Warframe: 1999 Interview – Something New And Fresh

Megan Everett: After the conclusion of The New War, we basically went to kick off a new narrative arc, and, sometimes, in order to go forward, you need to go back to the beginning. We wanted to explore an alternate version of the Warframes’ origins, how that ties into our current “main forces” of this narrative arc (Albrecht Entrati and The Man In The Wall), and do it in a nostalgic setting that our players could feel an unfamiliar familiarity to. A lot of which we owe to Dark Sector, which serves as one of our primary inspirations for 1999. Especially since Warframe wouldn’t be here without it! Our dev team is full of people with beloved memories around the ‘90s and it’s a decade with such iconic imagery, it just gave us a ton to play with.

Megan Everett: We don’t want to totally lose sight of Warframe’s core setting and identity, right? It’s a melodramatic space opera epic, and we can’t go on a time romp through every era of Earth’s pop culture. It’s fun to take a break from the main setting and try something new and weird that fits the game style, but we will always return to Warframe’s core.

Megan Everett: Community feedback is always influencing the game. It’s our belief that that’s why Warframe has lasted as long as it has. We just made a number of changes to the new player experience in our Koumei & The Five Fates update, so we will always be listening for feedback around every moment in Warframe, not just the latest content. We’re already getting great feedback from the 1999 demo we put out last month, such as some movement changes to how the Atomicycle feels. Regarding specifics in the full 1999 launch, though, you’ll just have to play to see exactly what and how the community responds. No spoilers from me!

Megan Everett: The romance feature was specifically designed around 1999. It functions through an old-school instant messenger system called KOL on a computer to emulate the experience some of us grew up with in the ‘90s and early 2000s. I’m not sure it would hit the same way in a far-future setting. The seasons system for Höllvania is a new experiment for us, and if players like it, we’ll keep that in mind for future ideas!

Megan Everett: You can always count on us trying new, weird things in Warframe! We’ll see where the journey takes us.

Megan Everett: Every player is different. Some like to stop and smell the roses; others are interested in getting through content and unlocking the next best thing. The Warframe: 1999 Quest won’t be as long as The New War, but it is still a sizable chunk of story, gameplay with several easter eggs, and other shiny things to play with and find that go well beyond the single-player campaign.

Megan Everett: When we had our TennoCon Relay social hub, which was set in the Höllvania Mall, players quickly found our Half-Life Gordan Freeman easter egg. But saying if there are more ruins the surprise of discovery… so I’ll just say keep an eye out while you have a good time, and you won’t be disappointed at some of the ‘90s references we’ve baked in.

Megan Everett: We have no expectations! We have hopes, we have dreams, but we would never expect things to go a specific way. Our community keeps us humble and lets us know when we missed the mark and we always take it to heart.