Warframe is no doubt one of the first titles people think of when Free to Play games come up in conversation and for good reason, Warframe has been going from strength to strength with constant and regular updates adding in new features, maps and playable Frames; the games version of classes/characters.
Warframes gameplay is a cross between hack-&-Slash and a 3rd person shooter, with a focus on being highly mobile in combat, seeing as you play as heavily equipped Ninjas in space, it’s fitting for you to feel like an absolute badass as you fight your way through the games many missions and each of the Frames allow you new and interesting ways to play. Currently in game there are 35 unique Frames to play as, 53 in total if you include the Prime versions of certain Frames which are more powerful (And stylish) than their non-prime counterparts. Each of these Frames have a unique playstyle with different strengths, powers and abilities; each of these are highly customizable with the use of Mods. An example, the Frame Valkyr is melee focused with abilities that allow her to close distances quickly and boost hers and her ally’s melee power or for her to fly into a Wolverine style berserker rage and claw everyone to death while being invincible. Contrast Valkyr with Harrow, one of the newer Frames, that has abilities that fall more in line with a support role, boosting his shields and sacrificing his shields to convert allies damage to health and boost attack rates and reload speed. These are just a couple of the Warframes that the player can unlock some with some very interesting abilities.
Unlocks in game come in two ways, first is the grind method in with the player must find and build each piece of the Warframe individually and then build the Frame as a whole, the Frame has three separate parts that need to be built then a Blueprint to finish and unlock the frame as a whole, each piece and the blueprint takes real time to build some up to 3 days. The other way is to pay Platinum, the games Premium currency bought with real money, to buy the Warframe from the market place, which unlocks the Frame instantly.
The Grind is really the crux of Warframes gameplay and is the main reason people play giving themselves a target that they wish to get, be it a new Frame to play as or a new weapon earning and unlocking new Frames and Equipment can be extremely fun, especially if you play with friends, as the game allows up to four people to play together allowing you and your friends, or some other Warframe players, to hack and slash your way through enemies like a hot Katana through butter.
Warframe is undoubtedly one of the best Free to Play games around and one that I keep coming back to over and over again, with its continued development and updates I think it’ll only be getting better, especially as they add more lore based content to help expand the extremely interesting world they’ve built.
