After 1999 Warframe's going "back to its roots," reveals two huge new updates

When you look at the history of Warframe, 1999 certainly sticks out. Amid the theatrical space opera vibes and the high fantasy of Duviri, 1999 felt at least a little closer to home, bringing us back to a time that most will still remember. With its new update, The Old Peace, Warframe is, to quote Digital Extremes' COO Sheldon Carter, "returning to its roots," giving us a glimpse at the tenuous peace treaty that was brokered ahead of The New War (we love a bit of juxtaposition). But game design director Pablo Alonso promises that 2025's big finale update will still be pretty weird, so strap in: something big is coming.

But let's rewind a little. While The Old Peace (and the teaser at the end) is certainly the headliner of this year's Tennocon, there's also the aptly named 'unannounced fall update,' set to drop in, well, fall. Digital Extremes confirms that it's finally reworking one of the MMORPG's most underloved characters, Oberon, with Alosno noting that the paladin-inspired frame "comes from an era of Warframe where a pure support frame was more viable."

The goal is to "help him out by adding some versatility without taking away what makes him Oberon," so we'll have to see what this new and improved version looks like. Additionally, there's yet another treat for Lavos fans. In the wake of the highly coveted Lavos Prime, he's getting a brand new Deluxe skin, too.

The team has also confirmed that there's new content dedicated to mods, which creative director Rebecca Ford describes as a "full cinematic narrative quest with custom UI teachings to show you how to mod." Entitled 'The Teacher,' it'll be available immediately after Vor's Prize (the game's first quest). The game's 62nd frame will debut as part of the fall update, too, but the details there are pretty slim, other than that he's a "fun guy." Take from that what you will (fungi?).

But the highlight is, of course, The Old Peace and its side quest, the Devil's Triad. Taking us back to Tau, a system we've heard about but haven't had the chance to visit, we see the Operator reunite with a Sentinel friend called Adis. Acting as the precursor to a larger Tau-focused story arc set to drop in 2026, The Old Peace feels like a blast from the past when compared to 1999, but it'll still have some of DE's signature "weirdness."

"Warframe for me is like this amazing sci-fi amusement park" Cooper tells me at Tennocon. "Every year we put in a new ride. Sometimes we get tired of taking the same ride so we want to do something that's refreshing, and then sometimes we do something like what we're doing this year which is kind of back to our roots, but that's still different and weird."

Alonso echoes this, noting that the "structure of the final update of this year is very different to any other that we've done. We're going in a bit of a weird [direction] - we'll see if players like it or not - but it's weirdly structured. It's not the typical syndicate then missions, it's a new idea that we have."

Then, of course, there's the Devil's Triad, which is absolutely the thing I'm looking forward to the most. Launching alongside The New Peace as a side story, it's clearly channeling Diablo, with two religious-inspired, fully romancable Protoframes for Harrow and Wisp (Father Lyon Allard and Marie Leroux respectively) and the 63rd frame, Uriel, who looks like he walked straight out of Diablo 3 (or, alternatively, just beat Imperius at the gate to the High Heavens). The exact details on what's included here are pretty slim, but expect the story to run parallel to the events of The Old Peace.

There are a slew of other smaller updates, including the epic "limit break" style ability for the Focus tree, as well as a new enemy faction and enhancements to the Operator's model. In short, there's a lot happening, and I can't wait.

Warframe's unannounced fall update is set to drop sometime in Q3 of 2025, followed by The Old Peace, which releases at the end of the year, leading into the game's return to Tau in 2026.

In the meantime, we have a rundown of all the currently active Warframe codes to help you score some free goodies. Or, if all of the latest Soulframe news has encouraged you to venture into Alca, here's everything we know about the Soulframe release date.

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