Developer: Funcom
Platform: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Release Date: TBD 2025
While adaptations of Dune over the decades have had a monumental impact on gaming with the array of real-time strategy and adventure games inspired by Frank Herbert’s novels, we’ve never actually had an opportunity to explore the desert planet of Arrakis at our leisure. But with Dune: Awakening, the developers behind Conan Exiles are focusing on an experience that’s all about surviving a sprawling and hostile alien world, all while forging your own path that’ll eventually see you take control of the planet for yourself.
Creating an online survival game within the Dune universe is an interesting choice, but honestly, it feels quite appropriate given how the lore of Dune often details the challenges of surviving on Arrakis. From my hands-on time, the game really does an effective job of gamifying a lot of the details found within the Frank Herbert novels and film adaptations, such as contending with sandworms, managing water and temperature while in the open desert, and scavenging for resources from defeated enemies. There’s also a deep focus on role-playing, with you creating a custom character with a background and special attributes—such as a mentat, blade master, or soldier. You start as a scavenger but eventually build up survival resources and a base of operations, and you can then become a major player in Arrakis, contending with the other great Houses of the Landsraad.
From my early hands-on time with the game, I got a sense of what Dune: Awakening was hitting at with its survival gameplay, and it’s all about letting players live out that life in the Dune universe. But Dune: Awakening is not just a game about survival, it’s also a game with larger ideas of politics within this universe. It features an end-game that can see players become the Duke of Arrakis, deciding how their version of Arrakis functions on a server with other players—which can see them try and wrest control from the lead player. It’s a cool concept, and I’m hoping the full release will be able to live up to those large ideas and the potential of the Dune universe.