Since 2013, Digital Extremes has built its free-to-play online action game Warframe from an unknown new IP to one of the most successful live-service games on the market, with a legion of dedicated fans logging in every day. With the tenured title’s 13th anniversary quickly approaching, Digital Extremes is set to unleash a new update into Warframe, The Shadowgrapher, which includes a new playable Warframe, Follie, as well as a new game mode that is tailored to this new character and adds a few scares.
We had the opportunity to preview what’s coming next to Warframe, including Follie and the Follie’s Hunt game mode, and came away from the experience feeling that Warframe fans will have a lot to look forward to when The Shadowgrapher update launches on March 25.
Meet Follie
Follie is the 64th playable Warframe to join the game, following Uriel’s launch last December. As the titular Shadowgrapher, Follie is themed after inkblots and Rorschach tests, as she uses ink and paint to wreak havoc on enemies through her various abilities. She also has a bit of a horror bend to her, with an unsettling cackle ringing out as she moves across the arena.
Follie’s passive ability is called Inkblot, in reference to the famous tests, and it allows her to slow her enemies by up to 50 percent simply by touching them. She can apply this debuff using her Forced Perspective ability, which moves her to a specific location and applies Inkblot to any nearby enemies; with Self Portrait, where she creates a copy of herself that can inflict Inkblot on enemies; and with Plein Air, where she creates a balloon that attaches to enemies, lifts them into the air while applying Inkblot, and then dropping them for massive damage.
Her most unique ability, meanwhile, is Shadowgraph, which offers players a bit of customization before entering a mission. In battle, Shadowgraph gives access to a special wheel of helpful items–universal ammo, explosive barrels, etc.–which Follie can draw into existence using her sketchbook. It’s a good way to quickly restock when needed, or find unique ways to go on the offensive as the situation allows.
While each item available through Shadowgraph has its own default sketch, players can also customize their own drawings in the hub world using an in-game image creator that offers 16 different and stackable image layers depicting various ink brush shapes and patterns. Once a player sets their unique image, they’ll see it whenever Follie chooses the corresponding item when Shadowgraph is activated. These sketches don’t fundamentally change how the Shadowgraph ability works, but it’s a neat way to give players some extra agency and creativity while using Follie.
This kit makes Follie a very formidable and fun Warframe to use, both as an attacker and in support. Her constant debuffs will allow fellow Warframes to get the jump on enemies she’s slowed, while Plein Air will incapacitate enemies as they float into the sky, turning what was once a tough battle into a “shoot the floating targets” session. Plus, a well-timed item drop from Shadowgraph can be just what the team needs to win in a sticky situation. There’s a lot of tactics and info to learn when choosing Follie, but after a few reps, her power becomes evident very quickly.
Our preview also equipped Follie with a new gun, the Enkaus rifle. The Enkaus has two modes of fire; the primary mode is a steady beam of energy that deals constant damage, while the alternate mode shoots a blast of ink that can completely dissolve an enemy if they’re below a third of their health. The two modes of the Enkaus work very well with one another, creating some very satisfying takedowns in the heat of battle.
Follie’s Hunt
In order to give this 64th Warframe a proper introduction, Digital Extremes created a new game mode called Follie’s Hunt–an asymmetrical co-op mode where up to four players must restore paint to easels located around a map while being stalked by Follie and her ink-based army.
The arena for Follie’s Hunt is no ordinary map–it’s the ruins of the Vesper Relay, a hub world that was destroyed during an in-game event back in 2015, and has remained on the in-game map as a reminder of that mission ever since. Follie has taken over a section of the relay, her ink seeping into every corner of the world, and players must enter the derelict hub in order to repel her influence.
Each match of Follie’s Hunt begins with the player team able to explore the entire map without resistance, in order to find the three easels that need paint in order to complete the mission. Easels are located in random places throughout the map, and once a player finds one, that easel is then marked for the remainder of the match.
Players will also spot spawns of paint in the arena, and once they touch said paint, they’ll absorb it into their bodies. That player must then approach one of the three easels to distribute the paint, all while Follie and her legion of inky enemies are in pursuit. Each easel requires multiple deliveries of paint in order to be completed, and once all three easels are full, the player team wins the match.
There are two key obstacles that make an immediate impact on the strategy of Follie’s Hunt. First, Follie herself is completely invulnerable to damage; no matter how much a player attacks her–you will always see a grey “0” as the damage marker when you try to attack her. This means the focus immediately shifts to completing the objectives and not on direct combat, creating an anxious feeling of always looking over your shoulder.
That anxiety immediately ramps up when the second key obstacle is revealed: Whenever a player collects paint for an easel, they must also abandon their Warframe and revert to human form until the paint is distributed. This means that any player who collects a supply of paint is now even more vulnerable to the horde–and if that player dies, the paint is dropped. Also, the more paint the team collects and successfully delivers to easels, the more enemies appear in the arena, which makes collecting the next batch of paint even more dangerous.
Follie’s Hunt is a fantastic way to experience Warframe, especially for newcomers, as it’s a quick and punchy mode that slowly ramps up the action rather than dumping it onto the team’s laps all at once. Fans of Dead By Daylight or other asymmetric multiplayer games will feel right at home in Follie’s Hunt too, as the gameplay here feels similar to those experiences.
Cosmetics and more
The Shadowgrapher update will also bring with it new skins for two existing Warframes, Gauss and Grendel. Both the Moto skin for Gauss and the Turbis skin for Grendel come with redesigned sound kits matching the mecha theme of the skins, making them especially unique compared to other skins for those Warframes.
A new batch of TennoGen cosmetics are also on the way, including new headpieces for Zamariu and Pragmatica, as well as new skins for Styanax, Nova, and Hammer. TennoGen cosmetics are designed and submitted by members of the Warframe community, with a portion of the proceeds made from the skins going back to the original creators of the designs.
The update also promises a few other features that were included in our preview build. Most notable of those is The Guilty, a new “hard mode” version of the Perita Rebellion game mode introduced in The Old Peace. The Guilty will not be available on day one, as players must solve a puzzle using in-game clues to unlock it.
The Shadowgrapher update will also add a new customization feature called Atragraphs, which allows players to give any mods they add to their Warframes a special holographic art. Think of a special foil card in a tabletop card game, and you’ll have an idea of what these new Atragraphs are going for.
Warframe is available now to download for free on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC, with a Nintendo Switch 2 version going live on March 25. The Shadowgrapher content will also be added as a free update for all versions of the game on the same day.
