Soulframe is an upcoming free-to-play adventure game from Digital Extremes that has players charting through a fantasy inspired open world as an envoy. This customizable player character, known as an Envoy, has one arm that seems to be made of interlocking, blue, metal plates, but contains the same range of motion. It calls to mind Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Zonai arm for Link. At TecnoCon earlier today, a gameplay demo was released.
The demo opens with a short opening cutscene showing off some of the landscape before introducing viewers to the way customization works in this game. The narration plays over an image of a woman holding the player character as a baby. At different points the narration pauses and the player can pick from one of five options for the relevant choice. In this initial cutscene the woman’s skin color, hair style and color, and eye color were all selectable.
After that it transitions to show the adult player character in a later part of the story with more access to the open world. The audience is quickly shown the Nightfold, which acts as a sort of base that can be accessed from anywhere in the open world, provided the player isn’t currently pulling aggro for any enemies. This weird pocket dimension sits on a silver sea, and allows players to commune with their ancestors as they unlock the different requirements for each ancestor to appear there. This is where players can come to blacksmith, switch weapons, and check up on any past lore. Players can also pet the dog.
Then the game takes players back into the main setting in pursuit of another ancestor. Magic is as much a part of combat as weapons, with the audience getting to see the player use a cloaking spell to approach an enemy party for a sneak attack. They are quickly dispatched and the demo follows the player into a boss fight. This boss fight feels like an overworld fight like a Talus in Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom. The audience is treated to a range of weapons being used including the shield being used as a boomerang. Also, upon defeat, players will take control of a bird, and seek out their “fallen form” in order to continue.
Finally, the demo showed finding a new ancestor in the open world, and what happens in the Nightfold after that. Upon locating Vermina, a witch, the player can return to the Nightfold to watch a new station spring from the silver sea, and to gain a new questline. This one seems focused on taking down a three-headed, skull faced beast with a bell hanging from the jaw of its middle head.
Soulframe hopes to be released in fall of 2024, just a few months away now.