Frank Herbert's Dune Universe is certainly one of the most influential and best known science fiction works and has recently increased in popularity due to the new films. Now Funcom is devoted to) a video game interpretation of the fabric as a multiplayer survival game. I was allowed to visit the developers in Oslo and take a sniff in the first hours of hot desert adventure in snowy, Norwegian winter.
If you have no idea about Dune yet, you can imagine a bit like Game of Thrones in space. Some mighty family clans (or houses) fight for dominance in the universe and horrify no intrigue or nasty move.
Whether Dune: Awakening is a survival game with MMO aspects or an MMO with survival mechanics, it remains to be seen. According to Funcom, the focus of the game is supposed to change, and other players rarely meet outside of cities or larger outposts. What kind of game is Dune: Awakening?
Spice up your life
In the stories of Frank Herbert, the most important place in the galaxy is undoubtedly the desert planet Arrakis (also known as “Dune”). Because just as for us the earth is the only planet with chocolate, the only known source of the Spice Melange is the only known source in the Dune Universum Arrakis (short: spice). The glittering dust is extracted directly from the desert sand and is very popular, because the drug extends life expectancy, expands perception, improves cognitive skills and provides visions. Some individuals can even look into the future with enough spice in the blood.
Due to these properties, it is essential for space travel and plays an important role in religious matters. According to unconfirmed sources, it also helps against bad breath, tastes delicious on salad and reliably removes red wine stains from the carpet. In short: everyone wants to have that stuff and it is a pig tax - just like Dubai chocolate. But if you control the spice, you check the universe (unlike Dubai chocolate).
As for the story of the game, Dune: Awakening raises a question that has been concerned with humanity for years: What if Timothée Chalamet had never been born? Or rather Paul Areides, the character that the actor embodies in the latest Dune films.
Paul's mother belongs to the sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit, who steer the fate of the world from the hidden. According to the sisters' large long -term survey plan, she should have gone to a daughter, but chose a male regular owner out of love for her husband - just that Paul Areides. This decision then sets the events of Dune's actual history. But how would the story go on if she had chosen a girl? And where suddenly the Fremen, i.e. the actual residents of Arrakis, disappeared?
You can already see that the Dune-Lore is extremely extensive and profound, and not in order not to step on the tie too much to the fans or at least have a little freedom in the narrative, developer Funcom decided to an alternative universe. It is probably a good thing, because real Dune enthusiasts have the opportunity to experience a completely new story in the world they loved, and for newcomers it doesn't matter how close the game stays on the template.
Don't eat yellow sand!
Arrakis is an extremely grateful backdrop for a survival game. Everywhere only sand and rocks, hardly vegetation and the path to the next Aldi are given in light years. Each drop of water is worth gold on the desert planet and could make up the difference between life and death. Accordingly, you will be crashed with a spaceship in the middle of the sand sea, if you are not wearing anything but a loincloth.
But don't worry! Water deficiency is not the only thing that could be doomed. The mercilessly burning sun also puts you properly. If you work on a healthy tan for too long, your heat stroke quickly meets and you use more water than already. So most of the time you shy away from shadows to stay cool. In order to get larger sections behind without cover, you also have to get creative or better wait for the night.
The most impressive death awaits you in the form of the Shai Hulud, a huge sandworm. The high-rise worms usually only feed on sand (there is nothing else) and there is such a small human snack very much in between. As soon as you are on sandy soil, create your steps vibrations that the worm can perceive. If you are too loud, he sets off to eat you.
Once the giant worm has become aware of you, you have the choice to stop and hope that he would consider it differently, or take your legs in your hand and run towards the next rock formation. The Shai-Hulud bites their teeth on them.
If you fall victim to the giant worm, you lose everything you carry with you and unlike any other form of death, there is no way to get things back. Otherwise you can simply run to your body and loot yourself, but the worm simply eats your possession right away. If you are too careless, it throws you back properly. But at least you have seen the impressive animations of the worm, which is broken out of the sand. That's something too!
