Digital Extremes, developer of Warframe, just announced the upcoming “The Old Blood” update and with it the 42nd warframe: Grendel.
A bit like its eponymous character, Grendel from the Old English epic Beowulf, the warframe has a big appetite and features a giant mouth in the center of its humanoid body. This trait is extremely reminiscent of Hsing T’ien from Chinese mythology or the Greek Anthropophagi – all examples of monstrous people with faces in their torsos.
Although, Grendel is not described in this manner in the literature, the creature is known to be quite monstrous and fits well with a warframe.
“Devour the wicked as Grendel.” So goes the tagline for the new warframe.
Grendel’s abilities range from being able to suck enemies in, consuming them for health, regurgitating them as projectiles and rolling into a ball to crush enemies in his path.
Like a predator, Grendel barrels in to feast on the cruel and corrupted. Despite his fearsome appearance, Grendel is a noble spirit whose generosity is matched only by his insatiable hunger. Visit the Leverian to begin your hunt for Grendel.
PASSIVE
Each enemy consumed grants bonus armor.
FEAST
Swallow an enemy whole and store it in Grendel’s gut. Not satisfied? Keep eating, but beware — each foe in Grendel’s belly slowly consumes energy. Hold to vomit out stored enemies covering them in toxic bile.
NOURISH
Consume the enemies in Grendel’s gut and nourish nearby squad members with a radial buff.
REGURGITATE
Violently puke out a bile-soaked enemy from Grendel’s gut, turning the consumed into a toxic projectile.
PULVERIZE
Engorged from feeding, Grendel curls into a ball and sends any enemies in his path flying.
Looking at Grendel is not a pleasant experience. His model is designed extremely well to project the sort of horrifying abilities he can bring to bear. His overall body is bulky and one of his animations has him spreading his legs horse-stance and stomping similar to a sumo wrestler. His body appears to be built out of overlaid plates and he had a curved, rhinoceros’ horn on his head.
Finally, and most important, Grendel has a giant, jagged mouth in his stomach. When activating his first ability – Feast – it opens, vacuuming in whatever unfortunate enemy is nearby. And when he activates his third ability – Regurgitate – it opens once again to expel the corpse of an enemy, along with rancid, gooey digestive juices.
It appears that his second ability – Nourish – does more than just assist Grendel, as it also produces a radial buff by consuming one of the enemies in his stomach.
Modelling and special effects design for Grendel clearly show an interesting combination of gastrointestinal fortitude combined with a flair for the terrifying.
The only out-of-place ability of Grendel is Pulverize, rolling into a ball isn’t exactly something he is well known for. However, it additionally includes juicy, splatters of digestive fluids when he slams into the ground and bowls enemies out of the way.
For more information about Grendel and his abilities, see Digital Extremes’ blog.
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