Start Here · New Player
Don't skip Step 2. Your Pact determines which weapons you can wield — picking wrong makes the mid-game miserable.
Best if you just installed Preludes 15 and have not unlocked Tuvalkane or picked a long-term Pact yet. Finish all four steps before you grind rare weapons — the checklist is ordered so you do not lock yourself out of crafting.
Step order matters: Pact choice shapes your early weapon pool; Tuvalkane unlocks crafting; Nightfold swap enables a second weapon before rare farms. Cross-link pact and weapon hubs only after Bond 1 with the blacksmith.
Just arrived in Midrath and not sure what to do first? Follow this order and you won't waste your opening hours: pick a Pact at character creation → follow the Warsong story chain → unlock Tuvalkane → start the 30-minute Agari loop. The details for each step are below.
No — not fully. Soulframe is in the Preludes pre-alpha, and Digital Extremes has committed to preserving player progress: there have been no mandatory resets since Preludes 11, though major updates may still require adjustments with advance notice. Play confidently, but expect individual systems to change between Preludes — Virtue Lith, for example, was removed outright in Preludes 15, and Virtue points are now reallocated freely per loadout in the Arsenal.
The practical rule: invest time in your account (Fable progress, unlocks, Faction Standing), but don't hoard materials tied to one narrow system that a hotfix could rework. For exactly what changed in the current build, see the Preludes 15 preview.
Your Pact is a starting kit, not a life sentence — all three starting Pacts can be acquired later through play, so treat this as a head start rather than a lock-in (verify in-client).
| Pact | Playstyle | Why pick it |
|---|---|---|
| Tethren | Melee bruiser / Courage | The strongest endgame presence in current tuning, but aggressive melee is punishing in your first hours |
| Oscelda | Support / control / Spirit | The most comfortable start — self-sustain and crowd control carry early fights, and our catalog rates it the beginner pick |
| Sirin | Stealth / ranged / Grace | Backstab tools plus the Pickpocket passive (loot bags on backstab kills) make early material farming slightly faster |
If you're unsure, take Oscelda. For the full breakdown, read the Pact selection guide or compare every Pact side by side.
Most "I don't know where to go" moments in Soulframe are solved by three tools (default keybinds — confirm in settings):
If the game feels directionless, you're not missing quest markers — you're just not using these three.
The opening Warsong chain runs in this order. Follow it linearly and you'll unlock crafting without backtracking:
Many new players finish the first three, see no new Fable appear, and assume the story has run dry. It hasn't — The Steelsinger is hiding. See the full main quest walkthrough and how to unlock Tuvalkane.
After An Invitation, Fables stop auto-firing and must be found through exploration: