The full game has not yet launched, and there was even a delay in its release, but the recent Beta version of the game shows a lot of promise. While the story breaks from the traditional narrative that is generally beloved by fans, this gives players an opportunity to interact with iconic characters such as Duke Leto, Lady Jessica, Gurney Halleck, swordmaster Duncan Idaho, and Mentat Thufir Hawat. There are also distinct character classes that offer various unique skills, which include the Trooper, Mentat, Bene Gesserit, Swordmaster, and Planetologist class

One of the first tasks you'll be given and shown how to do is construct a sub-fief, or home base for yourself on Arrakis. While, at minimum, you'll be tasked with constructing the main structure and also adding a water filtration system and fabricator, you'll want to build up your sub-fief as much as possible early

Being a multiplayer survival game set on a vast desert planet, Dune Awakening has to work hard to avoid being repetitive. There’s only so much sand you can run across before it grows boring. While starting the player with nothing at all - no gear, no personality, and no backstory - what has Funcom done to ensure the politics, lore, and epic storytelling of Frank Herbert’s Dune isn’t lost amidst all the busy w

Arrakis was a very large constraint. Because in most games like this, you go from the forest biome to the desert biome to the tundra to the volcano region, and we can't do that. What we do instead is change how the desert looks, change how the lighting in the desert looks. We do try to push things a little bit further than the movies do, to be closer to what the books

Thankfully, Dune Awakening doesn’t make the mistake of asking you to fill your inventory with resources for hours at a time without doing anything else, instead ensuring each resource you collect is instantly used for something that helps you progress. However, there’s still a repetitiveness to general tasks that can’t be igno

For example, players can freely climb walls as long as they have the stamina necessary to do so, similarly to Zelda: Breath of the Wild 's climbing mechanics . Dune: Awakening 's dehydration mechanic is also introduced here, which requires players to stay hydrated at all times using Dew Flowers on the ground or other methods. Otherwise, their stamina, health, and movement are negatively impacted. A mechanic called Sunstroke also factors into dehydration, which encourages players to avoid prolonged exposure to the sun by staying in the shadows. Should Sunstroke occur, the dehydration rate will increase until players find somewhere to cool

However, staying on the ground gives you the chance to fight NPCs and other players. Dune Awakening’s third-person shooting feels surprisingly good - there’s a satisfying level of weight and control to eac action, so I was actively seeking out encounters instead of avoiding them which is so common in other survival titles. Fights aren’t simple either, so you need to be prepared for each

Dune: Awakening is Funcom's upcoming open-world survival game set in the Dune universe that will feature PvP and PvE combat, base-building, character quests, and a lot more. Interestingly, Awakening is set in an alternate timeline from the books where Paul Atreides is never born, allowing players to experience Arrakis as an undercover agent working for the Bene Gesserit, tasked with " awakening the Sleeper " and discovering what happened to the Fre

From there, Zantara walked us through the basics of surviving out in Dune: Awakening 's open world, from building shelter to raiding Scavenger Camps. In fact, this is largely the survival-crafting gameplay loop for Dune: Awakening — raiding Scavenger Camps and then using the materials to progressively build a better base and craft better weapons and armor. Some Scavenger Camps are small, with only one or a few enemies, while others are much larger, requiring a bit more firepower and finesse. The larger camps also come with better rewards though, so it's worth it in the

Because, when Herbert is describing Dune Awakening vehicles , he's talking about the beaches in Oregon, which have quite a bit of vegetation coming up through the sand dunes. We have some regions further in that have cacti and shrubs and other things there. It's difficult not to just be sand and rock all the time, but the art team, I feel, has done a really good job of using what we can with the game to make the areas you go to look differ

Having played six hours of the upcoming survival outing, it’s clear the experience isn’t designed to be a slog. With more than 100 hours of content coming at launch, Funcom says there are few distinct phases to expect. While the first 20 or so hours will be survival-first, you’ll then focus on controlling the deep desert through combat and managing the political landscape of Arrakis as part of the endg

While most of Arrakis is a barren wasteland filled with scavenger camps and other locales to discover, there are also various settlements and trading outposts that are worth exploring. The first one you can discover in the starting area is called Griffin's Reach Tradepost, and has a merchant in addition to some other important N