Soulframe's Verse of the Veilands update will corrupt its world

Soulframe's first content drop after its open launch will turn the landmass of Midrath into a corrupted, hostile frontier that players have to cleanse region by region, Digital Extremes previewed during its October 30 devstream.

The update, Preludes 17, is titled Verse of the Veilands and is expected later in November, shortly after Soulframe opens its Open Preludes alpha to all players on Friday, November 6. No invitation or key is needed: players sign up on the Soulframe website and download the proprietary PC launcher. Until now the game has been open only to invited players, who have tested it since 2023.

Siphons, votives and a world to cleanse

After finishing the Tormented Stag Fable, players will find Midrath's land being drained by siphons deployed by the Ode, the star-faring villain faction. Each region has to be cleansed by completing votives, the game's quest missions, to learn that region's sacred song and restore the environment. While a region is corrupted, enemies, events and even loot tables change, and some side activities such as fishing only unlock once the land is restored.

Update 17 also adds the game's first mounts. The Omen wolfpup players have been raising finally grows into a rideable adult wolf, which Digital Extremes said at TennoCon would arrive this fall. A new Pact tied to the Ode faction arrives alongside it, a hunter and poacher build with spike traps, spinning bolas that tie enemies together, and a balloon ability that hoists foes into the sky. The Pact's final name was still undecided when Digital Extremes presented the update.

Creative director Geoff Crookes said the system also helps the worldbuilding: each faction leader gets pages of new writing and will radio in during play to fill players in on the world's history.

Why the new-look world worries the developers

The rework also overhauls how Soulframe teaches itself. Lead designer Scott McGregor said the more directed structure answers feedback from players who felt lost in the current open, discoverable layout, and called pairing the change with Open Preludes nerve-wracking.

"I think this is probably one of the biggest, most violent changes we've made to the structure of the game in a long while," McGregor said at a developer presentation.

Crookes admitted the aesthetic pivot is a risk, since the game has won praise for how cozy and beautiful its world looks, and new players will instead step into somewhere "much more unforgiving and harsh at first glance."

Anyone joining on November 6 will get 16 existing Preludes chapters of lore, characters and gameplay to catch up on, and the paid Founders program stays unchanged. Digital Extremes has not given Verse of the Veilands an exact date beyond its November window.

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