Warframe’s latest update, Jade Shadows: Constellations, has finally arrived, bringing with it two brand-new Protoframes: Ryoku and Vena. A comparatively recent addition to the sci-fi shooter’s lineup, Protoframes—essentially human-shaped versions of the game’s famous Warframes—was a bold step that won over players a few years back, and their appeal has endured ever since.
When Protoframes first launched in the 2024 Warframe: 1999 expansion, they came bundled with an in-game romance feature that was met with broad approval. After players dug into that option, interest in more quickly followed. Still, the Protoframes introduced in Jade Shadows: Constellations take things in a different direction.
“What stands out about Ryoku and Vena is that I’m certain some people will be disappointed that they aren’t included for romance, yet not every character can be,” said community director and live ops lead Megan Everett to Eurogamer.
For this update, Warframe’s new Protoframes step into a mentorship role tied to the spotlight characters of Jade Shadows: Constellations—Warframe brothers Orion and Sirius. Rather than pursuing Ryoku and Vena romantically, players choose to bond with one of them, then head into a space engagement that ends with a high-stakes boss encounter against the rival they select. Everett views this as an important break from the usual Protoframe formula, even as she acknowledges that players want romance.
“It’s important to broaden Protoframes so they can keep feeling fresh and so we can dig into what players enjoy. That said, I’m already seeing comments asking for romance—I suspect people will always want Protoframes that are romanceable.”
“I understand that if my preferred Warframe had a Protoframe and I couldn’t go down that route, I’d feel pretty let down. But if you follow the Constellations quest, you’ll see how these characters are closely tied to Sirius and Orion—and why romance doesn’t fit here.”
It’s worth noting that, while players often want romance from Protoframes, it hasn’t always been included whenever new ones are introduced. For instance, last year’s Techrot Encore update introduced four characters, each carrying their own backgrounds that complicated the idea of adding romantic content. Two of them, for example, are divorced.
From Everett’s perspective, even though adding romanceable Protoframes has benefited the game, it shouldn’t become so common that it starts to feel stale. “Our community values the romance systems—it shows they can take part in different kinds of experiences,” she says. “They’re not only thinking about the metagame; it’s not just about the grind. They’re willing to explore different paths of play. That helps us, especially with lore-heavy, romanceable characters and these mentors. We want to prevent Protoframe fatigue; if we gave a romantic option to every Protoframe we released, players would likely feel frustrated.”
Another issue is expanding the list of romanceable characters for a playerbase that may already be content with the existing relationships already available in-game:
“You can’t make players genuinely care about one character, then suddenly show them another one they might be able to date,” Everett explains. “When we launched the Triad, we needed to make it clear that players could still date the Warframe 1999 characters so they wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. People build strong attachments to Protoframes, and we really appreciate that. We just want to limit any possible frustration.”
This worry extends beyond romance itself. Too much repetition can create drawbacks, and “Protoframe burnout” remains a constant concern for the people developing Warframe. Everett says the key is to “keep them special”.
“Every year we introduce four new Warframes, plus Prime Warframes. If we kept adding Protoframes into that mix all the time, it could lead to burnout. So we have to be selective and deliberate in how we bring them in. They need to work thematically and fit with the bigger story. This doesn’t mean future Protoframes won’t have romance, or that some won’t have divorce arcs or comparable elements—but we have to preserve a sense of novelty.”