IGN can exclusively reveal that Dark Sector, the 2008 third-person shooter from Warframe developer Digital Extremes, is now free on Steam for the next 72 hours in celebration of the upcoming free Warframe: 1999 expansion that is set to be released in December 2024.
Aside from a small number of regions like Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, Steam users can head over to Dark Sector's Steam page and download the game right now and skip its current $9.99 price tag.
For those unfamiliar, Dark Sector places you in the shoes of Hayden Tenno, a covert operative who must invade the fictional Eastern European city of Lasria that hides a very dangerous Cold War secret. During his mission, he gets infected with a Technocyte Virus that turns him into a killing machine with powers and a deadly glaive that he must use to save everything.
In our Dark Sector review, we said, "Dark Sector's fun. Hearing guards scream for help just before they take a glaive to the face, marching around in this Metal Gear-looking Jackal tank while rocketing bad guys into the air and wielding a pimped-out shotgun make the experience something any action fan can get behind. However, when the really similar levels and waves of opponents get too repetitive towards the end of the game, Dark Sector's weak storyline might not be enough to carry the more fickle fan to the finish line. It's fun, but it's not perfect."
As for how Dark Sector is connected to Warframe: 1999, the expansion will take players to the year before Y2K and a retro European-style city of Höllvania to become Arthur Nightingale. This is obviously a far cry from the space setting Warframe fans are used to, but it should be an exciting one.
Speaking to VG247, creative director Rebecca Ford shared that Dark Sector was definitely an inspiration for this expansion and the team looked to the game for its tone and a city that felt European.
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Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
