Warframe is about to reach its 50th model type available in-game, as we take a look at the recently announced Wolf Warframe and what its design suggests for the RPG game. Warframes, for those not in the know, are the cohesive barrier worn by the player-controlled Tenno – a suit of biomechanical armour that can also be used as a weapon. Sometimes, specific Warframes can have sentience or make decisions of their own.
Some Warframes are the past remnants of prestigious warriors from long ago, or bringers of hope – with each acting as an existing legend with its own mythology and lore. Others come from more unique backgrounds, such as Xaku – the game’s first non-binary Warframe – being a construct fused together of a few different Warframes such that each separate part no longer holds its former identity, instead joining with the other frames to create an entirely new being.
The game’s creative director Rebecca Ford likens the concept of Warframes to that of the popular anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. The Warframe and the Tenno Operator sharing “such an important relationship” resembles one of the central themes throughout the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise – that symbiotic relationship between a pilot and their suit.
Digital Extremes has been thinking of adding a werewolf or wolf-like monster to Warframe for years – with players themselves anticipating a Warframe with more monstrous or monster-like elements and aesthetics.
Now, Digital Extremes has unveiled the concept art of this Wolf Warframe from artist Joe Madureira – best known in games as the creative director of 2010’s Darksiders, which highlights the story of War, one of the horsemen of the apocalypse.
Madureira’s style from Darksiders can be easily seen in this jagged monster. A wolf head is planted on each shoulder and each hip, totalling up to five wolf heads including its own atop its neck. This is a ferocious beast with sharp talons to – one might assume – rip apart enemies with ease, leaving a lingering spray of blood and a mess of enemy corpses behind her.
The hind legs look as though she might be a speedy Warframe similar to Gauss. The wolf spirits surrounding her appear as though they can be sent to snarl, terrify, and pounce upon enemies while your Warframe operates from a distance. Launching powerful summons or graceful bestial allies to command seems like it could have a lot of potential.
To my surprise, this Warframe will not be the 50th Warframe as I had initially thought it would be. Ford says that, “The Wolf is coming with Duviri [Paradox], but Veilbreaker has their own Warframe coming – that we haven’t said anything about.” The Warframe in question, Styanax, has since been unveiled during TennoCon, but that was all that Ford told me on the matter before motioning her hand toward her face, as though to contain these secrets about upcoming Warframes that will be available in the future or that are currently in their earlier development stages.
There is currently no exact date for the arrival of the Wolf Warframe, but she will release alongside the Duviri Paradox expansion, whenever that much-anticipated day finally comes.
Image credit: Joe Madureira