Warframe's Old Blood update adds a personal nemesis that'll hunt you across the stars

As if it didn't already have a mind-boggling array of disparate systems to wrap your poor-old space bonce around, Warframe is expanding in unlikely directions once more, this time with its Old Blood update on PC. Now, players can go toe-to-toe with their own personal nemesis, who'll relentlessly pursue them across the stars unless defeated.

The Old Blood is a pretty sizeable update all round, ushering in developer Digital Extremes' second wave of melee combat improvements (including an overhauled Combo System), the new Grendel Warframe, and reworks for two existing ones: Ember and Vauban. It's the Kuva Lich nemesis system, however, that makes for the most intriguing addition.

The Kuva Lich is a reworked version of Digital Extremes' previously teased Kingpin system, which was first discussed in a developer livestream all the way back in 2016 and which has evolved substantially since then. Inspired by Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis system, it presents players with a personal (and immortal) big bad that evolves over time.

Tenno who've reached The War Within or beyond will be able to kill a Kuva Larvling during any regular Level 20+ Grineer mission in the Origin System. This will bring an immortal Kuva Lich into the world, intent on exacting their revenge on their maker/murderer.

Crucially, a Kuva Lich can only be defeated by acquiring special Requiem Mods and then deploying the right set in the right order using the new Parazon tool. However, in order to learn the correct combination of Requiem Mods needed to eliminate their target, players will need to visit infected nodes on the map and kill Lich Thralls for clues. Then it's simply a matter of waiting for their nemesis to show up and putting those discoveries to good use.

Victory in battle gives players the option of either converting their Lich, whereupon it will have a chance to spawn alongside them during combat, or vanquishing it to end its immortality and gain its Kuva Weapon. There are seemingly a wide range of these Weapons to acquire, and each base weapon has custom stats unique to a each personal nemesis.

As Digital Extremes explains it, "This system is meant to be challenging. It's meant to be a threat. It's meant to posit a vengeful and immortal enemy against you until you can decipher how to defeat them. It will demand your best gear and game knowledge!".

Digital Extremes says it will continue to update the new Kuva Lich system over time, expanding it across Warframe's factions and even including a Clan element. Additionally, nemeses won't just spawn planet-side in future updates; when Warframe's highly anticipated Empyrean update finally arrives, they'll also be able to appear aboard a deep space warship.

Based on the extensive patch notes accompanying Warframe's The Old Blood update, there are quite a lot of moving parts to the Kuva Lich system, so it's definitely worth a thorough read. And you'll find a detailed breakdown of the update's other additions, including the new Grendel Warframe and melee combat enhancements, too.

The Old Blood is available now on PC, and is scheduled to come to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Switch "in the near future".