Warframe's 50th Warframe is here and a fan-favorite character is making a welcomed return

Warframe's highly-anticipated update, Veilbreaker, is set to launch sometime next month, and to celebrate, developer Digital Extremes has confirmed that all players will get the sci-fi shooter's 50th Warframe, Styanax, for free.

Said to be inspired by the ancient Greek warrior Astyanax, Styanax is described as "a mighty and herculean Warframe" with "formidable abilities and immense power for Warframe players to master on the Origin System". Here's a rundown of what, exactly, those "formidable abilities" are:

• Axios Javelin - Call upon the Axios Javelin. Any enemy Styanax strikes with his javelin is pushed back. When the javelin propels an enemy into a wall, the area suffers a burst of damage.
• Tharros Strike - Summon Tharros, the shield of Styanax. Swing Tharros to repel enemies and reduce their shields and armor. Styanax regenerates health for every enemy struck.
• Rally Point - Draw enemy attention to Styanax. His resolve uplifts nearby allies, regenerating their energy and shields. Shield regeneration increases with the number of enemies near Styanax.
• Final Stand - Exude might and valor. Rise into the air and throw a barrage of Axios Javelins. The javelins deal damage to nearby enemies wherever they land. Direct hits to enemies deal even greater damage.

Digital Extremes revealed the news courtesy of a gorgeous new anime-style trailer:

That's not all that's coming up, though. We'll also see the return of fan-favorite Grineer Kahl-175 as a playable character.

"After a curious signal is picked up by Daughter of the Entrati family, the Tenno are contacted to investigate a Murex ship near Deimos and find its source," DE teases. 

"As Kahl, players will utilize new powerful abilities and tech gained along the way to fight their way through a Sentient onslaught and returning Archon boss enemies aboard the Murex while circumventing their intriguing technology to locate and safely release his brothers from imprisonment."

This means we'll get a load of new weekly missions focussed on Kahl-175, as well as Warframe Voidshell Skins, Kahl-175 cosmetics, the release of the Protea Caladrius Collection, and reworks to select systems including Thrown Weapons.

Finally, Digital Extremes also teases that it's made some changes to the Warframe Prime Vault program, although it stopped short of detailing exactly what those changes will be; expect more information in September.

Not spent much time with Warframe and aren't sure if now's the right time to get involved? 

"Online games lasting five or more years are hardly unheard of these days, but Warframe has one key difference among that venerable cadre: its days as one of the best free games still seem to be ahead of it," we explain in our round-up of the best free games.

"The game of weird space ninjas fighting even weirder enemies just keeps growing - first with more kinds of randomly generated corridors, then with all-new open worlds to explore, and now even full-on ship-to-ship battles featuring every kind of Warframe combat. 

"Warframe remains some of the most fun you can have in any game today, free or not. Just don't let the rough post-tutorial part, where you're still figuring out what the heck to do, turn you off before you get into the real meat."

Does Warframe make the cut in our rundown of the very best shooter games?