Soulframe beaver 'will be okay' after high-stakes gameplay reveal, devs confirm

This fall, you can play as a beaver in Soulframe

There's no need to worry, everyone. That beaver that got struck by an arrow during Soulframe's TennoCon 2026 demo will be okay.

At TennoCon Live this year, Digital Extremes showed off the upcoming Warsongs Fable for Soulframe. This playable story segment gave us a better look at Ben Starr's new character, Bayor, and the corrupted Vadagar Pact. The part that stuck with us at Polygon the most, though, was the brief bit when you get to play as a beaver.

Early in Warsongs, some soldiers are supposed to guard a basket containing a baby. To save the child, a beaver drags it away and swims downriver with it. For a minute or so, during which the Warsongs title drops, players briefly get to control the swimming beaver. It's not only a really novel moment with a cute animal, but it also turns what could've just been a quick shot in a cutscene into a more memorable moment.

Polygon asked how this quirky beaver gameplay came to be, and they explained that its inclusion was an obvious extension of the game’s animal-friendly themes and just the start of Soulframe having more playable animals.

“The game has such a large selection of animals and art that we can use and add to the gameplay. I think the beaver’s a natural evolution of those sort of things and the themes in the game,” lead designer Scott McGregor tells Polygon. “Being able to play from the different characters’ perspectives is going to be super fun. The beaver’s definitely not going to be the end of it as well. I think we’ll have much more animal perspective as the game develops further along.”

There is a prototype with a rat running around Soulframe's world, according to the developers, although that doesn't appear to be directly related to any upcoming in-game content. Instead, we can all just get hyped up to go beaver mode when Warsongs launches this fall or ride a mount once those come to the game around the same time.

Senior community manager Sarah Asselin also told Polygon in an interview that “being able to play as the beaver and add that into the fable rather than just cutscene after cutscene was an important decision and hopefully a more immersive one, especially because that’s when the actual fable name is unveiled on screen for the first time.”

If going for more immersive narrative-driven gameplay moments results in more beaver gameplay, then by all means keep doing that, Digital Extremes. More importantly, Asselin tells us that the beaver, which is shot with an arrow as it flees with the baby, is safe and presumably the same beaver later shown with a blue handprint on its side in Warsongs.

“I know I was very upset when I first saw it because I was very worried for Mr. Beaver, but the beaver will be okay.”

Soulframe is currently holding Preludes pre-alpha playtests on PC, and Digital Extremes is giving access to those who sign up during TennoCon.

Additional reporting by Simone de Rochefort