The Duvieri Paradox is Warframe’s latest expansion StrangeQuite the opposite of what any free-to-play shooter has attempted before. It ditches the game’s typically open sci-fi trappings in favor of something closer to a fantasy western: it’s in black and white (admit when it’s not); It is like evil; It’s both a sequel and a prequel (paradox, eh?) at once, and the whole thing takes place inside the mind of its new Big Bad. Oh, and it’s also the game’s new opening, despite being radically different. Like I said, The Duviri Paradox is Strange,
So what, you may well ask, is going on here? “It’s like reality is when … you’ve been making the same game for 10 years,” Warframe creative director Rebecca Ford told me during a recent chat, “if you sum things up at the end of the experience.” live, you leave a lot of people behind… and we feel even people who have been with us for 10 years, if we keep giving them what they expect, they will eventually lose interest .
“So we tried to combine the heavy weight of expectations experienced with the grim reality of running a game as a service and making people feel this very impenetrable. And we found a way to bend gravity to our will and create this new beginning Tried it. Will it work? You tell us!”
And so, once The Duvieri Paradox arrives later today, players who don’t even know what Warframe is will be able to dive straight into the expansion’s weird, wonderful fantasy western world, which at first glance may feel like world apart from the hard science-fiction of Warframe’s core. Here, trapped in the mind of the Mad King Dominus Thrax, they’ll play as Drifters, desperately trying to escape the never-ending cycle of death and rebirth. And it’s there that The Duvieri Paradox’s hat tip to the roguelike genre begins to become apparent, clarifying the immediate question of what for a game of such an archetypal genre?
“Since I love Roguelites,” laughs Ford, “and because Warframe is so big, so wide-ranging in the risks it takes, we thought we could do an update that [was both a] true warframe update [and] A revolutionary reinvention of Warframe’s gameplay… The DuVry Paradox tries to take the things we love about Rogue-lites and Warframe and throw them in one pot to see if we can make a soup. Can It’s the soupiest update we’ve ever done!” The result, as Ford said, “is probably the most aggressive we’ve seen in terms of themes and gameplay rules. [and] Undoubtedly the most unique Warframe experience you can play”.
Given its prominent place at the beginning of the Warframe experience as an optional new introduction to the game (existing players can also access it via the system map), DuViri Paradox’s early exploration is a revitalized tutorial and more accessible entry point. functions as For the notoriously impenetrable live-service game. Not only does it introduce ambitiously to both new and existing mechanics, but it also serves as a wake-up call to its dual universes, one an all-baroque sci-fi epic and the other a constantly fluctuating representation of its host’s ever-changing moods. does.
“I think for us, when we were choosing where to put it,” Ford explains of DuVry’s paradoxical unconventional placement in the game, “the reality is, if you play through the existing new player experience And then all of a sudden you’re playing the Duviri Paradox and you’ve got a different set of moves, different gameplay… It can be weird… So why don’t we bring about change in the most revolutionary way possible? Freely So that they can go back and forth once they’ve completed the story – they’re never bogged down by figuring out a mechanic as it always is.
“And for me, it was if we’re going to go big, be radical, don’t force that down the road of what might have been a natural choice a player wanted to make … and the way we presented that choice. It just feels like it’s a very intentional part of the narrative now, which I think sets Warframe apart from a lot of other games, as the narrative is now leaning towards a very mechanical-heavy option that really It’s the best flavor we’ve ever had. So I’m very happy with the way it’s being presented.”
Much of The Duvieri Paradox’s tutorial takes place within its opening six-chapter exploration, a 90-minute cinematic experience Ford jokingly refers to as a story about “managing emotions and owning an apartment”. It has been given thematic touchstones. It’s an adventure that will transport players to the striking open world of Duvieri – where they’ll be able to deploy their new Drifter melee abilities or ride their amazing new mechanical horse – And to murky undercrofts using the Warframe to compete in more traditional missions that reward choice of decree. These temporary, session-specific ability upgrades are one of two new ways Drifters can improve their skills in The Duvieri Paradox, the other being permanent Drifter Intrinsics, unlocking melee stances and a choice of combat and riding upgrades.
So yes, it’s all very different from the “classic” Warframe experience, and as Ford explains it, there’s a careful balancing act going on to make sure the Duviry Paradox still exists comfortably within the core Warframe world. “I think a key part of what makes this Warframe is how we interweave the story of each Duviri Paradox encounter with the most important choice: Which Warframe are you going to play? So you can imagine that Duviri is the full story: you like your warframe, you are entering the world as a drifter, the world is black and white and you need to earn enough change for warframe to come [from the other side]…and then by the end of the day, the drifter made peace [world’s current emotion] And Warframe says, ‘See you later.'”
And, of course, once the introductory quest is over, players can use their new Drifter skills and abilities to explore Duvieri’s open world. At this point, new players have the option of continuing and progressing using the borrowed Warframes, or making the leap to the other side of the game and starting the original journey of acquisition on their own. Either way, the full, fully co-operative Duviri experience includes more than 50 side activities – including the familiar likes of fishing and resource gathering – all within the five world-sized “Mood Spirals” of Dominus Thrax. – is at the mercy of fear, jealousy, anger. sorrow, and joy.
Each of these, switching every two hours, radically alters Duviri’s environment, scenery, and enemies, including its “high-level” mood-specific bosses known as Orovyrms – Said to be some of Warframe’s most ambitious confrontations yet. For example, Luciana, the Nightmare Sphere boss, attacks in two phases, the first in land-based combat and the second in the Undercroft, where it traverses a vast area while dishing out ice attacks. Grinding these bosses for rewards is a part of Duviri’s repetitive gameplay, and there’s also a new “endless” mode known as The Circuit, an ever-changing array of familiar mission types to challenge Tenno. Challenged to battle through a changing mix of commands are unlocked and pushed just a bit. Forward every time.
it is, then, a Very — and that’s not even touching on things like new cosmetics options, including a dazzling array of beard options for Drifters, I’m told — and I can’t help but wonder if The Duvieri Paradox’s evolution is one for them. It has been an encouraging experience. The way the team envisions what Warframe could be? “It is, but not in the way you think,” Ford told me cryptically. “And I would recommend you check out TennoCon this year; we actually have a new destination we’re going to and it’s sure to shock and surprise everyone…the next step for us in terms of genre crossover.” ” And could the insanely weird Duviri Paradox expect Warframe to take bigger risks in the future? “Oh yes”, Ford smiles.
Warframe’s The Duviri Paradox expansion launches today on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch and PC.