Pros:
+Massively immersive solo narrative campaign that is driven through cinematics
+New Grineer enemies are a fresh breath for the game
+More depth to the Warframe universe through a AAA like gaming experience
+Proves that Warframe is more than a free-to-play game through another massive update

Cons:
–The War Within being locked behind the Sedna relay requirements proved to be a bit more work than needed to enjoy a story.

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Over the past three years players have brain-stormed together to figure out much of Warframe’s backstory. It’s a game that has both intrigued the curiosity of fans, but also their creativity, and their need to know more about the games universe. Most recently we decided to sit down and give all the campaigns a rather large whirl here at Blast Away the Game Review. What we found? A game filled with lore, rife with content, and one that could expand upon such things over time.

In this latest update (followed by today’s new content update featuring a brand new Warframe), we get to take a look at one of the most anticipated features ever, and that one is the Queens of the Grineer. Before continuing, I do want to note that this is going to be filled with Spoilers. It is advised that if you do not want spoilers, it’s time to turn away from the page, and enjoy the content we have hidden throughout our site.

To begin, The War Within is no small feat for Digital Extremes’ small crew. Their drive to make a triple A experience is warranted here thanks to their creativity with Warframe. To begin, The War Within is the latest within Warframes cinematic story telling experience. It’s a unique follow-up to the last one, one which Christopher Adee and myself were “oohing” and “awwwing” to the entire time.

But there were many questions we had along the way. Some that make us wonder who or what Margulis really was as we knew her true intentions, why the Lotus was so worried about our character knowing about her, and what her true role was with the Tenno. While many have decoded that she was executed for protecting the Tenno, it seemed there was much more behind Margulis and the Orokin.

The biggest part of this campaign isn’t just the fact it continues on where The Second Dream started out. It’s a campaign that continues on with the lore that players don’t know and the lore that they wished to know for that matter. In the story, players are once more sent on a storyline that will send players deeper into the true lore, and into a mystery that Teshin has wrapped around the players and the once existent Orokin masters.

To begin, the War Within update is one that pushes players to work closer with Lotus than ever before. Players will follow her coordinates to understand what Teshin was up to and ultimately understand what game he is playing at. Within these missions players will go across a lockout period where they can only go forth with this story arch.

Within it, one of the most important portions isn’t just the history of Margulis as Teshin will explain it, but also the fact that Margulis didn’t cure the Zariman Children, she had erased them. This very fact is something that the Twin Queens reveal as players infiltrate the Kuva Fortress and enter deep within a moving Grineer fortress. What drives this story forward faster than ever, isn’t just the fact the story surrounds these Grineer maidens. Their abilities, as one would expect, would open up an entire story that players would not expect as Teshin Dax, a warrior from the Orokin Era, whom serves those whom wield the staff.

The most interesting point of this entire patch isn’t the fact that Warframe has adapted to a heavily driven narrative, but more-so the fact they’ve now introduced new mechanics, which will hopefully find themselves fully implemented. With developmental standpoints now offering them up, players can now enjoy their Tenno post-War Within. With these abilities unlocked, players will find themselves taking advantage of new abilities such as Void Step, and several other abilities.

One feature can’t go without being recognized for what it is. This new feature is the use of new underpowered as well as overpowered mods, which are assigned to certain weapons, which makes these mods extremely valuable if found for what players are wanting. These mods also surpass that of the potential for Prime Mods that we may need in the future. These mods also offer a feature not seen in Prime Mods. They offer a unique feature for rerolling a veiled mod, which is nice, but comes at a high cost for those wanting to use the feature. This issue also makes the mods rather pricey for those wanting to get their hands on them.

As stated, however, The War Within has raised the cinematic bar that many developers would ever expect from the game, and even sets a new bar for Digital Extremes in player expectations. Luckily, the updates remain free, and something rather exciting for those that wish to keep this bit of fun going continually. While it is fun to find a past bit of information fun, players are sure to hunger for content that takes place in the now to push the war between the Corpus, the Grineer, and even the infested in order to help preserve balance in the content.

 

 

For now though, we can remain content in the fact Digital Extremes isn’t shy on keeping new content moving out in fluid releases, and keeps players entertained as players enjoy the game.

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