Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic Dune laid the foundation for many other stories that followed, thanks to the world’s scope and the political intrigue between its various houses. The kind of impact that it has had on pop culture can be seen in numerous forms of media, such as the iconic A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin, with survival of the fittest being a major aspect of the story.
Fortunately, the upcoming MMO game Awakening seems to understand how devastating the desert planet of Arrakis can be and how it can lead to people being forced to turn on each other to survive.
Dune: Awakening’s Director Wants Players to Survive by Any Means Necessary
During an interview about what players can expect from Awakening, Joel Bylos, the creative director, was asked about how the developers were implementing the right balance between the factions. “In PVP areas, you can see another Atreides player and shoot them, that’s up to you,” said Bylos, suggesting that there’s about to be more backstabbing in the title than previously thought, as members of the same faction can devour one another to survive as well.
Funcom’s chief creative officer emphasized greatly one “rule” that should be followed by every player if they want any hopes of survival in the hostile terrain: “what happens in the desert stays in the desert.”
That basically means that even though a player may pledge their loyalty to House Atreides, that does not necessarily mean that another member of the same house is someone who should be wholeheartedly trusted. Regardless of whether someone belongs to the same faction or not, if their “guild is getting ahead,” Bylos wants players to “backstab them as well.”
Since Dune shares plenty of similarities with Game of Thrones due to its treacherous political elements and twists, the creative director’s comments seem to indicate that Awakening will embrace those aspects as well.
Funcom Wants Dynamic Social Play Between Groups, Even When They Belong to the Same Faction
Ensuring a sense of competitive gameplay in Awakening, Bylos and his team “kind of want to encourage this dynamic social play between different groups,” even if they belong to the same faction. Which suggests that throughout the game, players will never really know which of their faction members are friends and foes, as things can drastically shift unexpectedly and quickly.
The general advice would be to not trust anyone, even those players who seem like the closest allies, because when power (and spice) is involved, turning on one another does not seem like a far-fetched concept.
Until Funcom shares a release date for Awakening, all players can do is look forward to seeing this ambitious project come to life so they can visit Arrakis in all its glory.
What are you looking forward to the most in Awakening? Let us know in the comments!
