TennoCon 2024: Soulframe Preludes Begin This Fall

Digital Extremes kicked off a day of presentations at this year’s TennoCon convention with the very first devstream for Soulframe , the Canadian studio’s upcoming free-to-play adventure, which will open its early-access iteration Preludes to players in fall 2024.

Two years since it’s announcement , Soulframe looks to be shaping up as the fantasy cousin to the company’s long-running Warframe , true to the promises of a slower, more methodical sort of combat. Digital Extremes CEO Steve Sinclair, creative director Geoff Crookes, and community manager Sarah Asselin walked attendees through a fresh gameplay demo, played live from the event.

In the new demo shown today at TennoCon, we saw a first look at Soulframe ‘s unique take on character creation during the introductory mission. Players will begin the process of customizing their own avatar in an indirect manner: by customizing the avatar character’s mother instead, seemingly in the moments shortly after their own birth (even as it seems an enemy is bearing down on the castle’s walls).

Afterward, a maid receives the babe, who raises their hand to grasp their mother’s hand once more, revealing the signature blue arm seen in Soulframe ‘s gameplay demos so far.

Next, the new Tennocon demo jumps to the “present” day, when the player character is fully grown, napping amongst some forest critters as seen in the game’s promotional artwork. The player takes a moment to dive into the Nightfold, which is Soulframe ‘s hub world and menu—comparable to Warframe ‘s Orbiter, but accessible any time in-game outside of combat.

It is here that the ancestors the player has met and partnered with have set up shop. Each NPC in Soulframe has its own distinctive nook of this dreamy landscape, complete with musical motifs, like Orlick, whom we met in last year’s demo. New Ancestors have been added since last year’s glimpse, and the village in this purgatory space is starting to feel like home.

Throughout the demo, the player frees an imprisoned critter, which eventually leads them to a new NPC named Verminia. She holds out her hand for a proper greeting, and the player must press a button to oblige her. As an additional reward, the player receives a curious new Drought elixir before she disappears, newly recruited as an NPC.

“We decided we really want you guys, when you play [ Soulframe ], to have a deep role in the progression and change in this world, and kind of heal it.”

Through the demo, the player takes on a massive foe known as a Nimrod, who wields the power of lightning. Unable to overcome it, the Envoy engages, evades, and even falls to the thunderous foe, at which point they revive in a bird’s body and return to their body. Only after they’ve met Verminia, the Rat Witch, and utilized her new elixir to literally clear the stormy sky and sunder its lightning powers can the Envoy finally strike it down.

Returning to the Nightfold, the Envoy watches our new ally’s domain rise up out of the watery floor (if one can call it that). This NPC will assist Soulframe ‘s Envoys in crafting various elixirs and dying their wardrobe. Verminia’s glamour service (shown in a rudimentary form) comes with some charming reactions to the player’s colour choices—pick complementary colours, and Verminia dotes on your decisions, but pick vibrant hues that clash, and she recoils in scandalized disgust.

“We decided we really want you guys, when you play it, to have a deep role in the progression and change in this world and kind of heal it. Once we said ‘heal it,’ we went, ‘oh, okay, let’s double down on that,'” said Crookes. “I think we want something optimistic , something that has lots of themes of redemption.”

The company launched a small closed beta in December, dubbed Soulframe Preludes , which has been steadily adding new players to help gather feedback. Already, a community is mustering around the budding game, and Asselin acknowledged the fan art that passionate early adopters are already generating.

“People are picking up on that tone, really what original fantasy is about, this kind of rejection of modernity, projection of cynicism, and really believing in magic,” Sinclair added.

The Preludes build will open to the public this fall. At first, it will only be on PC to enable the sort of fast integration that has informed Soulframe ‘s open, transparent development, but talks are underway for other console versions.

In the meantime, the existing invite model will continue until the floodgates open, with 10,000 invites going out on Monday, July 22. Interested players who want to get in can register on the Soulframe homepage .