According to PC Gamer, Soulframe opens to everyone on PC on November 6 as Digital Extremes ends the invite only phase and preps a big rework for later in November.
Open Preludes start November 6
Digital Extremes confirmed that Soulframe enters Open Preludes, which is effectively its open alpha, on Friday, November 6. The invite system is gone, so anyone can download the fantasy action RPG and play. Players who never got a prelude key can finally try it. The paid Founders program stays the same, and the studio will likely keep running closed preview builds alongside the open one to test features with a smaller group.
Verse of the Veilands rework
PCGamesN and PC Gamer note that Update 17, called Verse of the Veilands, changes how the game is structured. Midrath, the big open landmass, will no longer be the calm, green place it was. Ode Syphons spread across the map and drain energy from the world. Players complete Votives, the game's quests and objectives, to unlock each region's song and cleanse the corruption. Enemies and resources change as zones are restored, and side activities such as fishing become available.
Why the intro changes
The team says the rework answers player feedback. Some players struggled to reach the point where they could explore the open world freely, so the main quest now teaches how to stop the siphons draining the world of its color. Creative director Geoff Crookes said the goal is a better onboarding experience and giving players more ownership of their early decisions. Once a region is cleansed, it returns to a look closer to earlier versions of the game.
New Pact and wolf mounts
Update 17 also adds a new Pact, Soulframe's version of a class. The developers described it as a hunter, poacher type Pact tied to the alien Ode race. Digital Extremes has since confirmed the name: the Ode Shrike Pact. Its kit includes a sci fi bola, a cone of spikes and a giant balloon that sends enemies flying away. Players will also be able to raise a wolf pup into a proper mount, a feature the studio promised for this fall.
Developers feel nervous
Crookes and lead designer Scott McGregor admitted they are uneasy about the shift. Crookes said the pair were talking about how nervous they are about the change, because players praised how cozy and beautiful the world is. He said players will enter a game that is much more unforgiving and harsh at first glance. McGregor called it one of the biggest, most violent changes to the game's structure in a long while.
Timing and what to expect
Update 17 will not be ready for the open alpha launch. The developers were still tweaking it days before the presentation, and the plan is to ship it in November. Players who join on day one will therefore start in the current version of the game. Digital Extremes also said it is looking into a character reset, so players can see new material added to parts of the game they have already finished.
What you can play in Open Preludes
Digital Extremes calls Open Preludes a free alpha playtest of Soulframe for Windows PC. You download it from the official Soulframe website, and the studio asks you to create an account there before November 6 to sign up. In the game, you mend the land from a dark corruption by mastering combat styles and forging Pacts with Omen Beasts. Progress comes from three things: Fables, which are the story quests, World Trees, and releasing captive animals. Those unlock cooperative multiplayer, crafting, customization and weapon progression. New features are added regularly, and Digital Extremes says they are always free. Founders, the paid supporters, instantly unlock special Pacts and equipment, and you can wishlist the game on Steam to follow the path to a wider PC launch.
Watch the official Open Preludes teaser trailer below.
How Pacts work
A Pact is Soulframe's version of a class, forged with an Omen Beast. According to the community guides we checked, each Pact gives you three active skills, called Arcanics, plus two passives. The three Arcanics sit in slots tied to the game's three Virtues: Courage, Spirit and Grace. Weapons and armor are not locked to a Pact, so you can pair any Pact with any weapon you meet the requirements for. The guides also say you can reassign Virtue points per loadout since Preludes 15.
Three Pacts are available when you create a character: Tethren, Oscelda and Sirin. The rest unlock through quests, Fables or faction rank. The Founders Pack adds Wyld versions of the three starters, which reuse the same skills with different looks. These details come from fan run guides and not from Digital Extremes, so treat the unlock rules as subject to change while the game is in alpha.
