Picking a class in a brand-new MMOMMO. Massively Multiplayer Online — a game that hosts very large numbers of players together in one shared, persistent world. is usually a decision you’re stuck with for dozens of hours. Soulframe handles it differently: your “class” is a Pact — what the community often calls your Frame — and Digital Extremes has designed the system so an early wrong choice can be corrected in-game rather than with a reroll. Here’s what the starter options actually do, how to match one to your playstyle, and what early progression looks like in the current Preludes build.

What changed

New Envoys arriving in Soulframe’s Preludes phase face an early choice between three starter Pacts: Tethren, Sirin, and Oscelda. A Pact is Soulframe’s take on the RPGRPG. Role-Playing Game — a game built around character progression, story, and player choices. class — it shapes your ability kit, your starting weapon lean, and the look of your Envoy’s arm — but it is not a permanent identity. Per Digital Extremes’ official Preludes FAQ, players who want to switch Pacts (or change their Enclave, the game’s factions) “can be done in-game once you have progressed far enough,” and the studio frames the whole system around progress carrying forward rather than restarting characters.

That framing matters more than usual right now because Preludes is, by the studio’s own definition, a pre-alpha. The FAQ is explicit that “some features are unfinished and some have a long ways to go,” and that Soulframe receives regular updates as the developers iterate alongside the community. So treat the Pact specifics below as a snapshot of the current Preludes build — roles and ability names are part of an evolving design, and Digital Extremes has said more Pacts are planned as quest unlocks beyond the three starters.

The FAQ also answers the two questions every new player has before investing time. On wipes: “We aspire to avoid future wipes and preserve progress moving forward,” with any major adjustments communicated ahead of time. On access: Preludes is PC-only for now, distributed directly through soulframe.com, with Digital Extremes sending out waves of invites (2,000 per week at the time of the FAQ’s last update) to players on the signup list, plus shareable invite codes and occasional codes through official Twitch streams and dev broadcasts.

How it works

Each starter Pact is a broad archetype with its own ability set and early gearing direction:

Tethren — melee and offense. The brawler of the three. Tethren’s kit pushes you into close range and rewards committing to a fight: abilities that buff your melee damage, pull enemies toward you, and stagger or stun groups around you. If you want to stand in the middle of a pack and trade blows, this is the starter built for it. It also pairs naturally with the game’s heavier melee weapons.

Sirin — ranged and stealth. The skirmisher. Sirin leans on bows and disruption tools: abilities that blind or weaken enemies, deploy a decoy to draw attention, and let you go invisible to reposition or escape. If you prefer picking angles over absorbing hits — or you simply want the most forgiving escape options while you learn enemy behavior in an unfinished build — Sirin is the comfortable pick.

Oscelda — caster and support. The spell-flavored option. Oscelda’s kit centers on control and sustain: immobilizing targets, healing allies in an area, and summoning temporary spectral minions to fight alongside you. In solo play it functions as a sturdier, pet-assisted caster; in groups it is the closest thing Preludes currently has to a support frame.

A few systems-level facts that shape the decision:

  • Weapons are not class-locked. You can freely equip weapons across Pacts; Pacts favor certain weapon types through bonuses, but nothing stops an Oscelda from swinging a greatsword. Your Pact choice is about abilities and growth focus, not equipment permission.
  • Each Pact levels independently. Pacts gain their own experience through use, so the one you play is the one that grows. Committing early matters for efficiency, not for permanence.
  • Unlocking a Pact’s full kit takes time. Abilities come online as the Pact levels, which means the starter kit you judge on hour one is a partial picture. A common community recommendation — and a sensible one — is to take each starter Pact through its early levels before deciding where to focus, since the cost is only time.
  • Your Envoy is the constant. Appearance, story progress, and world unlocks live on the character; the Pact is the layer you can swap. Digital Extremes describes this arc deliberately: “Your Path can still shift, Envoy.”

Build path

For the confirmed present: players join Preludes by signing up at soulframe.com and waiting for the weekly invite waves (or redeeming a shared code), then download the game directly from the official site — there is no Steam or Epic version yet, and Digital Extremes says storefront access will only come when the game is ready. The studio’s listed minimum specs are modest for a modern MMO (a DirectX 11-capable GPUGPU. Graphics Processing Unit — the chip that renders the game's visuals; the main driver of framerate and image quality., 8 GB of RAM, and 50 GB of storage), which makes trying all three starters a low-commitment experiment.

For progression priority in the current build, the practical path looks like this:

  1. Pick the archetype, not the fantasy name. Choose based on how you want fights to feel — brawling, skirmishing, or controlling — because that’s what you’ll repeat for your first several hours.
  2. Level your chosen Pact through its early ability unlocks before judging it; the starter experience is front-loaded with setup quests and the kit fills in as you go.
  3. Use the free weapon swapping as a tuning dial. If Tethren’s offense feels right but the melee weapon doesn’t, change the weapon before you change the Pact.
  4. Sample the other two starters once your first Pact is established. Since Pacts level individually and nothing wipes your Envoy’s progress, cross-training is pure upside and teaches you what groupmates bring.
  5. Keep an eye on the official Forums and Discord, which Digital Extremes points to for patch notes — Pact balance in a pre-alpha moves fast, and today’s weakest starter can be next update’s project.

Beyond the starters, additional Pacts are unlocked through gameplay — tied to the game’s quests, fables, and factionfaction. An in-game group or nation players can align with or fight against, with its own goals and reputation system. Enclaves — rather than purchased or handed out. Digital Extremes has shown and discussed several advanced Pacts on its official dev streams, but their specifics and acquisition requirements are still in flux with each Preludes update, so build around the three confirmed starters and treat the rest as upcoming content.

What it means

Soulframe’s Pact system is a deliberate answer to the harshest friction point in class-based MMOs: the sunk cost of a bad early choice. Because Pacts can be switched in-game after progressing, weapons cross freely, and the studio aspires to no future wipes, the “which Frame should I pick” anxiety mostly dissolves into “which one should I level first.” That is a meaningfully different question, and it makes Sirin or Oscelda’s utility-focused kits especially attractive for players who want safety while learning an unfinished game, while Tethren rewards players who already know they want to brawl.

It also signals where Digital Extremes is taking the design. Warframe veterans will recognize the philosophy — a roster of swappable frames, each leveled individually, collected through gameplay rather than class-locking a single character — translated into a slower, sword-and-sorcery world. For a pre-alpha, the honest advice is to choose the starter whose moment-to-moment combat you enjoy, invest until the kit opens up, and let the confirmed flexibility of the system carry the rest. The developers are building in public, patch notes land regularly on the official forums, and your Envoy’s progress is meant to come along for the full journey.