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It's been well over a week since the launch of the Angels of the Zariman update and I've had some time to enjoy it, so I felt like writing down my feelings for posterity. This post will include a multitude of lore and quest spoilers, so beware!

The Zariman emerges, accompanied by the Lidless Eye.

One of the things I was excited for was the Valkyr Carnivex skin - it looks beautiful and I am having lots of fun running missions with Valkyr, she is a fun frame to play and she looks super cool as well.

Ready to smash Grineer

So, the quest starts and you jump right into action - the Zariman has emerged from the Void and it is singing. The Lotus instructs you to return to the ship and see what is making it sing. There you find a terrifying creature - a Void angel - and it screeches at you and the screen fades to black.

You wake up and meet a group of people, their leader, Quinn, introduces them as the Holdfasts - the last survivors of the Zariman Ten Zero ship. 

The rest of the quest is basically a tutorial, taking you through the three new game modes, each serving as a way to stabilize the Zariman.

And that's that. It is now your duty, Tenno, to defend the Zariman from Corpus and Grineer and keep it stable.

The quest was quite short, as you might have guessed from my brief summary, and no, we do not delve into deep details about our past. There is a difference in attitude between Operator and Drifter, the Drifter seeming more "done" with everything and the Operator seeming more nostalgic, but other than that our Tenno is quite unphased about returning to the place where it all began. I'll be honest, I did not expect another New War tier quest, but I also hoped for... more. The characters are all fine and dandy, the premise is alright, I am fine with the Tenno essentially carrying the burden of defending the Zariman but it all seemed too fast. I would have liked if the Tenno protested a bit more, doubted the Holdfasts more.

Also - there was a whole ARG with lots of lore bits and ominous videos leading up to the update, and aside from figuring out some lore that appeared later in the quest, it seemed quite... detached from the update. On the other hand, I know that DE doesn't add details just for fun, so, in the future I expect more elaboration on what we learned during the ARG.

One thing I have to note is that, similarly to Deimos, as you rank up with the syndicate you unlock little cutscenes of the characters talking and also new voice lines, each character revealing more of their personality and motivations. That I like a lot, it adds more characterization and makes you more attached to the new NPCs. 

Everyone had their own regrets and issues - Hombask destroyed the agrobiomes, which created a famine and endangered the children. Quinn, being the leader and closest to Orokin in rank, had to reign in dissidents who doubted the safety of the jump and sentenced many to glassing, Cavalero was something of an executioner, dealing with dissidents "as if they were animals", fulfilling the orders Quinn gave him. Yonta, being an archimedian, assured the people that the jump would be safe and denounced those that doubted her as traitors.

Each of them met a violent end after the failed jump - Hombask was torn apart by the feral adults, Cavalero blew himself up when he was hounded by them, Quinn was blasted to ash by the now Void touched Tenno and Yonta killed herself via Jade light.

Despite their little talks in-between ranking up, the Holdfasts still carry the guilt of their actions, now living as spirits who cannot move on. Perhaps this is the poetic nature of the Warframe universe - death is just a different type of beginning. Now that we have finished one chapter, the book is still open and we can work to undo our wrongs.

Honestly, there are a lot of lines and little lore tidbits that explore the Holdfast's more, so I would encourage everyone to play for yourself and listen to what the characters have to say.

Cavalero has become a bit of a fan favorite, he is a "jerk with a heart of gold" type. Starts out every rough, doesn't want to be friends, but as you rank up, he warms up to you. Also a dog person! So that's nice.

Hombask is very homely, she reminds me of some of my aunties. A simple woman who speaks direct language, but is also very sympathetic towards the Tenno. She has a lot of encouraging lines and I do like her a lot!

Yonta is a bubbly, cute and curious woman who finds joy in the strangeness of the Void and she will ask you the most unsettling things. She has another line about seeing Albrecht Entrati in a dream, where he tears himself in half. That is why I like to talk to her a lot to see if she brings up anything else strange.

Note - we did not see Wally at all in the quest or any references or mentions of him but Yonta has a line where she tells you that there are empty decks in the Zariman that are full of the angels, who are singing as if waiting for something big to come. To top it all off - the Zariman is basically a cork in a bottle, covering a huge tear in the Void. Whatever comes in the future hopefully is going to bring us a lot of Void-themed horror.

Quinn's personality is the most mundane - I'd say he exemplifies the "captain" character in that he is calm, well spoken and always has something motivational to say. Well, unless he asks you about your Void silhouettes. I suppose that means he feels both the Operator and Drifter within us. Interesting!

He also has another line about "losing her twice, first to her gallant suitor, then to her father's ghost", which refers to Euleria Entrati, also known as Gomaitru or Mother on Deimos. Well, I wonder if we will ever go to Deimos and speak of this matter. Happy that characters have relations to one another, will be a shame if this never goes anywhere. I mean, Quinn is dead and Mother is stuck as an infested flower on Deimos, so it's not like they can have a heart-to-heart anyways. Still, why create all these characters if they never acknowledge each other fully?

Overall the Holdfasts are engaging characters and they serve well for the narrative. I'm still salty our Tenno is still just going with the flow and getting yoinked around. Oh well, there is always the next quest.

On the plus side - the Zariman is GORGEOUS, I cannot even describe how fun it is to explore, how atmospheric it is and how much environmental storytelling there is. If there is one thing you should do this update it's taking in the Zariman slowly, exploring every nook and cranny and trying to find all the secret passageways. There are several tablets hidden around, containing messages from Executor Tuvul. In true Orokin fashion, he is a massive prick but very well-spoken.

What does this mean? We shall never know but I am terrified.

My favorite aspect of the Zariman are the little lights which call forth a ghost child who leads you to secrets all throughout the ship - be it voidplumes, ayatan statues or somachord fragments.

Follow me!

I suppose I cannot end this blog post without speaking about the gameplay side of Angels of the Zariman, so I will try to speedrun my review:

1. Focus rework - good, void sling is quite comfy, operator buffs are welcome.
2. Eximus rework - now the enemies are actually annoying and not just decorated recolors of regular enemies. They are fulfilling their purpose so - good!
3. New game modes - fun!
4. Bugs - terrible, me and a friend went through the Zariman on Steel Path and none of the nodes registered. Infinite elevators and certain objects not spawning are also problems. I'd say the biggest drawback of the update overall.
5. Gyre - fun! I like her a lot, both aesthetics and gameplay wise.

Just a note - I bought the supporter pack so I skipped a big part of the grind, however, I will have to do bounties for Gyre parts for Helminth. :') Bounties were always my least favorite part of anything and RNG is cruel so that's a given. Fun fact - I still don't have all the Archon weapons from Narmer bounties, I just... I really hate RNG, I much rather explore a map to find secrets.

Anyways - I'd give this update a solid 8/10. One deduction for lackluster quest, one deduction for bugs.

A Gyre to send you off