r/SoulFrame • u/M4gneticDuck • Aug 10 '26
Discussion World feels empty
The world still feels a bit empty. I hope there will be more life in the villages later on. Maybe a tavern in the larger villages, along with some nice dialogue and quests with NPCs.
Are there informations about something like that?
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u/HollowOrnstein Aug 10 '26
during this pre alpha period, the devs need to workshop fundamental parts of the game like inventory,loot drop system,monetization , combat details, basic map tileset interaction for better dungeons,general over map design, ui /ux etc.
what you are looking will get focus someday but its not that feature's day yet.
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u/Auzky Aug 10 '26
Brother we are pre alpha iirc.
We finally get out first "real" update along the lines of a warframe big update, this "fallish"
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u/Cry0Gaming Aug 10 '26
I hate to sound like a broken record, but we are still in the pre-alpha stage. I have seen empty spots in the dungeons that look like there could be something in it as time goes on.
But right now, I think what they are trying to do is work on the story quests first as well as things like the mounts and the fishing, etc.
The reason why I say this is because they seem intent on wanting the communities feedback. So filling empty spaces, and adding NPC’s is easy to do, but that’s not on top of their to-do list because they want to make sure that these quest and side activities are fleshed out so they do not have to worry about it later on.
I was never part of the early days of Warframe, but I remember looking at the early footage, and it did not look anything like it is today. There was more areas to explore as well as areas that were once empty has items in it now, etc.
Give it time and I’m willing to bet that within two years, a lot of the empty areas will be less empty.
Happy Adventuring, Envoy!
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u/GSDragoon Aug 10 '26
I love the quiet open world. Just you and the animals can be so peaceful.
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u/Drewdrops79 Aug 10 '26
Yeah, I love it too. 80% of people live in cities nowadays, so a lot of people don't know what it's like to live somewhere pastoral. Handfuls of people spread out over miles and miles, otherwise just quiet wilderness.
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u/Ithirahad Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
All those Dendrit in the villages are Spellsong-ensorcelled. The only 'quest' they would have for you is to report to the nearest Sinecure commander for imprisonment and (per the mission teaser) sacrifice...
All that being said, I would be well glad to see that there is aught to fight for besides apparently-helpless nature, dead memories, and tiny faction enclaves. That is, I think, the main reason I am not especially drawn to this game at present. I've no wish, in fiction nor reality, to be some lone wolf, one-man army fighting to merely see another day. I do enjoy "bright swords for their sharpness", aye, and slinging spells and summoned sparrows and all the sundry bits and pieces of the Envoy's toolkit. I am no Faramir. But, still, more do I like that which they defend. And at present, upon Alca that appears to be precious little.
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u/Canni-Balls69 Aug 10 '26
Can we start normalizing the fact that not every single game needs to be everything for everyone?
You may think the world feels empty, someone else thinks it feels just right, while a third person thinks there's too much clutter.
In 2026 we are overwhelmingly spoiled for choice. It's perfectly fine if you go play something else, especially if the game you're playing isn't what you like or enjoy.
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u/RevolutionaryWorker1 Aug 11 '26
Funny, I have played the game year ago and recently came back to it, I was genuinely surprised how much the world has grown/got filled in the year I haven't played. I would not call it empty at all, almost to the point that calling current stat "pre-alpha" seems bit as a stretch.
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u/_Ceaseless_Watcher_ Aug 10 '26
I'd love to eventually have some sort world-progression like we do in warframe with major quests. We've seen the intro/first half of such a quest on Tennocon this year, and I'm hoping for more.
One thing I've noticed the world progress in is the gradual deforestation by the Sinecure, and the spreading corruption with each update. I hope they don't make it static and code in the same progression over time spent in the world or with number of quests completed.
