Warframe Fortuna Small Image

Fortuna: Journey into the Heart of Warframe’s Next Open World

Whether you’re new to Warframe or a grizzled veteran, the upcoming expansion, Fortuna, has probably crossed your Twitter feed once or twice — something-something Venus, blah-blah hoverboards…giant mechanical spiders. Yes, that’s us! We introduced the new open-world landscape of Fortuna at our annual Warframe convention, TennoCon, this summer to a roar of excitement and positive crowd response, and since then our team has been working triple time to make it ready for Tenno around the world.

In real life, Venus is a totally uninhabitable, stormy, toxic, cloud-covered planet, on which no human spacecraft has successfully landed. In Warframe, Venus is the planet where you’ll find Fortuna, a wild science fiction dreamscape populated with fields of alien flowers, three-story mushrooms, cute, harmless creatures, and run by the greed-driven Corpus faction.

Warframe - Fortuna Screenshot

Fortuna is the name of the expansion, but it also refers to an underground hub city. That’s Fortuna, the place! (If you’ve played our first open-world, Plains of Eidolon, Fortuna is the equivalent to Cetus.) Located in a dark, noir-ish labor camp, Fortuna is where humans who have replaced body parts with robotic ones and work tirelessly in repressive debt. These people are the Solaris United Faction, and they need your help Tenno! By taking on their missions, they’ll provide guidance, unlock new weapons and tools, and they will lead you down the lore path of a society in conflict. By going up against the Corpus, you’ll earn standing (i.e. reputation) with them, which in turn opens up new weapon upgrades, missions, and unlocks deeper secrets to their dark story.

The planet’s surface, The Orb Vallis, is much different than Fortuna the city. Clouds of orange and blue churn from terraforming towers and roil across the sky creating a foreign, fantastical feel. Prominent jagged cliffs and mountainsides cascade into valleys below filled with towering mushrooms, alien flora, and a mixture of Corpus bases and ancient Orokin manufacturing plants. Massive robot spiders, crawling across and patrolling key structures, loom in the distance.

Warframe - Fortuna Screenshot

Even though I’ve seen it a dozen times or so, my first impression of The Orb Vallis is still the strongest and most powerful. Once you’ve explored the underground city and made friends with Solaris figures The Biz and Eudico, you’ll take an elevator to the surface. In amongst churning steel doors creaking to part with steam pouring from their innards, the giant, fantastical open world appears in front of you. Sounds of unearthly creatures’ screech and whine, the billowing atmosphere, foreign landscape, and alien sky seem to fill your Tenno lungs with strange air and seep into your eyes with wonder. They let you know instantly that you are so, so very far away from home — or anything ever introduced in Warframe before.

There, on the surface, your options too, are vast, Tenno. For starters, you can track, tranq and save sweet, harmless, endangered creatures from extinction. A noble cause! Kind of similar to the fishing activity on Plains of Eidolon, the hunting/tracking feature requires acquiring an ‘echo lure’ tool to mimic the unique sounds of these dwindling species, tracking their footprints (and their poop!), and luring them into range to tranquilize and transport them to a safe place.

Warframe - Fortuna Screenshot

The Ventkids in Fortuna are big fans of your newest transportation option, the Bondi K-Drive, a powerful, fast and nimble hoverboard that enables you to explore the giant landscape (which is about 3-4 times bigger than the already big Plains of Eidolon) and learn the meaning of getting rad on Venus! Learn tricks, enter into K-Drive races, and venture deep in the far reaches of the Orb Vallis in search of resources, cool hidden stuff, and even more secrets!

All the while, you’ll build up your Warframe and weapons to confront the treacherous “prophet of profit” Nef Anyo — who runs the place. Whether alone or with three more Tenno, you’ll challenge and pummel his ground and air forces to aid the Solaris from their dire predicament and restore balance to the universe.

Warframe - Fortuna Screenshot

These are the first baby steps in exploring Digital Extremes’ upcoming Fortuna expansion.

If you’ve been longing to fulfill the fantasy of becoming a super powerful space ninja, you know, and kicking Corpus rumpus on Venus, your time is nearly here. Come join us, Tenno — download Warframe for free today in preparation for Fortuna, coming this winter to Xbox One!