Dune’s influence on media is undeniable, and the two movies so far have become cultural phenomena. Dune: Awakening is an upcoming survival MMO from Funcom that will place the player in the desert world of Arrakis.
The game is still in development, and we don’t have a solid release date for it yet, but a recent Dune Direct showcase and an interview with PCGamer have revealed some interesting aspects that could pull in many fans of the series.
All Will Fall to the Great Storms of Arrakis
Funcom has taken a lot of inspiration from its previous titles, Conan Exiles and Spice Wars, to blend survival and the world of Dune. As with many survival games, players will have to gather resources and construct tools and buildings to help them survive in the harsh world of Arrakis. While the north of Arrakis is a calm desert, the south is a wasteland battered by strong Coriolis sandstorms.
These storms can only be navigated on the backs of sandworms. The sandstorms will be in the main PvP arena, and each week the storms will wipe away any structures erected in the fight for spice.
So, any player structures or outposts will be destroyed. Speaking with PCGamer, Creative Director Joel Bylos said,
We put very valuable things in the deep desert, so what I’m hoping is players use the blueprint system to take a copy of their buildings, take them out with them, and set up logistics bases in the deep desert with the knowledge they’ll be wiped every week, and they keep their home decorated and nice [back in the safer desert].
But they’re continually going out to compete with other people over the spice in the deep desert and compete for harvesting operations.
The game does allow you to save the blueprint of anything you build, enabling you to recreate it in just a few clicks, as long as you have the necessary resources. This is a feature not offered by many survival games, and it will be interesting to see how players utilize it.
Dune: Awakening Is All About Survival and Spice
As with the movies and the books, spice is going to be central to Awakening. However, it’s not just a resource to be bartered. Spice will also play a role in the evolution of your character, and the more you indulge in the drug, the more you can change how your abilities work.
Exposure to spice will also lead the player to “experience things,” so we can assume there will be some degree of perception-warping. Bylos seems quite dedicated to ensuring the game stays true to the source material, saying, “Make your designs fit Dune; do not make Dune fit your designs.”
We will still have to wait a while before we can jump into Arrakis and begin harvesting spice for ourselves, but what we’ve seen so far from Awakening has been promising.
What would you like to see included in the MMO? Let us know in the comments.