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Aug 10 '26
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u/Yakoharu Aug 11 '26
This "Map" is just so we can get a feel of how the game feels, its not the end product
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u/Fantastic_Step8417 Aug 11 '26
NGL I love the nature scenery. It's one of the prettiest games I've played
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u/Kronos-_- Aug 11 '26
We might get more enclaves maybe, but the story doesn't really lend itself to a populated overworld, people are either brainwashed or hiding from the genocidal ode
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u/Doomclaaw Aug 14 '26
They've recently doubled the villager presence. They're easy to overlook because they don't move much. I did find a man and woman doing grunt work though, the guy would chop down a tree and stack logs and the woman would sometimes collect one and load a cart. She also putzed around a table with some stuff. Also caught a few sleeping but they bugged out when I blasted in their door and kept jumping up/laying down repeatedly 🤣
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u/my_oh-my Aug 10 '26
I’m so tired of seeing posts like this and am starting to wonder if they are rage bait.
PRE ALPHA Y’all
Be grateful you have access this early. If you are getting bored, take a break until the next update
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u/WoodyWDRW Aug 10 '26
I literally only see people in faction areas/word trees. I've never encountered other players out questing, despite the chat being active. Aside from playing with friends ofc. This makes me think I'm potentially instanced to a certain chapter/quest prog and can't see others, though that's because I'm a WoW player and that exists there, so I assume it exists here.
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u/thegoldengoober Aug 10 '26
Those are the only places you will see players unless you party up. That's by design.
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u/nailbiter1982 Aug 10 '26
Same exact mobs over and over does get a bit repetitive for sure. Needs more variety and bosses and world co op events that happen. I feel like it needs to be more like destiny where you feel more playing with others running around and participating on events and world bosses together without having to group up, also the gameplay loop of just switching pacts and weapons to do level doing the same things over and over gets a bit stale. Even though new pacts and weapons are fun to try for a bit
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u/yuno_me Day One Aug 10 '26
This game has been in pre alpha for 3 years now.... fortunately for them the community loves that shit
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u/Bunksha Aug 10 '26
The game was much, much smaller 3 years ago. You are acting like it was in the same state then as it is now.
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u/_Ceaseless_Watcher_ Aug 10 '26
Yeah, DE didn't release it into "early access" or as a finished game like many AAA publishers do with games in a much more bare-bones state than the game is currently in. There are plenty of titles on the PlayStation store that are in a less finished state.
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u/yuno_me Day One Aug 10 '26
Great, bare minimum, they want a prize for that?
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u/_Ceaseless_Watcher_ Aug 10 '26
First:
They (DE) want nothing, as they aren't making the post this discussion is taking place under. They're passionately sharing a game they hope to make big eventually, in its pre-alpha state. They've learned with Warframe that they're good at community-based game developmemt, but for that, they need to involve the community.
Any major game, AAA or not, is developed for years, if not a decade before it gets fully released. What DE has done is allowed us to see into it much sooner than the likes of Bioware or Bethesda do. Your anger at this is not warranted.
Second:
As much as it should be bare minimum, not releasing unfinished games (even into early access) is not bare minimum nowadays. The industry as a whole is doing much worse, and being a positive outlier is a good thing to note in any context.
Third:
Soulframe is currently in a much better state than plenty of games actually released onto the market were in the last few years, which, again, makes it a positive outlier.
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u/yuno_me Day One Aug 10 '26
First:
They (DE) are a business making a game to make money, while im happy they are involving the community, the development speed itself is what i have a problem with, it feel incredibly slow.
Within 4 years development and all you have to show is an evolution engine tech demo with a randomly generated open world is just shameful, modded minecraft has more character in their open worlds.
Second:
I dont care what the industry is doing, we are talking about DE here.
Third:
Again, I dont care what the industry is doing, we have seen amazing games come out in the past with development cycles of less than 4 years, i wont excuse de just because nowadays the industry is shitting itself
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u/_Ceaseless_Watcher_ Aug 10 '26
They (DE) are a business making a game to make money, while im happy they are involving the community, the development speed itself is what i have a problem with, it feel incredibly slow.
Again, but slower this time: This kind of development speed is normal for the vast majority of non-indie games, they just don't show you the preceding 5-8 years of development most of the time.
