Digital Extremes is following up Warframe with Soulframe, a fantasy action RPG set in the world of Alca. The studio’s stated plan is not to reproduce the fast, crowded combat of its long-running multiplayer hit: developers describe a slower adventure built around exploration, discovery and more deliberate encounters. Soulframe is still in development, so those are design intentions rather than a verdict on a finished game.
From Warframe to Soulframe
London, Ontario-based Digital Extremes unveiled Soulframe at TennoCon in July 2022. In a July 24, 2025 interview with MobileSyrup, the studio described it as its first original gaming property since Warframe, released in 2013. That interview reported that Warframe had amassed around 80 million players worldwide over 12 years; that is a historical figure reported by the outlet, not a current player count.
Soulframe moves from Warframe’s science-fiction setting into fantasy. Its story follows a banished Envoy in Alca, working with the Omen Beasts against a corrupted kingdom. The shift is more than a change of scenery: the developers describe a world whose inviting natural beauty is disrupted by corruption, with redemption as a central theme.
How the developers want it to feel
Lead designer Scott McGregor described Warframe as a fast-paced game in which players can clear rooms and defeat many enemies. By contrast, the team intends Soulframe’s combat to be slower and more methodical, giving individual opponents’ reactions and the feel of each exchange greater weight. McGregor said that a one-on-one encounter could last a minute or so, making acting, reaction and the sense of grounded connection especially important.
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That comparison explains the ambition, not how every encounter will play in the final release. The same distinction applies to the team’s aim for a simpler mechanical entry point than Warframe, whose complexity can overwhelm newcomers. The interview presents this as a design goal, not proof that the finished game will be easier for every player.
Exploration, onboarding and community feedback
Digital Extremes says it is involving players while the game is being built, rather than keeping it secret for years and presenting it only at launch. President Sheldon Carter described early feedback and respect for players’ time as lessons the studio is carrying forward from Warframe. McGregor summarized the approach as listening to what players enjoy and do not enjoy.
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That feedback has influenced the team’s thinking about how to introduce the world. Creative director Geoff Crookes said an early idea for a two-to-three-hour introductory quest amounted to too much handholding; player responses showed that discovery mattered to them. The intended balance is progressive storytelling that gives newcomers a route into the adventure without making exploration feel overly gated. McGregor also identified exploration as a major pillar of the game.
In the July 2025 interview, Crookes called the limited Preludes test a “very early alpha.” The official Soulframe site, checked October 8, 2026, uses a different and more current label: it describes Preludes as the game’s “current pre-alpha development phase,” an evolving version being built with the community. It says invitations are sent weekly and links to Steam. Those descriptions concern an unfinished test, not a general release date.
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A fantasy world shaped by place and influence
Narrative designer Sydney Hills described Alca as a pastoral landscape whose appeal is interrupted by environmental corruption. The contrast connects the game’s natural beauty to its redemption theme. The developers also pointed to Southwestern Ontario’s wilderness and forests as inspiration, bringing local references such as beavers and maple sap into the fantasy world.
The team’s other influences span different kinds of fantasy and storytelling. Crookes named Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke and Team Ico’s Ico and Shadow of the Colossus as touchstones for immersive storytelling. Hills mentioned older fantasy films including Legend, Willow, The NeverEnding Story and The Last Unicorn. These are the developers’ accounts of what shaped the project, not promises that the game will reproduce those works’ style.
What players can establish now
The official site’s Preludes information offers the clearest current route to learn about access: it describes a pre-alpha phase, an invitation queue with weekly invitations, a Steam link and Founder Packs that include unique in-game items. Access and product details can change, and a Founder Pack is an in-game support offering, not evidence of a general retail release. The cited material establishes no general release date.
For now, the clearest answer to what comes after Warframe is a different kind of game from the same studio: fantasy rather than science fiction, with exploration and deliberate combat at the center of its stated aims. Whether those ambitions cohere in play remains an open question while Soulframe is in pre-alpha development.
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