The free-to-play genre has had its ups and downs over the years. With their traditional source of revenue discarded, developers have had to come up with their own innovative methods of drawing money from their players, and in many cases the resulting tactics border on manipulative. Other studios, however, manage to reach a fair balance between free content and paywalls. Such is the case with Digital Extremes, which in 2013 released its free sci-fi shooter, Warframe.
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Of course, it's not perfect; Warframe's infamous loot grind has turned many an aspiring space ninja away from the otherwise impressive title. That said, the game's consistent free updates over the last few years have created one of the most content-rich indie games around - and it looks like there's far more to come.
Check out the gameplay for Warframe's upcoming expansion, Plains of Eidolon, below:
If you can't tell from the crowd's reaction at the 8:45 mark, the open world reveal is kind of a big deal. In fact, it's totally unprecedented; all of Warframe's missions and content up to this point have involved fairly linear maps, with clear objectives to complete across a variety of settings. Each mission always ended in the same manner, with the player or "Tenno" boarding his or her ship and returning to the safety of the planet's orbit. The slow walk into the open world in the above presentation signaled an entirely new direction for Warframe that even triple-A titles wouldn't attempt.
There's a couple of other really cool changes as well. The Archwing for example, which previously only appeared in brief underwater segments and in carefully constructed zero-gravity maps, will finally see more usage as the player's primary method of transportation around Eidolon. Fishing was also revealed, and while excitement for hurling spears at running water will likely vary from viewer to viewer, it does suggest that Digital Extremes is testing the waters for more traditional MMO professions.
You can see the full presentation from Warframe's annual Tennocon here. There's also a trailer for something called, "The Sacrifice," which seems to hint at a new type of Excalibur.
Warframe is available for free on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. For future updates, follow the game's official Twitter account.
