- Play through a 1999 prologue in August with a new Prime
- Battle through a Techrot-infested city on the verge of Y2K disaster
- A massive new way to be fashionable and fabulous
This year marked the ninth TennoCon and it is safe to say that time has done nothing to slow this show down. It has been an incredible weekend, punctuated by some mindblowing reveals. Warframe: 1999 is barrelling towards us and promises to be one of the series most amazing updates.
Before we get to the main event, there will be a prologue quest released in August 2024 to get us ready. The Lotus Eaters reunites us with one of Warframe’s most iconic characters and follows Whispers in the Walls, introducing the world of 1999. This update will also introduce Sevatgoth Prime and their exclusive weapons. It is required to complete all the story up to and including Lotus Eaters to play 1999, so get your head down before the release date of Winter 2024.
As you might expect, 1999 is set during the titular year, on an alternate earth where Y2K is a deadly virus that could destroy everything. It is set in the city of Höllvania, a 90s wonderland corrupted by Techrot, which you can zip around on with the new Atomicyles, which are capable of bullet jumps, drifts, and being used as makeshift explosives. And atop these noble steads lie our six heroes, members of the Hex.
Each team member wears a Protoframe, a Warframe that shows off the human inside. Arthur is the leader and sports Excalibur, backed up by allies such as Aoi who wields Mag, and Quincy who wears the newly introduced CYTE-09. This frame will also make its way to the Origin system, wearing a fancy beret.
The team is brought to life by such storied actors like Alpha Takahashi, Ben Starr, Melissa Medina, and recent Baldurs 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; instant messaging. Play your cards right, and you might have someone to kiss in the new year.
Just to really hammer home the 1999 vibe, you will find yourself face-to-face with one of the most diabolical things from that era; a 90s boy band. On-lyne is a five-piece band led by Zeke – voiced by Leon Kennedy himself, Nick Apostolides – who have been ripped off by the Technocyte Coda and become your infected foe. Their songs are damn catchy though, and you can now listen to their hit single, Party of Your Lifetime, on all good streaming platforms.
One of the best parts of this update, at least for me, is the upgrades to the fashion systems, the true endgame. You will be able to wade into battle with two fashion frame loadouts which you can flip between, but even better is the introduction of the Gemini Skins. With it, you can take the Protoframes like Arthur and Aoi into the Origin system.
Obviously, this is limited to the frames that have these skins like Excalibur, but each of them has pages of fully-voiced lines for when you are battling, and they will shoot the breeze if you decide to bring your operator out. It’s a pretty cool way to make the most out of the stellar voice actor lineup, and it’s nice to have characters with faces.
Outside of the headline, we also got a few extra tidbits. Digital Extremes will be teaming with animation arthouse THE LINE to produce an anime short related to 1999 to launch this year. Finally, starting today you can get your hands on some stunning high-fidelity Heirloom skin for Ember, followed by a Rhino skin in early 2025.
With Warframe: 1999 coming in Winter 2024, there is a lot to catch up on and more being added in the interim, so make sure to download Warframe now from the App Store.
