Warframe's The Old Peace Expansion Revealed: A Perilous Trip to Tau Unfolds Soon

CNET

a day ago

Warframe's last few updates have been a narrative tour de force through time and space, weaving together disparate threads from the far-flung past of the year 1999 and the fairytale void-dimension of Duviri.
Core to these expansions is the conflict with the Eldritch threat known only as the Indifference. As it comes closer to piercing the veil of our reality and escaping the void, it's up to the Tenno to navigate lost memories -- rediscovering forgotten allies, a peace that was doomed to fail and a path to a star system beyond our own.
Warframe's The Old Peace expansion gives us our first real look at Tau, introduces a frame that follows closely on Oraxia's heels and expands players' arsenals with a familiar Prime Warframe and new Operator abilities.
At this year's TennoCon convention, studio Digital Extremes outlined what's coming in the next year of Warframe, including its next expansion landing in the coming months and the big plans for next year.
Here's everything you need to know about the next chapter of Warframe -- as we once more delve into the past to prepare for future battles.
Read more: How Warframe Balances Bleakness With Quirky Foes to Stay True to Its Universe
Relive past battles in the Tau system as you dive deep to uncover crucial lost knowledge.
Digital Extremes
What is Tau? Traveling to Warframe's promised land
For Warframe lore junkies, the upcoming opportunity to actually see the long-teased Tau for the first time is a mind-boggling prospect. This is the star system that the Orokin Empire created the Sentients to colonize. It's the very place that the Zariman Ten Zero was en route to before its accident created the Tenno, the void-powered player characters.
The turbulent rise and fall of the current major factions can be attributed to a greedy superpower wanting to get its paws on the resources in this star system, making it arguably one of the most important set pieces in the Warframe universe. And now we're getting our eyes on it for the first time in the game's 10-year history.
Note that players won't actually get to properly explore Tau until 2026 -- most of the system's mysteries will remain intact for now, with players grappling with the past as they run and gun across a single planetary moon.
In the lead-up to Tau, The Old Peace will be the next expansion -- another time-bending adventure, as the Tenno use funky void powers (and sensory deprivation tanks) to explore repressed memories.
Though the new narrative doesn't necessarily retcon anything we know about the old war between the Orokin and the Sentients, it does call into question how much we truly know about that time period. The Tenno, Orokin and Sentients all made it to Tau and at one point established a tenuous peace -- you'll even find out about a forgotten childhood best friend, a Sentient named Adis.
The Old Peace will surely be a tragic tale, because we know this story ends in bloodshed. Even if the Tenno enforce the peace by cutting down Orokin Dax warriors who are currently violating the agreement, war will inevitably break out and history will run its course. Although we won't be able to make a difference on Tau's moon of Perita, there are hidden truths to uncover -- ones that will help us prepare for the approaching war with the Indifference.
The Devil's Triad is a prime example of the Orokin Empire's tendency to blur the lines between political and spiritual matters.
Digital Extremes
The Devil's Triad: An Orokin story that introduces visually stunning zealots
The Old Peace introduces three characters who might as well be the physical embodiment of Catholic guilt. I love decking my Warframes out to look a bit medieval, so this gothic squad is right up my alley.
The Devil's Triad is a group of Orokin enforcers -- religious zealots and confessors -- who seem to be involved in some way with Albrecht Entrati, the scientist who made first contact with the Indifference, created the Warframes and hid in the 1999 time loop.
Father Lyon Allard and Marie Leroux are new protoframe variants of Harrow and Wisp, expanding on the concept introduced with the Drifter's Hex allies. Their colleague has been fully consumed by the Infestation's steelskin, becoming the next Warframe: The devil Uriel.
These characters match the darker vibe of The Old Peace -- their striking visuals call to mind the religious zealotry of the Warhammer's Inquisitors, and they fit right in with Harrow's original lore as Rell's Warframe protector in the Red Veil faction.
The alliance between the Tenno and the Sentients created deadly tools. Chief among them is the Caliban Prime Warframe.
Digital Extremes
Caliban Prime, focus system upgrades and more
A mental traipse through Tau reveals old Tenno powers born anew. A temporary alliance with the Sentients created hybrid technologies lost to time -- but now we'll have the chance to bring them back to the present.
The next Warframe to get the prime treatment will be Caliban -- which slots perfectly into the lore for the upcoming expansion. Prime Warframes are more powerful versions of the biomechanical suits that were created in the heyday of the Orokin Empire, and Caliban is the amalgamation of the Infestation and Sentient technology.
It only makes sense that Caliban Prime is the product of the titular old peace, and so the recently reworked ally-summoning frame will get its chance to shine in your arsenal very soon.
The other big change to Warframe's power scaling won't come in the form of traditional weaponry. The Tenno's void powers are getting upgrades, as players who are fully invested in the five core focus schools (Operator skill trees) will soon be able to wield powerful ultimate abilities. Though there aren't many details yet about what the Tauron focus expansion will look like in practice, developer Digital Extremes has promised to elaborate on the feature in future Devstreams.
Other big TennoCon announcements that will shape the way you interact with your Warframes and weaponry throughout the rest of the year include a long-awaited Oberon Warframe rework, a new mod-related story quest that teaches new players how to properly ramp up their power, and special skins for Valkyr and Lavos.
The Old Peace expansion will launch later in 2025, with continual content updates slated to come out in the following months. Tau is set to become the key story driver for Warframe next year, so this will become an important expansion to familiarize yourself with postrelease.