Warframe developer Digital Extremes previewed a host of upcoming content on Twitch this past Wednesday, including a peek at the next in-game operation. In 2021, we can expect a lot more to come to the free-to-play looter-shooter space ninja game.
The first addition is Queenpins. These enemies are high-tech, corporate assassins who are the Corpus counterpart to the Grineer Lich system that debuted in 2019. When players defeat their Queenpin, they will receive new ephemeras, which create impressive visual auras around the player.
New Corpus missions are coming to the Railjack system, which means instead of fighting exclusively on foot, players will be able to take the fight to these hypercapitalists in space. Liches and Queenpins will both appear in Railjack missions, serving as a final boss. This feature was originally advertised at TennoCon 2018, but was cut in order to ship the Empyrean update.
Another piece of Empyrean is arriving in 2021: the Command Intrinsics tree. Right now, players rely on each other in order to run a Railjack successfully by leveling up Intrinsic trees related to piloting, gunnery, engineering, and so on. The Command tree means you can just go ahead and handle that by yourself, and a NPC crew will hang out on the Railjack to help out. You can hire crewmembers from Fortuna, or use your own Liches that you’ve defeated and converted, then customize and train your crew. Players will even be able to equip their crew from their arsenal, so boarders coming onto their ship will meet with a nasty surprise.
There is no exact release date for these 2021 additions to Warframe, and it’s possible that Corpus Railjack missions, Queenpins, and the Command Intrinsics tree may launch in separate patches. However, they should be “pretty dang close” to one another, Digital Extremes said, and players will learn more about Warframe’s next patches in the new year.
Operation: Orphix Venom is now live in Warframe, and will run until Jan. 18, 2021.