The slow blade penetrates the sign
Of course, you do not counteract the dangers on Arrakis completely defenseless. Already at the beginning you can choose one from four classes Trooper, Bene Gesserit, Mentat and Schwertmeister and immediately gets access to their skills. In theory, you can even unlock all classes later, but in the open world you have to find someone who is ready to teach you and do a few quests for him. However, this was already possible in our early game, which enables a lot of individuality in the choice of skills.
The Trooper specializes in overcoming enemies and other obstacles. With grenades and offensive skills she shines in combat situations, but the highlight in the arsenal of the trooper is definitely the gripping hook. Especially in the first hours of play, it is an enormous relief when it comes to climbing mountains or saving yourself quickly in the shade. All other classes are only allowed to look after the Trooper, during which they hang past them.
Mentals are changing human computers and shine on the battlefield with their tactical finesse. Specifically, you scan near enemies and the surrounding area to obtain important information. In the way you know exactly who your gun tower shoots while you are hiding behind his sign.
The Bene Gesserit are something like the Jedi of the Dune universe. The concealed medal consists only of women who master the “voice” with whom they can force their will on others. In the game you are not limited to a gender and may also command your opponents around as a non-wife.
Last but not least, there would be the sword masters, who are second to the name of the name, especially in the melee. Accordingly, the early skills aim to survive the path to your destination unscathed. This is important, especially for enemies with a personal energy shield, because they are quite powerful in the Dune universe and catch almost all projectiles and blows.
Only very slowly curved (or shot) weapons to penetrate shields. However, they are not quite as overwhelming in Dune: Awakening. In order to offer ranged fighters a chance, the shields also give in after some shelling. Nevertheless, the best and fastest way through a shield is still the masterly led, slow blade.
Dune: Endgame
But what if you have regulated your water supply, offers your shelter enough refuge in front of the sun and you no longer fear the worm thanks to faster or flying vehicles? According to Funcom, the hardcore survival part of the game only employs you for the first 10 hours. After that, there will be some time for optimizations and improvements, but at some point you have to venture out of your cozy corner of the desert into the wide world and thus towards the final game.
As soon as you have an ornithopter (a dragonfly-like aircraft), you have free rail to explore the world map at will. Apart from your completed piece of desert, there are other regions and various cities out there, in which you also meet other players. Here is also the deep desert, the country where Spice and honey flow - at least when you dare to get it.
Once the (real-time) week, a sandstorm pulls over this part of the desert, changes the complete terrain and ensures huge outbreaks of Spice. Now it means to be quick, because of course all players are keen on the fabric and in the deep desert it is possible to attack other players. If you have joined a guild, then you work best and possibly even have large collectors and tanks to secure your share and assert your claim.
If you are not yet dirty to the trench in the desert, you just try to do politics. During your trip you will either join the ATreides' house or the Harkonen. If you do enough tasks for your house, you can unlock unique rewards such as vehicles, equipment or parts of the building.
In the end game you then represent your house in the Landsraad, the meeting of all well -known houses. So far, Funcom has not yet wanted to reveal how exactly the Landsraad works. So our political career will probably be a little more long in coming. We will learn more in the open beta at the earliest, which should start in the next few weeks. Dune: Awakening for the PC will be published at some point in 2025. Versions for Xbox and PlayStation are planned for later.
Conclusion
Struggle for survival in the desert can also be fun!
If you assess Dune: Awakening only as an X-like multiplayer game, then it is simply a survival shooter alongside many others. You have to collect raw materials, build bases, room for weapons and equipment and gradually climb from the desert garlic to the king of the oasis. All of this works quite well, but experienced survival gamers do not make the sound-insulated desert latschen.
What the game really makes is the “Dune” part. In many places, Funcom wonderfully implemented the peculiarities of the books and films in game mechanics. Water feels (initially) precious and rarely, and the sandworms are scary. The spice races in the deep desert and the Landsraad promise even more dune feeling, but so far we have not been able to convince ourselves.
Whether the real Dune fans is enough or whether Funcom had too many compromises in favor of the gameplay will have yet been shown. Especially the combat system centered on close combat with the impenetrable shields and the slow blade is actually essential for Dune. Even as a sword master, close combat rarely looked like a good idea. Let's see if that will change later. In the few hours I was allowed to play, I definitely had fun and I am already looking forward to the beta.
