This article contains complete spoilers for the biggest plot twist in Warframe. 

It's easy to look at Warframe and assume it's a mindless shooter about space ninjas fighting space cyborgs, collecting piles of loot, and levelling up ad infinitum. When it first hit beta back in 2013, that was true. There was no story. But since then Warframe has grown in ways that very few games have, with developer Digital Extremes reinventing and rebuilding it several times over. Compared to 2013, the Warframe of today is almost unrecognizable. 

The biggest surprise in that evolution is Warframe's shockingly nuanced story, built on the back of a unique setting that blends the atmosphere of Dune with cyberpunk and a dash of 90s anime excess.

Warframe’s opening arc begins with you awakening from cryogenic sleep on Earth, now a wild jungle world. A masked woman calling herself The Lotus informs that you are part of a clan called Tenno, warriors of blade and gun, enemies of evil, and masters of the Warframe armor. Each of the 33 Warframes is like its own RPG class, with unique abilities and playstyles that players will craft and upgrade. Once you're suited up in your first Warframe, you'll meet Ordis, a Cephalon AI and loyal caretaker of your personal spacecraft who is psychologically damaged after his centuries-long dormancy. Together, you set out to explore the solar system.

What follows is good enough sci-fi to tempt anyone who isn't already hooked by the words "triple-jumping space ninjas." And once you're invested—deeply invested—Warframe drops a brilliant, unexpected bomb on you. It's one of the most dramatic and intense plot twists I’ve ever seen in a game, and I’m saying that as a Yoko Taro fan. But to see that twist, you really have to earn it.

Seriously, major plot spoilers for Warframe happen below.

More human than human

Almost every event in Warframe’s story, present and past, is linked to the fallen Orokin empire. Everywhere you look, you can see fragments of their unique aesthetic, like literal ivory towers grown from living bone banded with gold. This is partially reflected in the Warframes themselves, ornate armor of Orokin design, and much of the game’s story is devoted to discovering why the Tenno and their Warframes are still standing when their creators are long gone.

While the specifics are left hazy at first, characters frequently reference ‘The Old War,’ the conflict that destroyed the Orokin so completely that, centuries later, the survivors are still picking up the pieces.

Warframe loves its hidden mysteries, and they're extremely easy to miss if you're too distracted by all the running and gunning. The bits of story are sprinkled across each mission, which players tackle alone or in groups of four. Warframe's missions are straightforward, procedurally generated kill-fests centered around objectives like planting extractors and defending them while waves of enemies attack, or rescuing hostages and escorting them to the evac zone.

Every question you might ask about the story likely has an answer somewhere, even if it is tucked away in a piece of item description text in the style of Dark Souls, or written in plain sight but in an alien script needing deciphering. But Digital Extremes had been playing a clever trick on its community for quite some time. At the point where almost any other game would begin a gentle cruise into endgame rhythms, Warframe switches up a gear, introducing entirely new systems and completely upending what you thought you understood about its story. Calling this a big plot twist is an understatement.

The Second Dream

By the time most players reach the story quest ‘Natah’, they will have likely sunk 30-40 hours into the game. You’ll have explored most of the solar system, fought countless battles, and forgotten half the questions you once wanted answers to. When an encounter with a robot unlike anything you’ve seen during a routine mission causes the Lotus—your constant, reliable guiding voice the entire game—to cut contact and disappear, it’s clear that something big is happening.

Warframe, and, in part, its community, have played a long con with its story, letting you think that those first 30 hours are how it is, and always will be. The Old War is a perpetual mystery, the Tenno are just space ninjas and there probably isn’t anything more to it. 

But Natah sets in motion a story arc revealing the Sentient—true rogue AIs (listen to this intricately hidden piece of audio from Ordis, your AI companion, for context) and the reason the Orokin empire fell—and The Lotus’ complicated history with them. One of these Sentients, named Hunhow, is determined to remove the Tenno and their Warframes as a threat before its plans can move forward, and it knows your weakness—one that very few players would have even imagined. So begins The Second Dream, the most important quest in the game.

