During Soulframe’s Devstream 13, the development team revealed several upcoming additions arriving with the upcoming Preludes 14. Highlights include adding the rapier as a new weapon, a new Pact named Duelo, and expanding Orlick’s role. While there is no exact release date, the update is expected to come out in mid-April.
The team also gave a glimpse into future updates, confirming that mounts are in active development with a planned release for this year, and teasing a significant overhaul to the crafting and loot systems aimed at reducing the grind.
New Weapon: Rapier
One of the biggest additions in Preludes 14 is introducing rapiers as a weapon. These focus on quick, single-target attacks, giving you a duellist playstyle. The new addition includes a unique animation set and ties into the Long Blade Weapon Art tree.
New Pact: Duelo
Accompanying the rapier is a new Pact called Duelo. Once unlocked, it introduces a new set of Arcanics and passive abilities.
- Courage Arcanic – Flintlock – Draw a flintlock pistol against your foes, delivering a shot that tears through multiple foes.
- Spirit Arcanic – Bravado – Casting Bravado boosts the highest Virtue stat of each Party member within range, and slows the enemies around.
- Grace Arcanic – Duo Deulo – With each strike of your weapon, a ghostly clone lags in suit, mirroring your swings at a lower damage value.
- Passive – Olho por Olho – Your weapon has a chance to bleed your foes.
- Passive – Chamariz – Upon dodging, your clone holds the enemy’s attention for a moment.
A demonstration of the rapier and the Duelo Pact
Orlick’s Role Expanded
Starting with Preludes 14, Orlick now has his own progression system that ties to his research. Players need to complete objectives that require Spectral Sight, such as charming animals and equipping Totems. Completing his tasks gives you various rewards, and helps Orlick make progress on a book that he’s writing.
A preview of the objectives and rewards from Orlick
Weapon System Changes
Several changes are being made to weapon enhancements as well:
- Runes will now gain charges when using Smite, and heavy attacks activate them
- Joineries are being reworked to provide 1-3 Virtue Attunement ‘pips’
- Existing Joineries will be renamed and reworked into the system, and the damage they previously provided are going to be part of weapon leveling
Other Additions
Preludes 14 will include a variety of other additions:
- The Journal is receiving an updated UI for improved clarity
- A new Siege: Mirifuir
- Fallen Skycastles are becoming accessible
- A new enemy: the Rovgot Wyrm
- Additional weapons
- 5 new Mini-Quests to tackle
Future Content
During the stream, they teased a couple of things that they plan on adding in the future. Mounts are confirmed to be in active development and are planned to be released later this year. Additionally, the devs revealed a major overhaul to crafting and loot in the update after Preludes 14, reducing reliance on crafting gear and allowing fully built gear to drop as loot
Soulframe remains in pre-alpha with no release date in sight. However, players can go to their official site to apply for an invite to the testing, and it was announced that the April 7 edition of Game Informer will include a Preludes invite code with each issue.
