After several years since his last major appearance in the narrative,Warframe’s iconic Stalker will be assuming a starring role in the upcoming Jade Shadows cinematic quest update. The Stalker has been an antagonistic presence sinceWarframe’s humble early days, but fans still know surprisingly little about him even after a decade of close encounters. Jade Shadows' quest will allow players to take control of the Stalker himself to view things from his perspective and hopefully uncover more about his motivations and origins.
In an interview ahead of Jade Shadows' release, Game Rant sat down withWarframecreative director Rebb Ford to talk about the Stalker’s development throughout the game’s decade-long run. She spoke about how the Stalker has grown into something never anticipated back when he debuted and how Jade Shadows will handle his characterization from this new perspective by bringing on some noteworthy voice talent.
The Stalker Took On A Life Of His Own In Warframe
When the Stalker was first introduced toWarframein 2013, he was mostly a game mechanic. Players who defeated a boss might get marked for death and receive a visit from the Stalker in a later mission. Moreover,Digital Extremes developershave also been known to invade players' games themselves through “Stalker Mode.” Ford says that the narrative depth behind the Stalker today is beyond anything the team anticipated a decade ago.
“I can say for sure that what we’re about to release, we never thought would happen back in 2013. Respect to the team at the time: the community fell in love right away and it was really easy to justify investing in the intrigue. He was one of the first characters to get a custom codex entry, which is sort of a signal.
Generally speaking, if you pay attention to the way we developWarframeas alive-service game, when we start leaving breadcrumbs about certain characters, that means that someone at the office really sees a future for them or we’re really interested in them. Stalker has had the longest tenure as the character everyone loves to work on or be involved with. This is a love letter to 10 years of Stalker intrigue.”
With the Stalker’s role in major cinematic quests like The Second Dream andThe New War, the black-clad assassin has become far more than a simple game mechanic to spice up missions. Serving as the player’s occasional rival and reluctant ally in a few instances, the Stalker has become one of the most intriguing characters inWarframe’s universe.
Jade Shadows Explores The Stalker’s Perspective
Players will take control of the Stalker inthe Jade Shadows update, but Ford remarks that this doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be listening to the Stalker’s inner monologues. Although prolific actor Gianni Matragranno has been cast to portray Stalker in this update, players shouldn’t expect the Stalker to be the chatty type. Instead, the events that unfold and the actions the Stalker takes during the quest will do most of the talking for him.
“In doing the quest for Jade Shadows, I think we had a couple of core rules for this character. There’s a couple of little twists in here that we’ll talk about without spoiling too much, and that is speaking. You’ve known the Stalker to torment you with a couple of lines like, ‘Your Tenno powers are useless.’ Those are just lines we put in back in 2013 to have that sense of antagonism.
For the quest, we wanted to make sure that he’s not a poet; you’re not going to get an inner monologue moment with him. It’s not like he is sitting on his lonesome speaking to himself. He’s very much a man of few words. He’s not clever. He’s not Kahl. He’s a stalker and you’ll learn about what drives him.”
It’s worth noting that the Stalker won’t be a permanent addition to players' collections of Warframes with Jade Shadows, but he’ll still appear from time to time in the Arsenal for players who unlock Drifter Intrinsics Opportunity Rank 10 inThe Duviri Paradox. Players looking for a fully customizable Stalker will have to cross their fingers for a future update.
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