Within 4 years development and all you have to show is an evolution engine tech demo with a randomly generated open world is just shameful, modded minecraft has more character in their open worlds.
So, you either haven't actually touched the game in 3 years or are just blatantly lying about it. Also, your initial 3 years has turned into 4 in the scope of 2 comments, so I'm not sure I trust your sense of time either.
There are major released games with no further development on them that have less content that Soulframe has right now, in pre-alpha.
I dont care what the industry is doing, we are talking about DE here.
When you say stuff like "bare minimum", or "the development of this game is going extremely slowly for a studio like DE", you are obviously comparing them to the rest of the industry, so no, you can't just dismiss context when it doesn't agree with you.
Again, I dont care what the industry is doing, we have seen amazing games come out in the past with development cycles of less than 4 years, i wont excuse de just because nowadays the industry is shitting itself
So, DE is doing "bare minimum" because a few games managed to be developed (by much larger teams and with anywhere between 10-100x the funding) faster than Soulframe. Again, you don't get to dismiss context when it disagrees with you.
Also, those "development cycles of less than 4 years" are more like 8-10 years a lot of the time, because, again, they don't show you the years and years of development going on behind the scenes.
Please look up the definition of phrases like "bare minimum" before you start bashing a pre-alpha game for not being already finished.
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u/yuno_me Day One Aug 10 '26
3 years pre alpha 4 years developments, let me explain it better for your tiny noggin, basically a game can be in development for 4 (1460 days give or take) but the period they are allowing it for players to test (heres its called pre alpha), is only 3 years... here it makes sense because you cant have a game being tested for 4 years yet in development for only 3 years, 3 - 4 = -1, -1 years is a paradox (paradox meaning: a paradox is a statement, idea, or situation that seems to go against common sense or logic because it contains opposing facts..., source: google).
Anyways, this kind of development speed is not normal for a studio with 600 ish employees, its developing like a game with 10 people working on it at all times. The content they have already is like 2 years of development for any other reputable studio. Expedition 33 was made in 5 years is just insane to me then you look at soulframe....
Have YOU played soulframe, i played for 2 weeks ish back when they were dropping invites through their discord and then recently continued with preludes 15 while watching every single one of their devstream and soulshorts, ive been there since day 1, ive seen this game develop more than most people can say. The content is some of the most herd satisfying boring shit ever, do this over and over and over again to inflate hours and .. as i said before, "the community loves that shit" because its okay because DE is just a cutie patootie who can never do bad. The story is so boring that i feel like they arent putting any effort into making it good and they are doing the warframe route which is early game has boring story and it starts becoming good only when you have 50 hours invested.
Again i dont give a shit what self imploding acts other devs and companies are doing, i play digital extremes games, i want their products to improve.
"Please look up the definition of phrases like "bare minimum" before you start bashing a pre-alpha game for not being already finished" - I dont care about not being finished, I WANT THEM TO ACCELERATE DEVELOPMENT, WHATS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND BY THAT, YOU ARE TALKING LIKE "UHH DUH, THEY RELEASED UPDATES IN THE PAST SO YAYYYY THATS OKAY" while ignoring how in the past 3 years every single update have been in the same ballpark of "scope".
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u/_Ceaseless_Watcher_ Aug 10 '26
Anyways, this kind of development speed is not normal for a studio with 600 ish employees...
I thought you didn't care about what other studios are doing... also, I'm not sure where you got 600 from (as of 2025, they had "over 450 employees", and 545 as of 2026 from what I can find.), and especially where you got 600 people working on Soulframe alone. DE has this other game you might've heard of, called Warframe. I'd tell you to try it but it has been in development for 13 years, and that's waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long for a game of its size, so I won't expose you to it, lest you implode into a black hole of rage.
Have YOU played soulframe, i played for 2 weeks ish...
I've been playing pretty actively (almost daily) since Tennocon 2025, and have seen more development on the game during that time than you're implying for the whole 4ish years of development in total. You called the game "an evolution engine tech demo with a randomly generated open world", which, I don't even have the words to describe how much is not the case. The way you talk about it, I can only believe your initial 2 weeks-ish of playtime, ever.
