Digital Extremes is following Warframe with Soulframe, a fantasy action RPG set in the world of Alca. Rather than reproduce the fast, crowd-clearing combat that defines Warframe, the London, Ontario studio says it is building a more methodical adventure shaped by exploration, deliberate encounters and early community feedback.
What is Soulframe?
Soulframe is Digital Extremes’ new fantasy action RPG and its first original gaming property since Warframe in 2013, according to MobileSyrup’s July 24, 2025 interview. Set in Alca, it follows a banished Envoy working with the Omen Beasts against a corrupted kingdom. The premise trades Warframe’s science-fiction identity for a fantasy world built around the tension between pastoral beauty and corruption.
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The scale of the follow-up is notable: MobileSyrup reported that Warframe had reached around 80 million players worldwide over 12 years as of July 2025. That is a historical figure reported by the outlet, not a current player count.
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How Soulframe is meant to differ from Warframe
The developers describe Soulframe as slower and more deliberate than Warframe. Lead designer Scott McGregor contrasted Warframe’s fast pace—where players can clear rooms and defeat many enemies—with the intention for Soulframe to give individual encounters more attention.
Combat built around individual encounters
McGregor said the slower pace puts more weight on enemy reactions and the sense that actions connect: “But with Soulframe, because it is a slower, more methodical game, that one-on-one combat could end up being a minute or so, so the level of acting and the level of engagement and level of reaction and making sure that everything feels like it’s connected and grounded is really, really high.” This is the team’s design goal, not an assessment of a finished game.
A more approachable entry point
Digital Extremes has also said it wants a simpler mechanical entry point than Warframe, whose accumulated complexity can overwhelm newcomers. McGregor described applying player feedback to make the game more approachable, while the team’s onboarding plans aim to provide direction without explaining away every discovery.
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Exploration as a major pillar
McGregor identified exploration as a major part of Soulframe. The developers want players to find their way through the world rather than experience it only as a sequence of fights or tightly gated objectives.
Why the studio is involving players early
Digital Extremes unveiled Soulframe at TennoCon in July 2022 and has shared development updates while inviting a limited group into Preludes testing. President Sheldon Carter said the studio would rather bring the community into development early than keep the game secret for years and reveal it all at once: “And we learned from Warframe that building a game and building something like this goes better when you’re working with a community right away […] The idea of getting that feedback early from the community, and building with the community, and being really respectful of the amount of time and investment that they’re giving you, even when they haven’t paid you anything — those are the types of things that we’re taking forward.”
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McGregor described the practical purpose as “listening to the community and listening to the things that they’re enjoying and not enjoying about the game.” One example was onboarding. Creative director Geoff Crookes said the team’s first idea for an introductory quest lasting two to three hours involved too much handholding. Feedback suggested players valued discovery, so the intended approach became progressive storytelling: give new players a path forward without making exploration feel overly restricted.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Alca’s landscape, themes and inspirations
The developers describe Alca as a place where appealing pastoral scenery is interrupted by environmental corruption, tying the setting to a theme of redemption. Narrative designer Sydney Hills pointed to the contrast as central to the world’s tone. One example from the interview is Bromius, a friendly bear spirit who becomes corrupted and is later restored.
Crookes cited Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke and Team Ico games such as Ico and Shadow of the Colossus as influences on immersive storytelling. Hills named older fantasy films including Legend, Willow, The NeverEnding Story and The Last Unicorn. The team also drew on Southwestern Ontario’s forests and wilderness when shaping Alca. Canadian details, including beavers and maple sap, made their way into the setting; Crookes recalled, “Honestly, the beaver came in quick, and we’re like, ‘Okay, there it is.’ I do love it.”
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How to access Soulframe now
As of October 8, 2026, the official Soulframe site calls Preludes the game’s current pre-alpha development phase and describes it as an evolving version being built with the community. The site says invitations are sent weekly and links to Steam. It also promotes Founder Packs that include unique in-game items. These details can change; the cited material does not establish a general release date.
In the July 2025 interview, Crookes called Preludes a “very early alpha.” The official site’s current label is pre-alpha, so the terms reflect different descriptions at different dates rather than a single fixed phase name.
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