Warframe Interview: Megan Everett Sheds Some Light On Jade Shadows (2024)

Warframe is releasing its next major update, Jade Shadows, on June 18, which introduces its 57th warframe, Jade, and a new cinematic quest to tell the tale of the Stalker. This villainous figure has shown up in several key moments and preyed upon players since the game's early days, making it a formidable foe to our Tenno protagonist.

Of course, after eleven years of history within an ever-growing universe, many questions arise every time a new cinematic quest is released. We sat down with Digital Extremes community director Megan Everett to ask those very questions regarding the lore of Warframe, The Stalker himself, and the upcoming Ascension game mode.

Jade Shadows is the name of this update. The last time the term ‘jade’ was used in the game, was to describe the Orokin technology responsible for taking the life of Margulis, the motherly figure of the Tenno. Given the importance of her execution, will we see more about that particular moment in Tenno's history?

Ah, you caught that! This is such a sneaky question, but I can only say maybe someday. For Jade Shadows specifically, I will say no, since this update is purely focused on the Stalker; it’s very much his story and answers some questions about his history. However, the connection between Jade and the Jade Light we’ve come to hear about is the same.

What can you tell me about the angle behind Jade’s design? An obvious female angelic theme is going on, but how does it work? She’s been mentioned as a support-type character, but how do her abilities and signature weapons fit with that theme or the lore behind her?

Originally, her core design was based around the word ‘choir.’ The angel aspect of the design came organically alongside that since angelic imagery is so prevalent in classical choral arrangements. As seen in our last Devstream, you could almost call her a choir soloist since her ability kit consists of buffing allies and slowing down enemies through the power of song with her ultimate ability allowing her to take flight.

We also wanted to almost create a polar opposite to the Stalker since Jade is dropping alongside an update focused on him. Her weapon names even act as the opposite of Stalker’s weapons: Evensong (Dread), Cantare (Despair), and Harmony (Hate), and when all three weapons are used together they have a unique buff for Jade.

Concept artwork has been shown in the stream before, but all the official images show Jade in particular poses, always from behind. Is there more to this Warframe than the apparent angelic aesthetic? Will it have a form change similar to Nidus, perhaps?

No comment! All will become clear as you play through the story of Jade Shadows.

It’s mentioned in the synopsis that one of the protagonists of this chapter will be the Stalker, a character that has been present in the game from the beginning. Will we experience his story from his point of view, or will we travel to another point in time similarly to how we did it in Whispers In The Wall?

While this story will have some new narrative flashbacks, the gameplay will very much be set in the present day with the Stalker at the forefront of the plot. And you’re right, Stalker has been with us since the very beginning of Warframe’s main story, so the new perspectives we get from him in this Quest will very likely recontextualize a number of our past encounters with him.

A new Clan Event was announced, called The Belly Of The Beast, which seems to be focused on the Stalker. Can we expect lore-adjacent activities that are related to the Stalker/Jade’s stories, or will it be an entirely separate thing set in the present of the game’s timeline?

You can expect relevance to the main plot of Jade Shadows! This new Clan Operation acts as the epilogue to the story and is focused on the new mission type, Ascension. If the community goal is met, new Jade-themed Ephemeras unlock too.

There’s also the new mode, Ascension, which will be introduced to the game shortly after the recent release of the Deep Archimedean missions. How will Ascension be different from other types of content in the game? Is it more oriented to the casual player, or an endgame activity for seasoned players?

Ascension missions are meant to add some gameplay variety for all players of all skill levels. Warframe’s missions are usually very horizontal in both design and traversal, so the team wanted to try something different with a more ‘vertical-shaped’ mission; instead of going forward, you go up!

Even though our questions barely scratched the surface of the Origin System, it's only a matter of weeks before Jade Shadows releases, and with it, a new chapter in the story of Warframe will enlighten all the Tenno out there. All that remains is to patiently wait and discover the true story behind the infamous Stalker while we get ready for the upcoming TennoCon.