Warframe’s greatest trick is in the revelation that the armored figure on-screen all this time is not you. Your Warframe is revealed as a remote-controlled proxy: A mechanical golem, puppeteered by a sleeping psionic youth so potent that their dreams can manipulate these machine-bodies across incalculable distances. In order to save yourself, you have to rescue this child from their previously safe sarcophagus hidden deep within Earth’s moon and carry it—under fire—to the safety of your ship.

It is here, nearly 40 hours into the game, you are presented for the first time with the character creation screen. You are asked to create your Operator—the real Tenno. You sculpt their face, and assign yourself a voice. For the first time, you—your Tenno, your Operator—are a protagonist unmasked, and will have dialogue choices and internal monologue from this point onwards where previously stood a silent cipher. The Warframes are still how you fight, primarily, but you know their true nature now, and your own.

 The War Within, and conflicts beyond

The Second Dream is just the beginning of Warframe’s central story, now being told in episodic updates. Many sidequests unlock after that quest, building on your newfound knowledge, as well as opening up a continuation of the central story arc. In a later quest—The War Within—you find your psychic link severed from your Warframes, forcing you onto the surface of a hostile planet without your proxy-armor, where you learn a new set of psionic powers including teleportation and powerful energy beam attacks. Essential, to compensate for the fragility of your flesh-and-blood body.

Eventually you are reunited with your Warframes, but from that point onwards, you can—at any time—teleport in to handle the situation personally, with your Operator having their own progression systems and skill tree. While used sparingly at present, the Plains of Eidolon expansion is already increasing the gameplay focus on Operators, making them more viable in combat, and their powers essential in combating the Sentient weapons waking up on Earth.

Of course, as with all things Warframe, the mystery is maintained as best as possible. While Operators appear in much of the expansion’s loading screen art (the character in the wide helmet is an Operator), and even the patch notes, they are always masked, with their nature left for players to discover for themselves. A journey worth taking, but it’s a long hike, even in the shoes of a triple-jumping space ninja. 

Today, something a bit different is coming to Digital Extremes’ multiplayer action romp, Warframe. The Plains of Eidolon expansion is, for the first time, introducing an open-world area, the titular plains. It’s about nine square kilometers in size, and is full of secret caves, enemy camps and new missions. 

Along with this large new area, expect new gear, a new warframe, and a brand new mission type that will see you making some fancy weaponry. And you can’t have an open world without some relaxing diversions, so of course there’s fishing, and if you prefer to crack rocks instead of catching fish, there’s always mining. 

It would be a good idea to get all the mini-games finished before night falls, however. During the day there are threats, certainly, but night is when the massive Eidolon appears. It’s a huge beast that’s woken up to search for something “mysterious and dangerous” and you’ll probably need to put together a team if you have any hope of hunting it down. 

Here’s a 20 minute developer walkthrough to whet your appetite. 

The Plains of Eidolon launches today on Steam, and it’s free. 

Earlier this week, Digital Extremes hinted that Warframe's Plains of Eidolon update might be with us sooner than expected. Now, the developer has confirmed it's coming next week. 

And when it does, it'll bring with it the much-anticipated open world 'Open Zone'—a non-procedurally generated, hand-crafted environment said to offer "exploratory daytime activities and towering night-time battles"—as well as new weapons and a new warrior, among others things. 

First, trailer time:

On the warrior front, Gara marks the 34th Warframe who "manipulates glass to fracture the resolve of her enemies", which sounds pretty nasty. In doing so, she uses Shattered Lash, Splinter Storm, Spectrorage, and Mass Vitrify—a series of unique abilities, each of which leverages broken and/or molten glass as a means of attack. 

Weapon-wise our latest hero boasts the explosive slug-shooting Astilla, the punch-packing Volnus, and the glass shuriken-slinging Fusilai. 

Plains of Eidolon also adds a number of reinforcements, cosmetics—"Gara's components can be found in-game, while her Blueprint will arrive in a Quest later this month," so says Digital Extremes—skins, and decorations. Check out the Warframe website for more on that.  

Digital Extremes hasn't set a concrete launch date as yet, but the free-to-play Plains of Eidolon is coming next week.  