All Pacts and their skills
This list covers Preludes 15 and 16 and was cross checked between two community guides. Names are spelled as the guides spell them.
| Pact | Playstyle | Skills and passives |
|---|---|---|
| Tethren | Close range melee fighter | Fellust, Call of the Ancients, Clash. Passives: Conquerer, Last Stand |
| Oscelda | Crowd control and support | Bestone, Elderbloom, Phantom Flock. Passives: Tendrils, Vernal Pool |
| Sirin | Stealth rogue | Picktrix Powder, Trick of the Light, Glamour. Passives: Shrouded, Pickpocket |
| Garren Rood | Damage, life drain and area attacks | Torment, Behest, Stampede. Passives: Herdheart, Righteous |
| Orengall | Pack hunter with wolves | Werewalker, Packhunter, Howl. Passives: Soulbound, Feral |
| Bromius | Tank and area control | Rump Thump, Wevetroot, Song of Growth. Passives: Barkbare, Canopy's Blessing |
| Duelo | Single target duelist | Flintlock, Bravado, Duo Duelo. Passives: Olho por Olho, Chamariz |
| Ode Tempest | Lightning melee | Seismor, Astra Sphere, Atmos Sphere. Passives: Lightning Strike, Gravitate |
| Mora's Hand | Fire melee | Ignus Wroth, Ember, Inferno. Passives: Hungry Flame, Smolder |
The three starter Pacts in detail
Tethren is the melee Pact. Fellust makes your weapon damage grow with every successful hit, Call of the Ancients taunts enemies while boosting your weapon damage and damage reduction, and Clash staggers enemies while cutting the stagger you take. The passive Conquerer restores health per kill, and Last Stand speeds up your attacks when your health is low. One guide calls it the harder starter early on.
Oscelda is the balanced support Pact. Bestone petrifies enemies and increases the damage they take, Elderbloom is a large heal, and Phantom Flock sends birds that attack and stagger enemies. Tendrils gives you a chance to freeze enemies that hit you, and Vernal Pool lowers your skill cooldowns while you stand on water. The same guide calls it the best choice for new players.
Sirin is the stealth rogue. Picktrix Powder controls and weakens enemies, Trick of the Light drops a decoy that taunts enemies and then explodes, and Glamour is a cloak for hiding or escaping. Shrouded lets you see enemies through walls in Soul Mode, and Pickpocket makes enemies drop more loot.
The other Pacts at a glance
- Orengall: Werewalker turns you into a wolf that can one shot enemies, Packhunter summons wolves to help, and Howl buffs you and your allies. Soulbound raises your weapon damage for each ally nearby.
- Duelo: Flintlock fires a pistol shot that can hit several foes, Bravado slows nearby enemies and boosts your party's highest Virtue, and Duo Duelo creates a ghostly clone that mirrors your swings at lower damage.
- Mora's Hand: Ignus Wroth burns everything around you, Ember sets off a fire blast when you are hit, and Inferno throws a fireball that hits burning enemies harder.
- Ode Tempest: Seismor is a massive area attack, Astra Sphere creates a zone where enemies take more damage, and Atmos Sphere protects you and your allies. The passive Gravitate closes gaps fast.
- Bromius: Rump Thump is a leap and slam for large area damage, Wevetroot immobilizes enemies in front of you, and Song of Growth buffs armor. Barkbare steals armor from enemies.
- Garren Rood: Torment deals damage and heals you, Behest crowd controls enemies, and Stampede summons stags to attack. One guide lists it as an easy early game pick.
The darker Pacts coming next
The first new Pact is the Ode Shrike, part of the November update Verse of the Veilands. Digital Extremes describes it as a Pact that uses the invaders' own trapping power, with deployable spike traps, balloon darts that lift enemies off the ground, bola chains that link damage between targets, and an evasive throwing bomb.
Our Take
I've played Soulframe already, and it's a pretty good looting game. The graphics are gorgeous too, and the world looks great. With the open alpha starting November 6 on PC and no keys needed, a lot more people will finally get to see that for themselves.
It also comes from Digital Extremes, the same studio that made Warframe. That's why I'm sure it will be really well optimized. They know how to build and run a game like this, and that gives me a lot of confidence going in.
We'll definitely try it with our team and the guys on our Discord. Anyone who never got a prelude key has no excuse now, so jump in and see what you think.
