Warframe’s Tennocon 2021 left a lot of juicy reveals and announcements for the upcoming content. The future expansion called The New War was revealed, with 30 minutes of gameplay showing what would be part of the climax of the current story arc, which started almost three years ago. But what is exactly The New War? We got your back.
Warframe: The New War - Overview
The name “The New War” refers to both the upcoming expansion and the name for the current story arc. This war starts as the Lotus, the leader of the Tenno faction, disappears after an Orokin called Ballas, a scientist from the old Orokin Era, shows up mysteriously alive and invites her to go with him.
After The Lotus apparently deserts with this malicious Orokin, you find, fight, and fatally wound him on the quest “The Sacrifice”, only to discover that the Lotus reverted to her old Sentient form, Natah, and she escapes with Ballas.
The Story So Far
Chimera Prologue
Sometime after that, a sinister cosmic being called The Man In The Wall prompts you to astral project yourself inside a dungeon, where you discover that Ballas survived and was turned into an Amalgam, working for the Sentients. Seemingly angry at his captors, he creates the sword Paracecis, the Sentient Slayer, and hands it to you as a weapon for the upcoming war.
The Jovian Concord
Sentients are now on the offensive trying to overcome their weakness against the Void, so they force Alad V to create Amalgams, mixes of sentients with other races. They make the Tenno fight the Amalgams to gather data on them, but little they know about Alad V secretly supporting them while they advance and fight the massive Sentient creature, the Ropalolyst.
Natah contacts you to tell you that she’s finally free from the Orokin who made her betray her race and family, and she’s now ready to finish the war. After defeating the Ropalolyst, you find out it was just another way for the Sentient to gather data about you.
Rising Tide
After rebuilding a Cephalon from old times called Cy, he guides you to build a Railjack spaceship, a galleon from the old war era, to take the fight to the stars. Sentients try to stop you, with no success, and you can now access new territory in the Origin System.
Erra
Once you discover the Veil Proxima, you have a new vision about the Old War, showing you allied with the Lotus and other Tenno against the sentient Erra, the brother of Lotus. He calls for her to no avail, with Lotus rejecting him and all the Tenno using Void Beams to attack Erra.
Back in the present, you find yourself projected into a Sentient ship where you see Erra alive talking with Ballas, who’s now on a leash. He says that Natah has memory issues and still believes to be fighting the Old War, which makes her perfect to tackle the offensive against the Tenno.
Operation: Scarlet Spear
The beginning of The New War is marked by a mass attack on Earth, where the Sentients send the gigantic Condrix creatures, to gather planetary data for future purposes. Little Duck from Fortuna informs Teshin of this happening and while he initially doesn’t believe it, he quickly starts preparing a response to this invasion. Yours is the task of fending off these Sentient invaders, both from the ground on Earth missions, and space in Veil Proxima in Railjack missions. The Grineer blames you for this invasion, so General Sargas Ruuk and his troops will oppose you.
The Maker
In the Sentient Mothership, Erra and Natah talk about their deceased mother, as he compels her to finish the war. Natah’s memories are still having issues since, while still believing to be on the Old War, she also remembers ordering the Tenno to kill Erra. Erra insists, and after seeing Natah noticing that Ballas is an Orokin, he traps her on an energy field, dropping Ballas’ leash and ordering her to finish the war.
The Deadlock Protocol
Parvos Granum, the founder of the Corpus faction, returns from the Void and asks for your assistance after finding the Corpus as a shadow of once they were. He disapproves the current state of the faction under his son Nef Anyo’s command and decides to make a restructuring in preparation for the upcoming war. However, he ends up deciding that the Corpus may be lost forever and that it’s time for a new doctrine, inviting you to join him.
Operation: Orphix Venom
Still recovering from the previous Operation, Sentients launch a new attack with machinery that can disable Warframes. As dire as this sounds, the Entrati Family on Deimos assists you with the old technology of Necramechs, retired mechanic rigs that you can use when your warframe gets disabled. While fighting back, you receive a message from Natah, confessing that she developed this new technology, but secretly telling you she’s dying.
Warframe: The New War
Last but not least, the expansion called The New War would be the climax for Warframe’s current story arc, and it will feature an all-out war where you will have the chance of playing as other faction characters for the first time across the Origin System.
This war will see massive attacks on all fronts, whether is Railjack territory or Cetus, and you will have the opportunity to respond as the Grineer trooper Kahl on the Plains of Eidolon, the scared Corpus soldier Veso on a Corpus Station, and our mentor and Conclave leader Tesshin, displaying some serious moves across the Proxima Veil.
Warframe: The New War - Release Date And Details
Various details about the upcoming expansion were announced in the past Tennocon, and the list goes as follows:
The New War - Release Date And Price
While no specific date was shown, it was shown that The New War will release for free later this year, and hopefully, we’ll see more information about it before Q4 2021, possibly a December release date. We will update this information when it’s announced!
New Warframes - Caliban and Nidus Prime
A new warframe is announced for this expansion, called Caliban, a warframe that’s half-Sentient. While this wouldn’t be the first time this concept is used on a warframe since Revenant is also half-Sentient, it’s certainly an interesting approach given the theme of the expansion, which could involve this warframe in a significant way.
An upcoming Prime Warframe was also shown, this time the enhanced version of Nidus, the infested warrior. Now sporting a golden section and several new tentacles, this Prime Warframe for sure will be a great upgrade from the normal one, so keep your eyes open for when it releases! And if you want to learn more about Nidus in general, check our build guide!
Warframe Mobile, Crossave, and Crossplay
One of the most surprising announcements was the Warframe Mobile version, which looks honestly amazing and seems to run smoothly on mobile devices. Even more surprising was the reveal of an upcoming Crossplay and Crossave function, now in development and for all platforms, something that players have been hoping for years.
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