Warframe Creative Director Reveals New Characters Inspired by Super Smash Bros.

The next narrative chapter of Warframe, Jade Shadows: Constellations, launches on June 17, and the development team promises it's unlike anything players have seen before. The update introduces the 65th Warframe, which is actually two Warframes in one. I spoke exclusively with Creative Director Rebecca Ford ahead of the launch about the mechanics of switching between characters, the exclusive reveal of Ryoku's Railjack, the long-awaited Stug Incarnon, and how Super Smash Bros. partially inspired the update.

"There is a Super Smash Bros. reference for all of our choices because originally we did not know what to do with Sirius and Orion," Ford says, referring to the two characters sharing a Frame. "I was like, okay, this is going to kind of be like having Pit or Dark Pit or Samus and Dark Samus in the Smash roster. They're two different characters, but they're a very similar flavor."

"I saw a lot of people saying, 'This is Ice Climbers,' which is great. We want Cain and Abel. We want biblical and heavenly levels of cosmic violence. [Design Director] Pablo [Alonso] just went for it and the only thing I said [was] 'They really need to feel cosmic and planetary.'"

In the game, Sirius can throw his signature scythe like a "boomerang capable of picking up orbs," while Orion swings "a massive horizontal slash that significantly reduces enemy defenses." Ford explained how the two characters occupy the same Frame.

"Imagine you enter a Warframe mission and you have an empty constellation," Ford says. "It's an empty slot with all these stars that you get to fill in. Every time you actively choose to swap, you're starting to build out the constellation. Once it's built, you can do the most effective cosmic clash, which is the brothers fighting. So [when] you enter your mission, you can start alternating between powers, giving them each control. Every time you swap, you populate your constellation with a star."

"Once your constellation is complete, you can spend them beat by beat. And that is very much like a 'Simon Says' game, but it happens in the sky. It's huge. It takes over the map. You are basically bringing the battle of the gods to whatever mission you're playing."

Regarding replayability, Ford says that while it's not a launch feature, Digital Extremes will add an option to restart the quest and tweak actions to unlock different parts of the game.

"There's different dialogue, different cinematics, some of the VO is different, and some of the moments are different. It's not just plot, it's also story and theme. So when and if you get to the end of the quest, which will be about 35 minutes, you will find a world state that is only possible because of the broader themes that this quest explores."

"Your choices matter, but like all things Warframe, we want you to experience everything. You'll need to go in, make a choice, replay the quest, and then you can see the other side. But it's sort of the difference between strawberry and chocolate and not the difference between a hotdog and a hamburger. It's flavor."

Speaking of flavor, one of the most anticipated additions is the Incarnon form of the notoriously weak community-meme weapon, the Stug.

"The name alone is kind of absurd," Ford says. "The way it works, equally absurd. We only made five Incarnons this year so far. So giving it one of those five spots is a very intentional choice of saying, 'We're committing to this bit and you're going to like it. And if you like the Stug, this is your day.'"

"It's like a farmer deciding to rotate their crops in the field. If you're overdrawing from the same fantasy every update, your crops will fail to thrive. So in this case, it's very much a crop rotation of us picking fresh things to put some fertilizer on and say, 'Okay, this is the time of this Stug and we know it's a ridiculous time, but by God, you can't do it so we'll do it for you.'"

During my conversation with Ford, I got a first look at Ryoku's Railjack. The exclusive image shows what Ford describes as more than just a ship.

"This is [Ryoku's] headquarters. This is going to be the scene, the setting of one of the most environmental boss fights you'll ever see in Warframe. [There will be] brand-new traps and puzzles and obstacles. The team that worked on the interior and the exterior of this basically committed all the way. The ship itself is basically a fight. So it's very, very fun."

Ford says Jade Shadows: Constellations, initially codenamed Jade Shadows 2, was a matter of unfinished business for Digital Extremes.

"We needed our place to accept that the story wasn't finished," Ford says. "And we think right now, based on all the reactions to the materials we've put out, [the community] agree[s]. 'It couldn't have ended like that! You can't just end the story that way! There has to be a Part 2!'

"You're getting things at an elevated pace. You're getting things at a character motivation that is really quite personal. I'm excited for players to see the dilemma. To me, it feels like we've been able to tell a complete micro story within Warframe. The excitement is absolutely fueled by character introductions, developments and character choices.

"If Jade Shadows was preschool, this is high school."