Panos, GamingBroject editor
The second is the Vadagar, a dark Pact announced at TennoCon in July for the Warsongs Fable, which Digital Extremes dated for this fall. We could not confirm a release date for it. Instead of cleansing the corruption, it channels it, and CEO Steve Sinclair called it the "edgelord aspect" of the game. Reported skills include Vhult's Arc, which fires ichor boomerangs, Zephera's Touch, which immobilizes enemies with tendrils, and Osuraxi's Stampede, which summons dar horses. It also brings a corruption system called Vespers with three attributes, Wrath, Death and Doom, that can restore health, speed up magical abilities, or make stealth attacks and critical hits deadlier.
Weapons in Soulframe
Digital Extremes has not published an official weapon count, but a community catalog updated for Preludes 16 lists 58 weapons in nine types. Long Blades lead with 15, followed by Short Blades with 10 and Magick staves with 9.
| Type | Weapons | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Long Blades | 15 | Wulder, Espadarte, Cenotaph, Ilverac |
| Short Blades | 10 | Clivers, Rostrum, Nettle, Witan |
| Magick | 9 | Seathorn, Gwylen, The Alder, Gystalt |
| Heavy | 6 | Purity, The Paragon, Needleseye |
| Bows | 6 | Avex, Thistle, The Starling |
| Polearms | 5 | Gathannan, Rook, Veilk |
| Shields | 3 | Bog & Myrtle |
| Flyblades | 3 | Precklies, Skílter, Thrice Spurns |
| Rapiers | 1 | Grimana |
Every weapon needs a minimum number of points in one or more of the three Virtues. Long Blades, Heavy weapons, Polearms and Shields lean on Courage, Bows, Short Blades and Flyblades lean on Grace, and Magick weapons lean on Spirit. Some weapons ask for two Virtues at once, such as Witan, which needs 6 Grace and 6 Spirit. Below the requirement, a weapon loses its attunement bonus.
Preludes 16, called Of Hook and Hound, added the two handed mace Wreath, the caster staff Gystalt, the sidearm rapier Grimana and the Suit of The Sleeve armor set. It also reworked Tempers, the modifiers on weapons. You can now dismantle an old weapon to keep its Temper and retune a Legend grade weapon with the blacksmith Tuvalkane. At TennoCon, the studio also showed two weapons still to come: a long reach Sword Whip and a multi hit Boomerang that needs precise timing.
Wolf pups, fishing and the Veilands
After you finish the Fable The Shewolf Snared, you pick a wolf pup and bond with it through fetch, walks, feeding it fish, combat support and cuddles. Verse of the Veilands turns that pup into a ride. Once you finish its training and purify two Veilands regions, you brew a Bairnday Biscuit, feed it to the pup, and it grows into an Omen Wolf mount. The Veilands themselves open after the Fable The Tormented Stag, and they show the Ode corruption as a world progression system.
Fishing arrived with six lures and six fish, and you can cleanse the Ode corruption from a catch before you release it or keep it for your wolf. Dynamic weather adds rainy nights, foggy mornings and sunsets, with effects such as stronger lightning damage and shorter enemy perception range. The update also brings back Bita's Eve for a limited time, with Wintersquash patches, a headless horse rider mini boss named Veltruska and a special fish called Sunken Terror.
Which Pact should you start with?
The community guides point new players to Oscelda, a balanced support Pact with a large heal and strong crowd control. Tethren suits players who want straight melee but is described as harder early, and Sirin fits stealth play. Because Pacts are not tied to weapons, you can switch as you unlock more. If you like comparing how different MMOs handle classes, our AION 2 Before You Play guide covers another system. Open playtests are also becoming common, as in the March of Giants Pioneer Playtest we covered earlier.
What we still do not know
Digital Extremes has not given an exact date for Verse of the Veilands beyond November, and the official post lists no new weapons for it besides the Ode Shrike's tools. The Pact, skill and weapon details above come from community guides written for Preludes 15 and 16, so numbers and unlock rules can change before the update lands. Soulframe is still an alpha, and balance and unlock rules can change at any time.
Source: PC Gamer
Source: PCGamesN
Source: Rock Paper Shotgun
Source: Digital Extremes
Source: Gaming Trend
Source: Inven Global
Source: CGMagazine Online
Source: Soulframe Guide, all Pacts
Source: Soulframe Guide, weapons
Source: Arzye Builds, Pacts
Soulframe release date, platforms and price
- Release date: Not announced yet
- Coming to: PC
- Price: Not announced yet
- Genre: Action, Adventure, RPG
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