(Image credit: Digital Extremes / THE LINE)

The creative connective tissue between animation studio THE LINE (last seen impressing us with its Gorillaz animation ) and Warframe game developer Digital Extremes is a shared desire to take risks, flex creativity, and remain authentic to art and voice. Jade Shadows: Constellations, the new animated short designed to introduce players to Warframe’s next big update, just as the team did with Warframe 1999's The Hex , does exactly that, and it’s quite unexpected in the best way possible.

In fact, there’s a version of this animation where it’s just another game trailer; a major release dropped with a big cinematic, a few lore breadcrumbs teased, and something for fans to freeze-frame and argue about on Reddit for a week or two.

How this Warframe animation started

After you’ve watched Jade Shadows: Constellations (and watched it again and again), the strangest part is how it started, which is not how these kinds of game reveals usually begin at all.

“Music tells…