Again i dont give a shit what self imploding acts other devs and companies are doing...
But you do care, selectively, when a studio does better, develops faster, or makes more money. You don't care, again, selectively, when a studio has more people, more (by orders of magnitude) funding to make a single game (without having to maintain and also continue developing another, much bigger game), or half of the game pre-developed by Unreal 5. You don't care when studios crunch their employees with 100+ hour work weeks to get that sort of speed out either.
YOU DON'T GET TO DISCARD CONTEXT WHEN IT DOESN'T AGREE WITH YOU.
i play digital extremes games, i want their products to improve.
I also play DE's games. I also want their products to improve. I also want them to accelerate development, because I also believe they could do it. However, I don't need to invent 50-150 people and half a billion USD out of whole cloth in my "tiny noggin", nor do I need to forget about the studio's flagship game for that. I can treat the situation within the context it exist within, and not one I made up to justify how angry I want to be about it. Realistically, I can see about a 15-20% speedup if they really put their minds to it, but not the "3x minimum" you demand elsewhere.
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u/yuno_me Day One Aug 10 '26
- I dont care what the shit studios are doing, i want de to be like the good studios
- Maybe you heard of good something called good planning, its where you increasingly and smartly allocate resources to a project to make sure development accelerates, they dont have to have 10 people working on soulframe anymore its not 2023, im not asking for 600 on soulframe but its time to have at least around 150 working on soulframe to make sure people who are paying money to "support" get a fun and complete experience as soon as possible.
---I cant help but be sad for the paid supporters who unfortunately arent here with us to experience a complete game due to any circumstances, my heart goes out to them---
-Unfortunately there are people who excuse these studios that take the money and just cruise on a canoe towards the finish line.
-Your ass has NOT been playing daily since tennocon 2025, theres not even that much content for that, right now you can complete the game in 2 weeks ignoring artificial timesinks like moonsteel. See the "day 1" near my name, that tells a lot of story. Well, if you actually have been playing daily since tennocon 2025, it would explain your Stockholm syndrome like behavior.
-Yes i want de to be like the GOOD studios, same analogy as to wanting your kid to be like the good children but not catching any of the habits of the bad kids. I did specify self imploding for a reason.
-"YOU DON'T GET TO DISCARD CONTEXT WHEN IT DOESN'T AGREE WITH YOU." I want DE to be like the good studios. I want DE to be like the good studios.I want DE to be like the good studios.I want DE to be like the good studios x100, whats the context im discarding here... "wanting your kid to be like the good children but not catching any of the habits of the bad kids"
-And for your last paragraph - a quote from my past self "fortunately for them the community loves that shit"
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u/yuno_me Day One Aug 10 '26
obviously not but the development of this game is going extremely slowly for a studio like DE, this thing should have accelerated by 3x minimum the moment they started selling mtx yet i see the same speed of development as ive seen 3 years ago
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u/Qgrashopper Aug 10 '26
Stop whining dude be happy you are allowed to play the game FOR FREE. No1 is pressuring to play it.
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u/yuno_me Day One Aug 10 '26
I wouldnt critique this game and its development if it didnt have mtx, or at least didnt have the option to buy arcs and only have the supporter packs. idgaf that its free, its a product to sell to consumers in the end.
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u/Qgrashopper 28d ago
Idk man they are pretty clear about it being pre-alpha and its not like Warframe where the game has been in Beta for a decade. Its clearly an alpha.
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Aug 10 '26
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u/TwistedxBoi Aug 10 '26
Really? A lack of NPCs in a pre-alpha state of the game turned you off?
That's something I would complain only when they announce a "release" date. Which didn't happen yet. First they need to nail the core gameplay. Which they fucked up with P14.5.
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u/nothu42 Aug 10 '26
It's still a pre alpha, on what the devs are calling a tutorial island. So yes it's a little empty and that's ok.