Warframe's much anticipated Plains of Eidolon update, which adds a huge new MMO-esque open world to the otherwise corridor-y shooter, may launch within the next 10 days, according to Digital Extremes. Writing in a new update, the studio specifies that it's a "goal" rather than a "guarantee", but it's still something.

"The goal is to launch within the next 10 days - when the official Hub site launches there will be more information there," the studio writes.

Meanwhile, a map of the Eidolon plains was rolled out (you can see it below), as well as info on The Quest for Gara. That's going to be delayed. 

"Glassframe has a name and it's Gara - inspired by the Design Council submission of 'Garasu'. Since Mirage's release we've strongly favoured releasing a Warframe's free path with quests. Gara's release will be no different," the update reads.

It continues: "However the quest for Gara is likely going to be delayed by a week, due to a scheduling conflict with one of our key Ostron actors… however, because Gara is ready, she will be in the Market for those able to support us. If you cannot, that’s fine too - we’ll be adding Gara’s parts to the Cetus reward tables to give you a head start for when her quest does release.  We will follow with Gara's story as soon as it's ready if it doesn't make the release! 

The full post is over here. Check out the map of Eidolon below:

Warframe has itself a look. It's all slimy, fleshy edges and organic industrial complexes—like if H.R. Giger designed Alien's Nostromo instead of the dripping xenomorph that stalked its bulkheads. I love it, personally, and few of the high-speed looter shooter's character classes, the titular warframes, embody that meat and metal design like Hydroid.

Hydroid was first released in 2014, with abilities that let him crowd control enemies and move around quickly as a surge of water. The slippery devil recently got a series of ability tweaks, coinciding with the release of a juiced-up variant called Hydroid Prime. Prime hunting—running missions to earn the loot needed to construct the more powerful version of each frame—is a key part of Warframe's endgame, so it's usually an exciting excuse to revisit old, favorite classes. Until a total rebirth in an August patch, that wasn't the case for Hydroid.

Prior to his rework, Hydroid was very few people's favorite anything. Which is a crying shame: the bedraggled, tentacle-faced mech who summons swarms of liquid tendrils from tears in reality has always dripped with visual flair and personality. Hyrdoid's personality simply never applied to the way most people play him. That basically amounted to strapping on a loot drop-enhancing mod and spamming the aforementioned swarm ability to farm crafting materials.

Hydroid, who looks like a chubby robot Cthulhu and melts into puddles, always deserved a gameplay identity as interesting as his aesthetic one. Thankfully, last month's rework offered just that, and I've been having a blast with it.

Chief among the changes is a charge system on half of his abilities. Hydroid is the first frame that can wind up techno-spells, at the cost of extra mana, for increased damage and duration. That's critical for his liquid airstrike skill, Tempest Barrage, since it can also be modified to reduce the armor of every enemy standing in it (a tremendous boon in Warframe's high-end PVE). The skill's damage output was previously a joke compared to the game's myriad offense-focused frames. Now it's a more useful support skill that sets up kills on beefier targets.

Meanwhile, developer Digital Extreme's has leaned into the character's "terror from the deep" vibe even further. When Hydroid becomes a living lake, using the skill Undertow, he can launch individual tentacles from a distance to drag foes into his mass, rather than just wait for them to walk into the trap. Trapped enemies are slowly drowned with ever-multiplying damage. Undertow can also be exited and re-entered at any time using Tidal Surge, which transforms the hero into a rushing tidal wave that drags enemies along.

I've taken to dragging enemies into place with Tidal Surge, dividing them with Undertow, then hammering their armor off with Tempest Barrage. The slick, crowd controlling combo makes Hydroid unique among his peers. While most classes in Warframe have some crowd control, few focus on it entirely. 

Hydroid now fits that manipulative niche. He gives fellow players in the co-op heavy game more breathing room: room to slide, wall-run, double-jump, and glide their way into clones and monsters just begging to be slapped to death by weird, electrified nunchaku. Or... what have you.

It's fun to do, too. As Hydroid I can endlessly flow from one skill to the next. It makes carving up the battlefield feel seamless in a way that certainly wasn't possible when the class was nothing but a glorified tentacle turret. 

