As Digital Extremes reveals the Soulframe Founders date, Expedition 33 lead Jennifer English is joining the cast

I still remember the early days of Warframe, and watching how dramatically it's grown into one of the best action games today has me eyeing up Soulframe with very close interest. Digital Extremes is stepping boldly into the fantasy realm and, while we're still in the playtest stages, there's a lot to look forward to. The next Soulframe Preludes update is less than two weeks away, and it'll also mark the launch of the Founders program, but all of that pales in comparison to the arrival of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Baldur's Gate 3 icon, Jennifer English.

In the new livestream, Digital Extremes senior community manager Sarah Asselin is joined by CEO Steve Sinclair, president Sheldon Carter, Soulframe creative director Geoff Crookes, and audio director George Spanos. The group show off how the current playtests for the fantasy game are going, with a look at the new in-development build. I'll get to those additions in a moment, but the most exciting news comes from right near the end of the devstream.

"Greetings, Envoys," English says in a special video message at the 1:01:30 mark. "I am Jennifer English and you may know me as Shadowheart in Baldur's Gate 3, or Maelle in Expedition 33, or Carlotta in Wuthering Waves, or Latenna in Elden Ring, depending on what games you play I suppose. But soon you will hear me somewhere new.

"I had the strangest dream, you see, of a fairy who spoke in threes. She told me thus: 'Beyond the veil from whence I hail where all is Fey and flora, I'm growing weak and cannot speak, so I've a question for ya. Lend me your voice - you haven't a choice - soon, they'll call us Alora.' And naturally I said yes, and we simply cannot wait to meet you."

We get a small preview of Alora, the Empress of Eldveil, through some concept art. "We're not going to say very much at all," Asselin teases, "other than that she shares the same moral compass as nature itself." She turns to Spanos and begins to ask, "It is song that is her power, isn't it?" However, Sinclair jumps in before we can get any more details; "Oh you guys are now dangerously flirting with spoilers!"

The rest of the stream is focused on Soulframe Preludes 12, the twelfth update for the ongoing playtest. This will arrive in two weeks, and includes new features such as greatswords, a limited fast travel system using consumable seed saplings, and an improved introduction to proceedings with more tutorialization and guidance.

The update will also signal the merging of the Preludes community into the general Soulframe Discord, along with the launch of the Founders program for those who want to support the project financially. If you're curious to join the playtests, there's an ongoing Twitch drops campaign for Soulframe Preludes keys that's running between Friday November 14 and Monday November 17.

Sinclair notes that the Soulframe Founders program "is actually going to be a lot cheaper than even Warframe's was 12 years ago. Because we're not ignorant to what's going on in the world right now and where the economy is, and some people are hurting. So we're trying to make it a little more reasonable that way than even Warframe was a decade ago." He acknowledges that starting to sell packs is a "big shift - you might have paying angry customers, and that's kind of a healthy thing for us."

Soulframe Preludes 12 and Soulframe Founders will launch on Tuesday November 25. You can get a Soulframe Preludes key through Twitch drops by watching 30 minutes of any Soulframe stream before Monday November 17 at 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm GMT / 4pm CET.

Soulframe has yet to make its way to other platforms such as Steam, so you'll want to watch the official website for details while we wait for the full Soulframe release date to be announced.