They were called Tenno. Warriors of blade and gun: masters of the Warframe armor

This co-op based, third person shooter was the best sci-fi title we saw at E3 last month thanks to its engaging missions, slick combat controls and neat ninja influences, so we’re pretty chuffed that after its massively successful BETA that has attracted over 2.5 million players on PC, it’s coming to PlayStation 4 at launch.

Players awaken as Tenno warriors, descendants of an ancient and mystical civilization of lost warriors from the Orokin era on Earth. Having been preserved in Cryopods for centuries, they must now fight and resist against the warring factions of the vast militarised armies of the Grineer and The Corpus; proto-corporation humans who operate and maintain the trade routes of the Solar Rails.

Banding together in squads of 4 to complete co-op biased raids in the hope of locating ancient artefacts to upgrade and customise Warframes – the exo-skeletal technology that only the Tenno come armed with and can operate – offers a range of slick offensive and defensive powers to explore which are a perfect blend of high sci-fi tech and ancient ninja deadliness. Yep, heavily charged with special manga inspired moves, these Warframes are cool. We played as Excalibur in a training suit that allowed us during battle to drop in a Slash Dash move; violently tearing into oncoming opponents simply by swiping up on the PS4 touchpad. It was satisfyingly quick, easy to master and mixed up the pace of combat in a unique and exciting way, not to mention that it looked awesome when executed in combination with other traditional dojo skills. Add to this a Super Jump so we could cover ground in a flash and scout ahead, slicing anyone in range with our Radial Javelin before finishing off any stunned survivors with a Radial Blind, and the waves of enemy factions soon fell at our feet. Also in our squad was Vauban who could dimensionally crush enemies, Frost who was channelling moisture and vapour in the air to create sub zero conditions whilst Nyx could use psychic attacks to reach into enemy consciousness and manipulate their behaviour. All the while there were bows, arrows, power gauntlets and of course rifles to get to grips with. How these futuristic and traditional skills are all integrated with the new PS4 controller provided a fresh new way to play that’s unlike the standard sci-fi shooter we continually encounter.

Missions are where the action occurs, accessed via the Star Map. Players head out across the galaxy to battle enemies, collect resources or credits; raiding the solar system for ancient artefacts that increase a Warframe’s abilities and enhance arsenals. Combining and tailoring Warframes and weapons create uniquely lethal tools. Each Warframe has the power to self-revive 4 times every 24 hours. Once this number of revives runs out, players must wait until the next day for them to automatically recharge or consume Platinum to revive them right away. A Warframe isn’t destroyed if a player chooses not to revive in a mission but learning when to use revives and when it’s worth simply forfeiting a mission is all part of playing. Thanks to an Automatic Mission Generator, players will never experience the same mission twice and always face a new map to conquer solo or with their squad as levels are procedurally configured for a unique raid every time. The gameplay will continually evolve with major monthly content and feature updates as developers Digital Extremes have long term goals. This comes as no surprise as Warframe has been at least 10 years in the making. “The fact that we’re developing Warframe for the launch of the PS4 this fall is unbelievably awesome,” said Steve Sinclair, creative director at Digital Extremes. “The irony is not lost on me that our original sci-fi concept for this game was the first ever seen footage for the PS3 generation that never came to fruition until now. Exciting times are ahead with this next gen transition.”

Approached by Sony regarding inclusion in the PS4 launch, Digital Extremes remain proudly independent and are focused on evolving the Free-to-Play genre in the next generation whilst delivering an aesthetically stunning sci-fi experience. Funded by fans through In-App-Purchases, Warframe is already the fastest growing F2P game on the PC but the additional PS4 controls have brought something special to proceedings. As a co-op focused game that thrives on community and clan-building, Warframe also hopes to take advantage of the social connectivity and community building features coming to the PlayStation4 system as well as 2nd screen functionality in the form of an Android and iOS App called Warframe Nexus. This companion app will allow players to perform in-game tasks and provide pertinent real-time game info while away from the PS4 such as alerts to critical missions, crafting and building inventory, and scheduling gaming sessions with friends just to name a few. All in all, Warframe is our reason to buy a PS4 at launch and will bring out our inner sci-fi ninja!

More info about Warframe can be found on the website.