Behind the scenes in the Warframe studios where new fantasy game is in development

London-based video game developer Digital Extremes has built a community of millions of players with its sci-fi shooter game Warframe, and they will soon welcome gamers to enter the new world of Soulframe.

Now three years into development, Soulframe is a bold departure from the fast-paced future galaxy of Warframe. With a mystic and enchanted world rooted in nature and spirits, players take on the role of Envoy, a spiritual adventurer bonded with ancestral forces.

While the ancient Tenno warriors in Warframe battle with fast gunplay, Envoys engage in more tactical combat, using swords, bows and spellcasting, taking the player on a more contemplative journey.

"Soul Frame is really our response to the kind of industrialization of the world and how we want to kind of get back to nature," said Sheldon Carter, the president of Digital Extremes. "We wanted to go back to themes of restoration, of kind of connecting more. At the same time, we want to have an action-adventure fantasy game."

Carter said Soulframe is an opportunity for the game developer to explore the world of fantasy storytelling.

"You're doing fables, you're rescuing animals, you're fending off the corruption in nature."

The core team behind Soulframe is the same team that built Warframe, which was released in 2013.

"There is a certain magic that comes from having a team that has worked together for so long," said Carter. "But outside the magic is really careful planning and really carefully looking at what is the story that we want to tell? What's the world that will facilitate that? And I think we do a really good job of starting with a germ of a story and then building the game around that."

The enchanting graphics of Soulframe are complimented by immersive sound scapes and effects, which are recorded in house and developed alongside the story.

"It takes a long time and a team of many people over over many years," said George Spanos, the audio director at Digital Extremes. "You get into that cycle where you work on it and then you put it in the game engine and then you see it come to life. You're making this whole world that players can experience, which is very rewarding and exciting."

LISTEN | London Morning host Andrew Brown gets a sneak peek at the development of Soulframe:

Like Warframe, Soulframe will be free-to-play, with add-ons that can be purchased inside the game.

A prelude version has been made available to some players to try, but the full release date for Soulframe has not been set. The company is hosting their annual TennoCon event at Canada Life Place in July, where fans and players will get a chance to explore Soulframe.