Here's a first look at Warframe's next three warframes coming this year
Xaku, The Alchemist, and Wraithe were all designed by artists who got their start making Warframe fan art.
Warframe's big TennoCon 2020 fan convention is happening today, and during a special presentation about the art of Warframe, Digital Extremes gave our first look at three of the new warframes coming at some point in 2020. One is a Frankenstein-esque monster named Xaku, another is a serpentine scientist called the Alchemist, and the last is known as Wraithe. What's cool, however, is that all three warframes were designed by artists who either are or were at one point simply fan artists who Digital Extremes has hired or contracted.
You can watch the panel in full here, where members of Warframe's art team break down each the new designs and the story of how they came into being. Xaku is easily the most interesting of the bunch—if only because they were designed by the community itself. Back in March, Digital Extremes asked players to put forth ideas for a warframe and then hired artists to bring the most popular of those themes to life while the community suggested its abilities. Earlier this week, I interviewed community manager Danielle Sokolowski about the whole process, which you can read here.
While Digital Extremes didn't reveal what the abilities for these warframes will be (they're still being developed and won't be in the game for some time), it is cool to see what they'll look like.
After Xaku launches, the next warframe will be the Alchemist who, as the name implies, evokes a kind of mad scientist theme. There's also a neat snake theme in the Alchemist's design too, as evidenced by the serpent-like tendril that's wrapped around its arm and dangling down.
Lastly is my favorite, Wraithe. Designed by community artist Liger, this warframe reminds me a great deal of something out of Neon Genesis Evangelion. As art and animation director Geoff Crookes explains, Liger first made this concept years ago and it landed them a contract job designing cosmetic skins for warframe. After some time, Liger pitched the idea again and, with some adjustments to the overall design to make it actually work in-game, it was accepted.
While the abilities are what I'm really interested in hearing about, it's cool to see what the next three warframes will be. You can tune into the art panel to get more detail on their design or check out our interview about the creation of Xaku. For more on Tennocon 2020, check out our hub.