How to Play Soulframe Now: Preludes Alpha & Release Status

Soulframe is that rare upcoming game you can already play – just not in the usual way. Digital Extremes, the studio behind Warframe, still has not announced a launch date for its free-to-play fantasy action RPG, and the Steam page only says "Coming soon". Instead, the studio keeps growing Soulframe Preludes, a closed alpha on PC that players enter through a waitlist on the official website or by buying a Founder pack.

That is why "how do I play Soulframe?" has become a bigger question than "when does it come out?". The latest build, Preludes 16: Of Hook & Hound, arrived on 18 September 2026 with fishing, wolf-cub bonding and a dynamic weather system, and TennoCon 2026 added a new story quest featuring Ben Starr, the voice actor many players know from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Each update reshapes the game in front of its community rather than behind closed doors.

In this article we explain how Preludes access works, what kind of RPG Soulframe is building – Pacts, Virtues, melee and magick instead of Warframe's guns and parkour – which features are confirmed for 2026, and why the absence of a release date is a deliberate choice rather than a warning sign.

How to get into Soulframe Preludes

Preludes is a closed alpha playtest, and Digital Extremes is explicit that it is an experimental build meant to be shaped by feedback. There are two routes in. You can join the free access queue on soulframe.com, from which players are drawn at random every week, or you can unlock access instantly by opting in as a Founder. Invites have also been handed out as Twitch Drops during official Devstreams.

Updates are free and numbered, and the studio says it will continue Preludes until the game is ready for a wider PC launch. Wishlisting on Steam does not grant access, but it keeps you informed about development.

Pacts, Virtues and three ways to fight

You play an Envoy, someone with ancient Fey blood who resists the Ode'n magick that made the land of Alca forget its rites and its divine Omen Beasts. Freeing those beasts forms Pacts, which grant Arcanic abilities, while three Virtues shape your style: Courage for a heroic charge into melee, Grace for stealth or patient archery, and Spirit for magick drawn from the land itself.

Weapons are blades, bows and staffs, and you can swap weapons, Pacts and loadouts freely outside combat through the Nightfold. Players who enjoy reading enemy patterns in Dark Souls III will find Soulframe's sword-and-sorcery focus closer to that tradition than to Warframe's high-speed gunplay.

Sword, bow and staff side by side: each Virtue suits a different role when Envoys team up against the Ode's soldiers.

Midrath, Fables and co-op for up to four

Your journey begins on the isle of Midrath. You take on Fables to aid the corrupted Omen Beasts, find World Trees, liberate captured fortresses in Sieges, discover hidden Enclaves and complete Votives against the Ode. Underground areas such as the Dermak Undercity, the Glades of Anduin and the ever-shifting Neath'uns add dungeon-style variety.

Everything can be played solo, but parties of up to four can explore together. That mix of shared exploration and crafting will feel familiar to anyone who has built a base with friends in Enshrouded.

An Envoy faces a corrupted, bear-like creature wreathed in green magick – battles like this are tied to healing Alca from the Ode's corruption.

What 2026 added

At TennoCon in July 2026, Digital Extremes previewed the Warsongs Fable, with Ben Starr as the antagonist Tempest Bayor, plus the Vadagar Pact as a corrupted progression path and a new boss fight against the Mendicant Reinbreaker. Preludes 16 then delivered fishing, a two-handed mace, a caster staff, a sidearm rapier and a wolf cub you raise until it helps in combat. Mounts are confirmed to arrive in Preludes later this year.

Strengths and concerns

The open development is Soulframe's biggest strength: the studio is iterating in public and players can judge the game for themselves. The flip side is uncertainty. There is no launch window, PC is the only platform where Soulframe can be played today, and as a free-to-play game its long-term monetisation will matter as much as its combat.

Is Soulframe worth joining now?

If you enjoy watching an RPG take shape and do not mind alpha-level rough edges, Soulframe is worth a place in the Preludes queue. Patient players who want a finished world can wait for the wider launch – and while they do, a classic open-world fantasy like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered from the Urazon catalog is a fine way to keep exploring.