Alex Poland

So many people have recommended Warframe to replace Destiny. And while I sunk over 1k hours into Warframe in less than 6 months, and had an absolute blast, I just don’t think there’s any comparisons to be made between Destiny and Warframe. Warframe is like, a genre of its own. It’s a spectacle, an anomaly, a genuinely unique experience from a team of close knit individuals whose love for their game is the only marketing tool that they have. When I think of Looter Shooters, I don’t think of Warframe. It doesn’t have the tiered weapons, it’s not limited in its buildcrafting, it is fully capable of adding new systems without completely abandoning older ones, and it doesn’t ship patch notes and label it as content. Warframe is the ultimate example of what Live Service was supposed to be, created during a time where Studio’s and Publishers had to take a chance and invest into their game, risking catastrophic failure, and build something that players will always want to return to. Every “Looter Shooter” and “Live Service” title to come after this era has fundamentally shifted their approach in attempts to replicate this kind of success without sacrificing their bottom line. And that is why they all fail. Borderlands 4 delivered a horribly optimized experience with zero endgame. The First Descendant relied on tacky anime girl marketing to carry its success. Outriders tried to pull the psyop of the century on its player base, and say their game that behaves like live service, was in fact, not live service. Marvel’s Avengers put the bare minimum into their game, relying solely on the existing popularity of the IP to carry it forward. Anthem dared to defy and immediately crashed and burned once the studio realized just how much they had to invest into the game in order for it to be successful. And Destiny 2 milked its fans like a herd of cattle, using up every ounce of goodwill, until every single udder was dried and shriveled up. Warframe might have temporarily suffered from some of these issues throughout its lifecycle. But the team stays true to their vision and course corrects when needed, often overdelivering on their solutions. Is there any other Looter Shooter Live Service that is so confident in their player experience that they would regularly discount their premium currency, up to 75% off? Warframe is not a Looter Shooter. It is the staple for how video games should be crafted. It is the prime example of what happens when studios value their players and don’t just see them as consumers. It is the result of what happens when you don’t try to cheat the system. I will never compare Warframe to other games that have barely scratched the surface of what it means to be a Looter Shooter. Doing so would be disrespectful. It would undermine every hardship and sacrifice the studio has had to make in their continued efforts to put their players first, especially in this current age of gaming.

Can’t get over how this entire franchise was sacrificed to create a game that now isn’t even breaking 70k players on PC.