremes’ pedigree, I need to see what the long run appears to be like like for them and fear that clinging to the previous could develop into an inhibitor.
However let’s not get it twisted: I need 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 battle is definitely probably the greatest I’ve performed in a videogame, delivered to life by an impressive and shifting soundtrack.
My concern is that Soulframe’s identify is indicative of a deeper concern. The hardened soulslike fan will bounce off the motion, and people in search of a fast-paced, mission-focused expertise like Warframe will depart dissatisfied. They’ll by no means get to expertise that nice battle or the sense of marvel as magical workshops erupt from a shimmering pool within the Nightfold, and that’s a rattling disgrace.
I am going again to the query ‘what’s in a reputation,’ and with Soulframe it’s a case of confused identification. Digital Extremes’ concepts are robust 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 yr.
