Warframe 1999 Release date, and everything we know so far

Warframe 1999 is an upcoming update unveiled during TennoCon 2023, arriving in Winter 2024. This update might be transformative for Warframe's gameplay, and its lore implications are already evolutionary for this long-running MMO-lite. Naturally, this much-teased update is something the Tenno across the Origin System are hyped about.

If you are not sure what this new update entails, you have come to the right place. This article will outline all the currently known details about Warframe 1999, including its potential gameplay features.

Warframe 1999 Release date: When is it coming?

It's a world of tanks now (Image via Digital Extremes)

The Warframe 1999 update is going live on December 13, 2024 (EST). The exact release time hasn't been revealed yet, but we'll update this article if the developers do reveal it. This release date, alongside the final trailer for the update, was a very last-minute reveal on The Game Awards 2024 just a day ahead of the release date. Some among the playerbase expected it to go live immediately, and their guess wasn't far off.

Is Warframe 1999 going to be a new game?

It sure should (Image via Digital Extremes)

Warframe 1999 will not be a new game, but a free expansion to Warframe.

Given the degree of thematic novelty and new features it introduces, it is an easy mistake to make. Coming roughly a year after the Whispers in the Walls update from 2023, Warframe 1999 is going to pick up the cinematic story arc from there, and take us to its alt-history version of the year 1999.

Warframe 1999 plot premise explained: Lotus Eaters

They majored in femme fatale stereotypes (Image via Digital Extremes)

An update coming this August will introduce the 'Lotus Eaters' prologue quest. This will set up a segue between the events of Whispers in the Walls and that of Warframe 1999.

If you're not afraid of potential spoilers, here's the gist of the one confirmed lore thread: the current Infested can be traced back to the 'Tech-Rot'. Both are rooted in the 'Technocyte Coda Worm', a virus left to fester in techno-void-space for millennia - and this will likely be one of our keys for travelling to the past and meeting the Protframe racket in 1999.

All Warframe 1999 gameplay features (that we know so far)

We are still quite blurry on the lore details and how exactly the narrative side of things will pan out. However, on the gameplay side of things, some details can be pieced together from what we know:

90s weaponry and a level playing field

We can't tank so many hits (Image via Digital Extremes)

The Whispers in the Walls quest segment was our first window into what the gameplay might be like in Warframe 1999. The update will take players to the past in many ways:

The dialled-down enemy density will make for somewhat more grounded combat, which may be a welcome change from current-day Warframe's frantic pace.
Real-world weapons from the past will be available: like the AX-52 (Kalashnikov), which will be released with TennoCon 2024, Glock and Tec-9 (both weapon cosmetics from previous Nightwaves).
With the 'old world' weapons, Warframe 1999 will likely have an alternate vertical progression system rather than equipment modding.

What are Proto-frames?

From what we know so far, Protoframes seem to be human characters who have gained abilities through some application of the Technocyte Coda. Six Protframes have been revealed in TennoCon 2024:

Arthur (Excalibur Protoframe)
Lettie (Trinity Protoframe)
Aoi (Mag Protoframe)
Quincy (Cyte-09 Protframe)
Amir (Volt Protoframe)
Eleanor (Nyx Protoframe)

It is not known whether Protoframes are also controlled through Transference from a "Vessel," or whether Transference is just a channel to reach their consciousness in the past. The gameplay demo from TennCon 2024 seems to suggest that Protoframes will be regular human beings with bio-mechanical enhancements through the virus. Arthur’s ‘Excalibur’ body is shown to have semi-sentience, acting on its own against his will.

Gemini Skins

There’s going to be a new type of cosmetics in this game: Gemini skins. These are alternate looks that you unlock for frames, letting them revert to their proto-frame form. With Gemini-skins, you can switch in and out of your milleina-old form on the fly: switch to the Proto-from look in the middle of the mission, switch back when you like.

Another first-time feature is that Gemin skins will come with their own dialogue. Your Proto-frame character will say their cool lines during gameplay, a stark contrast to the mum Warframes.

New Syndicate: The Hex

As mentioned earlier, Warframe 1999 will have its own syndicate. ‘The Hex’ is simply the underground gang of the six Protoframes, and their hideout is an abandoned mall. The Operator/Drifter will get to meet all six characters and they will serve their own syndicate functions. This directly ties into the next feature below, which is:

Romance System

The Romance will mostly happen in this old-school online chat app (Image via Digital Extremes)

Warframe is getting a new Romance and companion affinity mechanic. However, this will be exclusive to the new syndicate, i.e. the six Protoframes.

For now, Warframe's dating sim minigame stays restricted to this sextet. However, more Protoframes might come later - and this might be a foundation for a more expansive Romance system later on.

Open-world and Atomibike

A whole new world to explore (Image via Digital Extremes)

In the Aoi Protoframe Reveal teaser, we also see an Atomibike. This is the new type of mount coming in the game - and the developers have confirmed you will also be able to take Atomibike to other open worlds like Orb Vallis.

Having an actual bike naturally means a world big enough to need transportation. Warframe 1999's Earth will be the fifth open world, and it is called Hollvania. The syndicate itself will be located in the Hollvania Central Mall, with its various functions and amenities.

New Enemy factions: Techrot and Scaldra

Is this Y2K bug in the room with us right now? (Image via Digital Extremes)

Taking the year 2000 as the apocalyptic premise naturally relates it to the Y2K bug, among other things. At least one of the enemy factions we will face in Warframe 1999 is already known: computer parts on wheels and limbs charging like Infested hordes. These are the Tech-rot, an early form of the Infested in the old world.

Other than a very physical manifestation of technophobia in the "old world," these may also have something to do with an offshoot of the "Technocyte virus" from Dark Sector.

The military juice of unknown origins (Image via Digital Extremes)

There will be also a more organized adversary in Warframe 1999: The Scaldra. These paramilitary units behave more like the Grineer. Pumped with the lime green ooze that seems to power their kingpin Majors, these have everything from regular infantry to bombers that jump into you.

Infested Liches (and Boy-band beats)

Infested Liches are finally here (Image via Digital Extremes)

The trifecta is finally complete. Warframe is getting Infested Liches this winter with the 1999 update. While the proto-Infested Techrot grunts are just reskinned Infested, the Liches are far more interesting. Not only do they hunt in packs, but they also bring with them the mark of the Techrot virus: boy-band music from the 90s.

Instead of sampling teen-pop icons like Backstreet Boys or Westlife, Warframe developers have recorded their own original music. This unexpected zany touch is typical of the game: none of us saw it coming, but it just makes sense when you think about it.

Infested Liches are 'Technocyte Coda Worms' in potentially their ultimate form. As revealed in TennoCon 2024, these are also called 'Zeke Onlyne Virus'.

Back to the future: Tau System Expansion? (Speculative)

Archon Hunts, as they exist in Warframe right now, are supposed to get us closer to Pazuul and the Tau system. After the New World, what happened to the Tau system at large still remains largely unexplored.

A Tau system expansion should thus be on the cards for Digital Extremes. It would be a stretch to expect Warframe 1999 to give us both Y2K and a whole new system, but its events could very well be a precursor to this (purely speculative) update to be Warframe's steam for 2025.

More about the Warframe 1999 update will be revealed in this year's TennoCon, which is also handing out the AX-52 rifle to Twitch viewers.

Check out other guides on this game from Sportskeeda:

Edited by Soumyadyuti Ghosh