The TennoLive stream that capped off yesterday’s annual TennoCon event was dense with information on upcoming additions to Warframe. The Fortuna expansion, due out this autumn, not only adds a huge open-world zone to Venus, it also adds brand new gameplay mechanics like hunting, weapon crafting, and companion customisation to Warframe.
While Tenno hoverboard around the new open fields of Venus, they’ll be able to track, lure, and capture local wildlife. It’s part of a conservation effort to protect the animals from extinction, while the evil Corpus profit-obsessed leader Nef Anyo attempts to reactivate Venus’ ancient terraforming engines.
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During the onstage gameplay demo, Warframe game director Steve Sinclair explained that Tenno will need appropriate hunting gear to track and capture animals like Venus’ virmink – you’ll be able to use Echo Lures to draw them out from hiding, and tranquilliser guns to safely put them to sleep for transportation to a conservation facility.
There’s a new system for tracking, and Tenno will start out by finding signs of animal activity, like droppings and pawprints, in the wintry Venusian environment. The Echo Lure works like a bit like a moose or duck call, and you’ll have to use it to match the pitch of the game you’re tracking. Once you’ve lured the creature out you’ll be able to fire a tranq dart at it to put it to sleep.
Finally, once you approach the sedated creature and tag it with a beacon, you’ll get an up-close look at your quarry before it’s vacuumed up into orbit via Warframe’s version of the Fulton Recovery System from Metal Gear Solid V.
You can watch the full 32-minute gameplay demo here. The hunting sequence begins around the 12:40 mark:
Speaking of Metal Gear, Fortuna will also let you customise your own MOA companions. MOA are Corpus enemies that resemble the Gekkos you might remember from the Metal Gear universe. These are smaller bipedal mechs, and with Fortuna, you’ll be able to choose the components you want to combine into your own mechanical combat pal. Each piece will have an impact on both the appearance and stats of your MOA buddy.
During the demo, Digital Extremes showed off one combination that sported a top hat and bow tie, much to the delight of the audience.
Fortuna will be out later this year.