Soulframe isn’t meant to be a soulslike, but it still has dodging, parrying and lock-on, and its gameplay looks a lot like Elden Ring to me. So I’m staying on WoW Forever instead of jumping into the free open alpha.
Key takeaways
- Digital Extremes reworked Soulframe’s combat in 2025 to feel more like an action game and less like a traditional soulslike.
- Combat still uses dodging, parrying and lock-on, and a parry can reflect projectiles back at enemies.
- Soulframe is an open-world, free-to-play “MMO-lite” with a wolf mount, closer to WoW’s setup than to a Souls game’s.
- I watched the gameplay trailer, and it looks too close to Elden Ring and Dark Souls for how I want to play.
Is Soulframe a soulslike?
Not officially. Digital Extremes has pushed back on people pigeonholing Soulframe as a hardcore game, and in 2025 it heavily reworked the combat to feel more like an action game than a traditional soulslike. Senior community manager Sarah Asselin said “combat has had a massive overhaul.”
That rework followed a cool response to the early footage. The first gameplay, shown at TennoCon in 2023, was slow and precise, built around dodging and parrying, and plenty of players read it as a Souls-style game. Digital Extremes’ COO Sheldon Carter said it was “okay that the reaction to what we had wasn’t overwhelmingly positive.”
Early previews didn’t help. After the first gameplay reveal, Soulframe was widely described as an Elden Ring-like fantasy RPG, with comparisons to Princess Mononoke for its nature-versus-industry story. That label stuck even as the combat changed underneath it.
So the honest answer is that Soulframe borrows from soulslikes, but the studio has moved it away from being one. It has the dodge, the parry and the lock-on, but the studio also wants a mage build that can be played a lot more casually.
What does Soulframe’s combat look like?
Third-person melee and magic in an open world. You lock on to an enemy, dodge their attacks and parry at the right moment, and a parry can now send projectiles back at whoever fired them. That parry arrived with the July 2025 update, alongside the move to open the alpha up to the public.
Your build comes from a Pact, which gives you a small bundle of starter gear rather than a class. Every player can unlock all the equipment, abilities and attributes as they explore, so you aren’t locked into one style by your first choice. The new Ode Shrike Pact, for example, comes with spike traps, balloon darts, bola chains and a throwing bomb.
Does Soulframe look like Elden Ring?
To me, yes. I watched the trailer, and the first part isn’t even gameplay, it’s all pre-animated. Once the actual gameplay starts, it does look cool. It looks really good. But I think it looks too close to Elden Ring and Dark Souls-y stuff for me, compared to what WoW is.
Before I watched it, I thought it looked very much like a Souls-like in a WoW kind of setup, and the gameplay didn’t change my mind. I’ve said before that Phantom Blade Zero could be big like Elden Ring. Soulframe just isn’t how I want to play.
Is Soulframe more like WoW or Dark Souls?
It sits in between. The world side is closer to WoW: Soulframe is set in an open world called Alca, it’s free to play, it supports multiplayer, and Wikipedia calls it “MMO-lite.” You travel on a wolf mount, and fast travel costs Wevetseeds. Digital Extremes, the Canadian studio best known for Warframe, has kept that game’s free-to-play approach, with single-player and multiplayer both supported.
The fighting side is closer to Dark Souls, with lock-on, dodges and parries rather than WoW’s ability bars. If it’s Dark Souls itself you’re after, note that Dark Souls 3’s servers are down for now, so its online side is limited. That mix is why it’s hard to pin down. Players who want Elden Ring’s difficulty should know Digital Extremes says that isn’t the goal.
Am I playing the Soulframe open alpha?
No. I’m going to be sticking on WoW Forever. I have been looking at Soulframe, and I think it looks cool, but I just don’t think it looks how I want to play.
That’s the whole decision for me. WoW Forever is the game I’m putting my time into right now, and Soulframe looks too close to Elden Ring and Dark Souls for me.
How long has Soulframe been in development?
Since at least 2022. Digital Extremes revealed Soulframe with a cinematic trailer at TennoCon in July 2022, and the first pre-alpha build became playable in December 2023, invite only. The Preludes alpha opened to the public at TennoCon in July 2025, and paid Founders bundles followed on 25 November 2025.
The 6 November 2026 Open Preludes release made that access permanent for everyone on PC. It’s still an alpha, though. The Steam page is a wishlist page with no release date, and there’s no console version in this phase.
How do you play Soulframe right now?
Soulframe’s free Open Preludes alpha opened to all Windows PC players on 6 November, with no invite needed. You create an account on the official Soulframe site and download the alpha from there. It’s free to play, and Founders, who pay to support the game, get special Pacts and equipment straight away.
The next update, Verse of the Veilands, is due in November. Its headline feature is the Omen Wolf mount: you finish a wolf pup’s training, purify two Veilands regions, then brew a Bairnday Biscuit and feed it to the pup so it grows into a mount.
The Veilands themselves are a new world progression system, unlocked after The Tormented Stag Fable, that shows how far the Ode forces’ corruption has spread across Alca. The update also brings back the Bita’s Eve fishing event, with Wintersquash patches, a Veltruska mini-boss and a special fish called the Sunken Terror, all tied to limited-time rewards.
FAQ
Is Soulframe a soulslike? Not by design. Digital Extremes reworked its combat to feel more like an action game, but it still has dodging, parrying and lock-on.
Is Soulframe free? Yes. The Open Preludes alpha is free on Windows PC.
Is Soulframe like Elden Ring? The combat style is close to Elden Ring’s, with dodges, parries and lock-on, but the world is a free-to-play open-world MMO-lite.
Who makes Soulframe? Digital Extremes, the Canadian studio best known for Warframe, which revealed Soulframe at TennoCon in July 2022.
Is Soulframe on console? Not yet. The Open Preludes alpha is Windows PC only, and there’s no console version in this phase.
When is Soulframe’s full release? There isn’t a date. Soulframe is still in alpha, and its Steam page has no release date.
If you like Soulframe’s combat, Sands of Aura on the GAMES.GG store is an action RPG in the same vein.
