While sci-fi shooters like Destiny 2 and Overwatch continue to dominate the AAA gaming scene, indie developer Digital Extreme’s co-op shooter Warframe has slowly become a powerhouse in its own right over the past few years. In fact, Warframe even has its own annual convention, TennoCon (named after the Tenno, a race of intergalactic warriors who also serve as the avatars that players control), and it was during this year’s TennoCon that Digital Extremes unveiled a brand new upcoming game mode, titled Codename: Railjack.
While Warframe began life as a small-scale corridor shooter, it has since expanded to include open-world gameplay as well, though currently said open-world gameplay is confined to a specific outdoor zone, the Plains of Eidolon, on the planet Earth. However, later this year Warframe will be receiving a second open-world zone, this one set on the planet Venus, and Codename: Railjack will tie into the new story elements that players will encounter during their time in the new zone.
From the surface of Venus, a group of up to four players will be able to call down and board a battlecruiser before heading up into space to engage a nearby threat. Similar to the popular indie strategy game FTL, each player will be assigned to a specific part of the ship, so for example one play will be in charge of piloting while another will be manning the turrets. While in the ship, players will have to fight off enemy fighters and capital ships, and they’ll also have to divert ship power to specific systems at critical junctures (like life support if there’s a hull breach or thrusters if they need more speed).
Enemies will also be able to directly board the players’ ship if they’re not careful, but players will have their own methods for going on the offensive as well. Along with their ship’s weaponry, individual players will be able to jettison out of the ship and engage enemies out in space while piloting their individual Archwing flightsuit (another new gameplay mechanic that was added to Warframe post-launch). Lastly, players who are feeling especially bold can board an enemy capital ship and attempt to take it down from within, and part of the TennoCon presentation even showed one player on the allied ship hacking doors and airlocks on the enemy ship to aid the invading player.
It’s not clear yet just how seamless or dynamic the Codename: Railjack game mode will be, but it already sounds like it will be quite impressive if Digital Extremes can stick the landing. Sadly, fans will have a bit of a wait ahead of them since the new Venus open-world zone isn’t expected to launch until sometime in late 2018.