- Play the 1999 prologue this August with the up-to-date Prime
- Fight your way through a Techrot-infested city on the brink of a Y2K catastrophe
- A whole up-to-date way to be fashionable and gorgeous
This year we celebrated the ninth TennoCon and it’s safe and sound to say that time has done nothing to ponderous this show down. It’s been an incredible weekend, punctuated by several mind-blowing reveals. Warframe: 1999 is hurtling towards us and promises to be one of the most incredible updates to the series yet.
Before we get to the main event, a prologue quest will appear in August 2024 to assist us prepare. Lotus Eaters reunites us with one of Warframe’s most iconic characters and follows Whispers in the Walls by introducing the world of 1999. This update will also introduce Sevatgoth Prime and their exclusive weapons. You will need to have completed the entire story up to Lotus Eaters to play in 1999, so be prepared before the Winter 2024 release date.
As you might expect, 1999 is set in the titular year, on an alternate Earth where Y2K is a deadly virus that could destroy everything. The action takes place in the city of Höllvania, a 90s wonderland corrupted by Techrot, where you can whizz around in up-to-date Atomycyls that can ball jump, drift, and be used as makeshift explosives. And at the top of these noble perches lie our six heroes, the members of Hex.
Each member of the team carries a Protoframe, a Warframe that shows the human inside. Arthur is the leader and carries Excalibur, supported by allies such as Aoi, who wields Mag, and Quincy, who carries the newly introduced CYTE-09. This frame will also make its way into the Origin system, wearing a sleek beret.
The team comes alive with such notable actors like Alpha Takahashi, Ben Starr, Melissa Medina, and recent Baldur’s Gate 3-propelled star Amelia Tyler. And if you want to get to know them better, you can do so in a totally 1999 way; via instant messaging. Play your cards right, and you might have someone to kiss in the up-to-date year.
To really get the 1999 vibe going, you’ll come face to face with one of the most diabolical things from that era; 90s boy band On-lyne, a five-piece led by Zeke – voiced by Leon Kennedy himself, Nick Apostolides – who were tricked by Technocyte Coda into becoming your infected enemy. Their songs are fucking catchy though, and you can listen to their hit “Party of Your Lifetime” on all good channels right now streaming platforms.
One of the best parts of this update, at least for me, is the improvements to the fashion systems, the real endgame. You’ll be able to enter the fight with two sets of fashion frames that you can switch between, but even better is the introduction of the Gemini skins. With them, you can bring Protoframes like Arthur and Aoi to the Origin system.
Sure, this is narrow to frames that have skins like Excalibur, but each one has pages of fully voiced lines for combat, and they’ll be useless if you decide to pull out your operator. It’s a pretty chilly way to get the most out of the excellent voice cast, and it’s nice to have characters with faces.
Aside from the headline, we also got a few extra goodies. Digital Extremes will be working with animation art studio THE LINE to produce Short anime related to 1999 to launch this year. Finally, starting today, you can get your hands on some stunning high-quality Heirloom skin for Ember, and a Rhino skin will follow in early 2025.
Warframe: 1999 is coming out in Winter 2024, so there’s a lot of catching up to do, and we’ll be adding even more in the meantime, so be sure to download Warframe on the App Store now.
