Forget Destiny, here's how Warframe makes us care about its space stuff

Can you believe Warframe came out a whopping eight years ago, in 2013? It was a follow-up to Digital Extremes’ Dark Sector, a third person shooter with a knife frisbee gimmick that got a lukewarm reception (though I myself liked it a bunch). Dark Sector was itself a reimagining of a prototype the team had built for a game set not in a fictitious Eastern European setting but in space, and watching it now, you’ll be amazed by how much of the DNA of Warframe was established years before the game ever came out.

The Tenno are there, Warframe’s space ninjas and guardians of the solar system, in their strange organic armour. And for years, Warframe wasn’t a lot more than that to me. A decent enough action title with a lot of grinding, unlocking new “warframes” to fight in. In my mind it’s always sat alongside Destiny. Interesting space settings tethered to a treadmill of rote action. But while I’ve spent the last year or so giving both of these games another go, amused by certain additions (Destiny’s bow is a joy to wield and Warframe’s Octavia kills enemies with custom music…how could I not) only one of them has managed to grab me.

So if you’re interested in playing Warframe, turn back now. I mean it, massive spoilers ahead. If you’re remotely interested in playing it already then you’ll be served better by experiencing its story for yourself.

Warframe’s story was nonsense to me for many hours. White noise in the background of endless looting and shooting. Which was fine! I was there to be a dumb space ninja DJ, I wasn’t caring about anything else. But dozens of hours in, unlocking one planet after another in the game’s map, the amount of dialogue from NPCs was not just increasing but suddenly they were having conversations. Warframe never hurt for personality but now, suddenly it was giving me plot threads to pull on. Then, I was given a quest: The Second Dream.