That's good for a game that could sorely use a more diverse supporting cast. Warframe's sole "true" support class, Trinity, currently dominates demand. The recruitment channel is always slammed with people urging Trinity players to come restore their health and mana for free. Those that don't support probably play one of Warframe's many one-android armies, like Nidus or Inaros. These popular archetypes eat damage and spew back more of the same.

Digital Extremes loves to pile on more and more things for players to do within Warframe—such as the rapidly approaching Plains of Eidolon update, which promises "open zones," surface-to-jetpack combat, and spindly kaiju battles. But Digital Extremes isn't always as good at implementing new methods to play that content, which is what makes Hydroid such a great rework for Warframe as a whole.

With loot as their prime motivator, Warframe players naturally gravitate toward what gets them the best stuff most efficiently. So, plenty of Trinity players are happy to grease strangers' wheels. It gets them what they want, too. It also makes Warframe's sprawling selection of mission types feel awfully similar over time.

The improved Hydroid offers a new angle of attack. You can use skills much more efficiently when enemies are hung up on cosmic tendrils, drowning in robo-juice, or bunched up for grenade fire. Nothing gets my mental gears turning like the possibility of new weapon and skill combos that feed into that same thirst for efficiency as optimizing the loot grind.

At the same time, nobody is sacrificing Hydroid's original selling points. He's still good at farming drops and materials. In fact, crowd control is put to best use on the endless, wave-based missions where farming in Warframe is most popular.

He still looks good, too. I personally prefer the giant arthropod look of his original design, but Hydroid Prime's more piratical bent isn't too shabby. Just as long as I can still equip him with the helmet that gives him a cute little anglerfish dangly, I'm happy. More importantly, he looks cohesive with his new kit. All those wiggly tentacles and blubbery protrusions communicate his lurking, scheming nature before you've even taken him for a spin.

It all works in concert to make a warframe that feels different to inhabit than any other—one that will hopefully open up new cracks in the Warframe formula. The biggest reason I've been able to devote more than 800 hours to the shooter is precisely because it can feel so different from login to login. Warframe will likely never stop bolting flashy new systems onto its existing skeleton. However, if Hydroid is any indication, it seems the game can just as deftly improve the subtler, more common ways I shake things up between sessions.

Digital Extremes has released a new teaser showcasing some of the environments and action from the upcoming Warframe expansion Plains of Eidolon, which will see the launch of the game's first large, open-world "landscape." Players on the Plains will be confronted with new and old creatures and enemies, a brand-new Warframe, a day/night cycle, and "a gripping story told through interactive NPC characters who inhabit the bustling scavenger city of Cetus." 

Warframe: Plains of Eidolon will also see the introduction of the Ostrons, who scavenge biomechanical tissue from Orokin Towers, and new mission types that will enable the discovery and construction of new weapons, Warframes, and other items. "Experience a bristling new world where the wind rustles across your Syandana and the age and size of giant Orokin structures ominously looms in the background," the studio promised. "Earth will be more alive than ever before." 

We took an up-close look at Plains of Eidolon back in July, and spoke with the studio about what it has in mind for the expansion and how it expects the game will be changed once it's live. More recently, we got the details on the monstrous Eidolons that give the expansion its name: "Ten-story-tall behemoths that emerge at night to stomp across the plains." 

Today was also the day for Warframe devstream 98, which includes details on the upcoming changes to focus and a hefty chunk of Plains of Eidolon pre-release gameplay. You can watch the whole thing below, and catch the follow-up AMA on Reddit.

Later this year Warframe is getting an update that looks to fundamentally shake up the endgame. Players will head out onto the Plains of Eidolon, an open-world zone full of quests and enemies to kill. Among the most intimidating of those are the Eidolons—ten story tall behemoths that emerge at night to stomp across the plains.

We spoke with Digital Extreme's live ops and community producer Rebecca Ford to get the details on what these things are and how to kill them. Swapping between your operator and warframe, players will need to juggle between the two to create opportunities to open the Eidolon's up for some damage. While they could theoretically be soloed, you're better off bringing a team to help you in the fight.

Check out the video to get more details on the Eidolons and check out the rest of our continuing PAX West 2017 coverage here.

