Review – Warframe: The Sacrifice Update

Warframe‘s latest cinematic quest, The Sacrifice has finally arrived. Along with ending the current saga of cinematic quests, Warframe: The Sacrifice comes with an overhaul of the UI and a new Warframe, the much anticipated Umbra.
Warning: light spoilers ahead for Warframe: The Sacrifice
The Sacrifice picks up after the Apostasy Prologue. The Lotus (your trusty guide who has been with you since the beginning) has gone missing and Ballas has returned. As a Tenno Operator you go out to find out the reasons for her leaving and what Ballas has in store for her.

Umbra is finally here!
The quest for The Sacrifice lasts only about 1 hour 30 minutes, but it’s jam packed with lore goodness and a great story. The story of Umbra is at the center of the quest as we find out more about the creation of the Warframes and the synergy between them and the Tenno. Umbra is an interesting character with a surprising story I won’t spoil here.
Unfortunately, the mysteries surrounding the Lotus and her disappearance faded into the background until the very end and even that was left inconclusive. It ended the quest on a cliffhanger that teases something big for the Warframe universe.
While the story succeeds, the gameplay falters this time around. The quest whilst not bad to play, suffers some poor design decisions. Fighting Umbra 3 times just wasn’t fun especially since the strategy is exactly the same each time. There were also a couple of moments where you have to find some items in a large room, but it’s never clear what you are looking for. The quest does not play to the strengths of Warframe‘s fast moving gameplay.
The voice acting has improved over the course of the quests and The Sacrifice is no exception. The new tracks introduced are amazing and played at just the right points in the story.
Alongside the quest, the update brings along a new UI which is visually more interesting, but overall is much less functional. Going into your inventory you need to hover over individual items to find out what they are and considering many items share the same icon it can be awkward to sell unwanted items. Digital Extremes should have spent more time polishing the UI and making it functional.
Overall, The Sacrifice doesn’t quite reach the heights of The Second Dream, but it’s still an amazing free update and one that’s definitely worth your time.
Graphics: 8.0 Same Warframe look, great art style and Umbra looks amazing |
Gameplay: 7.0 The same Warframe gameplay as before. It still feels good, but the quest does stumble a few times |
Sound: 9.0 Very good voice acting this time around and the soundtrack is as beautiful as ever. |
Fun Factor: 8.0 Warframe is still a fun and rewarding game to play. The quest does lack in some areas though. |
Final Verdict: 8.0
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Warframe: The Sacrifice (U 23.0.1) is available now on PC with the console versions arriving later.