Warframe: 1999 is so incredibly strange yet amazingly inviting all at once

During TennoCon 2024, Digital Extremes put on the biggest show for Warframe to date. Fans got a new look at Soulframe and learned about everything coming to their favorite game later this year. But the real star of the show was the next expansion: Warframe: 1999, which launches in winter 2024.

I got to see the demo for Warframe: 1999 ahead of time and hear from the developers about all the different activities players will be able to partake in. The gameplay demo itself follows Arthur, an Excalibur Protoframe, and five other Protoframes as they follow a lead on a mysterious character who is hiding out in Warframe‘s version of 1999.

The demo opens with Arthur stomping around because he’s lost his keys, and he’s angrily accusing the other Protoframes of having moved them. This is our introduction to each one, all of whom are characters that will help flesh out the story and really humanize the Warframes we’ve been playing with for so long. Digital Extremes also revealed that, via a retro 90s-inspired instant messaging service, we’ll be able to contact, flirt, and develop a relationship with each of these Protoframes in order to secure a New Year’s Eve kiss.

Yes, you will be able to replay the entire Warframe: 1999 campaign and romance every Protoframe individually.

After meeting the cast, the demo moves on to see Arthur confronting the Infested forces that are all across Earth. It brings to life the very real fear that was palpable in the lead-up to New Year’s Eve in 1999 when the world wasn’t sure if it would wake up in the year 2000 or be obliterated by missiles due to a computer bug.

Some of us have even been joking about how this expansion is Warframe‘s version of Y2K and the future in Warframe is our alternate reality. Digital Extremes says that’s not the case, though. Instead, this is Warframe’s version of the ’90s. So, while there’s an original boyband song, retro minigames, and various 90s iconography everywhere, it steps out of the ’90s now and then because this is the game’s version of the past. Not ours.

With that said, the environment oozes the ’90s atmosphere and absolutely nails the feel of flip phones, clunky controls, and chunky keyboards. It’s phenomenal just how well this has all been brought to life through a game that has no tactile elements outside of a controller.

The demo shows the environments and so much more in action. One of the most interesting parts is Arthur’s Atomicycle, which everyone will be able to unlock and summon so they can race around the new sandbox.

Another incredible feature the expansion will add is Gemini Skins. These are fully voiced skins for your Warframe that you can use to switch between said Warframe and a chosen Protoframe. The Protoframes will say all sorts of things, from sassing your combat skills to asking to take a break when you’re done with them.

The demo ended with a boss fight against a massive tank that spews toxic sludge at Arthur. There’s something so very Warframe about this that pulls the 90s into this universe in a way that doesn’t feel like it’s just reusing Infested from other parts of the game. It really feels like a whole new chunk has been added to the experience, as every Warframe expansion should.

What I love most about the combat in Warframe: 1999 is how Arthur uses grounded weapons with a slight futuristic spin. The AK-47 is the AX-52, and there’s even a rocket launcher that he uses to dispatch the tank. There will be many more of these Warframe variants of real-life weapons to keep the expansion firmly in this 90s vibe throughout the entire experience.

Finally, after completing this first mission in 1999, Digital Extremes returned to the present to show us how the modern-day Sol System has also changed in Warframe. What we’ll find is an Infested stadium in space where an Infested boyband, one that’s survived since 1999, is now causing all sorts of havoc.

This will be a repeatable experience, one where you can pick up new weapons and test your mettle against some truly horrific combat encounters. I think what I love best about this idea is that in the ’90s, boybands were everywhere, so of course, Warframe: 1999 needed one. As with everything, Digital Extremes put a spin on this idea, creating a zombie boyband that you don’t come to watch. You come to fight.

Warframe: 1999 is shaping up to be something incredible. But it’s content you can’t access until you’ve completed everything else in the story. If you’re excited about the idea of exploring a unique take on the 90s with so many fun ideas floating around that you don’t just see; you live through and experience, then now is the time to get up to date.