Warframe's second annual TennoCon convention is today, and developer Digital Extremes had some exciting news about its next big update. Titled Plains of Eidolon, it will add the game's first large, open world area called a Landscape. Unlike Warframe's regular procedurally generated levels, Plains of Eidolon will be a hand-crafted environment complete with a day-night cycle and an NPC town called Cetus where players can take on quests.

In a similar style to the first Guild Wars, an instance of Cetus will support up to 50 players, before you then venture out in the usual groups of one to four. Even still, this is a massive shift in the typical gameplay loop of Warframe. Staying loaded into an area to take quests wasn't possible before, making the game closer to a traditional MMO than it's ever been.

You'll even be able to seamlessly equip your Archwing and fly around to support allies from above, which you'll likely need to do come nighttime. While you fight the more traditional Grineer during the day, enormous creatures called Eidolons roam the plains at night—another first for Warframe. There's a lot going on in Plains of Eidolon (including a brand new weapon crafting system, as well) and Digital Extremes tells me more Landscapes could come if players end up liking them.

I put some questions about both the intent and the specifics behind this update to Digital Extremes' Live Ops and Community Producer, Rebecca Ford. Read on to hear more details about Plains of Eidolon and the new direction Warframe is heading.

PC Gamer: How large is Plains of Eidolon relative to other Warframe maps?

Rebecca Ford: Something we worry about constantly is how to keep things fresh after four years, not fall into a comfort zone, and to continue to take risks. We built Warframe with a procedurally generated map system that encompassed indoor and outdoor closed environments to help elongate play and keep players entertained while we continue building new content.

Now, we're introducing Landscapes for the first time and in its first iteration in Warframe. Landscapes is what we call an open zone, not quite the size of what you'd expect of open world in other games but still sizable, that offers a new kind of player freedom through interaction with NPC characters, flying over the plains using your Archwing, encountering new enemies during the day and at night. It's our first introduction of this new mechanic so we're nervous but really excited to see how players react and will continue to build on it as it grows.

This sounds a lot like Warframe is becoming more like a traditional MMORPG, at least in part. Was that the intent behind it?

If I were to hop into a time machine and travel back to 2012 to tell my younger self that we'd be at a point of introducing content like this to a game that started out as a third-person shooter with cool parkour—well, I'd say you're just crazy! And sure, creating an open landscape like this could be compared to a lot of genres, adventure games, open-space action games, MMORPGs. But the intent since day one was to take leaps, create and add to the game in an organic way where we listen to and surprise our players, so in a way the game has evolved into a mash of genres that we didn't necessarily plan specifically but so far we've managed to make sense of. 

What sort of missions or quests are there to complete, and what kind of rewards do they give?

Right now we are filling out the Landscapes with quests and mini-quests through NPC characters that you meet in the village of Cetus. There's a continuous day and night cycle, where you'll see the sun gradually go down at night and slowly rise in the morning, so it creates a feeling of being there, that’s also new to Warframe. 

In the day, you will experience the Warframe you know and love—kill Grineer, get resources, build awesome stuff, get stronger. This could be an endless loot experience if you aggressively upgrade and customize and look to trade off your finds with others. But we’ve added something much deeper, surprising—we’re adding weapon crafting to Warframe’s first Landscape. While we've had great customization before, using our Mod system, this is an entirely new system where you build Ostron weapons from components! Each component allows you to create a new style of weapon—and of course, you'll get to give it your [own] name for once!

And that’s just the day. At night, this is when even the Grineer flee. This is. what we want to be, some of the hardest content in Warframe. At night, the Plain comes alive with massive, five-story high monstrosities that ascend from the water and roam the landscape in search of Warframes to destroy and consume. Where before you've battled one against many, these Eidolons will require a sustained, coordinated team approach if you have any hope of bringing one down at all. 

Does it have any procedural generation, or is it all pre-made and the same each time you explore it?

Good question. There will be random combat encounters in Plains of Eidolon with the geographical layout remaining consistent. To give you a better sense of what I mean, enemy encounters and combat are randomized every time you play as well as a continuous day and night cycle that affects how enemies operate—adding even more variety and excitement to Landscapes. 

How many players can be in an instance of the area at once?

The Ostron Town of Cetus is introduced to players in Plains of Eidolon and this first introduction can have 50 players in an instance. This town then leads to the Plains where combat and quests take place where you continue with your standard one to four-player squad.

Are there any load screens or other transitions when exploring or switching to the Archwing? Similarly, will players be able to see others flying around in the sky above them?

There are no load screens or transitions when calling on your Archwing to equip it to your Warframe. It’s a seamless process. Equip and fly! And, yes, absolutely, other players will see their fellow Tenno above them as they provide air support, or just fly off to investigate something! 

Are Landscapes something you've been wanting to do for a while?

Very early this year there was a collective understanding we wanted to try something different. The fact that this has come together the way it has speaks to the craftsmanship among our extremely devoted team. Doing it now was important because Warframe has been developing a world with characters and experiences that matter through our previous lore-driven updates, and we needed to build up areas that speak to that. A town full of civilians is something that we have only heard about in the storylines, but never seen. 

Is this a sign of things to come for Warframe updates? Should we expect open world exploration areas to become the norm from now on?

If our players like our Landscapes as much as we do, then YES, you can expect more!

Publishers including Blizzard, Riot, and Perfect World have in recent months revealed the drop rates for their games in order to comply with Chinese law. But none have gone to the extreme, you might say, of Warframe developer Digital Extremes, which has posted an incredibly detailed list of the drop rates for what appears to be nearly every single item in the game.   

Because Warframe is free to play, "our drop system is designed to maintain a balance," the studio said. "Our free players can earn the game's content, and our paying players who support us with purchases usually get first dibs on the content by using Platinum (which can be traded to free players)!" 

The data is automatically generated and will be updated automatically (and manually when warranted), and is broken down into categories including Missions, Relics, Keys, Non-Location-Specific Rewards, Sorties, and Mod and Blueprint Drops. Despite how long the list is, Digital Extremes warned that because of Warframe's complexity, it is not "comprehensive" and comes with no guarantees. Some of the data is also apparently in flux: "Beyond Legendary" items currently have a .09 percent drop rate, but are also marked as "Under Review," suggesting that the rate is up for change. 

That said, I think the list about as detailed as anyone could ask for: Hell's Chamber, for instance, which increases the multishot percentage of shotguns, has a rare (6.45 percent) chance of dropping in Rotation C of the Kuva Fortress/Pago (Spy) mission. That's one item that could drop in one rotation of one mission in one location, which should give you a hint as to just how big this list is. As such, I won't be posting it, but you can lay your eyes on the whole thing right here. 

Earlier this month, Tom teased some then never before seen screenshots of Warframe's completely revamped Earth maps. They've now arrived as part of the free-to-play shooter's latest 'Chains of Harrow' update, which also brings with it a new lore-based quest, new weapons, and a neat Void power-harnessing priest playable character, among a host of other things. 

From front to back, new Warframe Harrow is Lotus' newest Warrior who relies on four main abilities: Condemn, which casts a wave of energy and chains foes together; Penance, which sacrifices shields to boost reloads and fire rates; Thurible, which channels Harrow's energy to generate buffs; and Covenant which helps protect nearby allies by way of an energy-powered force. 

Here's a wee look at Harrow in action: 

On the weapons front, the Chains of Harrow update adds a new pistol named the Knell which increases Critical Chance for a limited time by virtue of headshots. Harrow's spear blasts targets with "corrosive plasma projectiles", which sound like a nightmare for the dry cleaner. 

Nox is a new Grineer Enemy that wields a toxin-fuelled gun and explodes upon defeat, whereas Digital Extremes describes the latest lore-based mission thusly:

"A disturbing transmission from Red Veil's spiritual medium leads to an abandoned Steel Meridian vessel adrift on the outskirts of Earth. Inside, strange whispers echo throughout the lifeless vessel. What force unleashed this evil and how can it be stopped? (The Chains of Harrow Quest will appear in the Codex for those who have completed The War Within and unlocked Mot in the Void.)"

Warframe's Chains of Harrow update is live now. The game's fan festival TennoCon is also around the corner—July 8—so keep your eyes peeled for more updates around then.