Dune Awakening is all set to take us back to the merciless landscapes of Arrakis. Recently after Denis Villeneuve raised headlines with his Dune 2, the upcoming survival game will again take us back to the crazy sci-fi world of Frank Herbert. However, this world will be devoid of one of the strangest creations by Frank Herbert- turning into a sandworm by Leto II Atreides.
Besides its mesmerizing world, the Dune series is also famous for several bizarre creations. Science fiction novels and films often present us with fascinating weird projects but Frank Herbert went all out with his Children of Dune. There is hardly anything that can top the weirdness of Leto II Atreides’ character.
Dune Awakening will not let fans perform any beastly transformation
The fans were blown away when they witnessed the wild transformation of Leto II Atreides into a sandworm man in the third book Children of Dune. Paul Atreides’ son takes ‘The Golden Path’ to save humanity by fusing his body with sandtrouts, thereby becoming nearly immortal. When the question of such a possibility was thrown at the Duke Awakening devs, they were clear that it was never in their plan.
During a roundtable Q&A with the creative director of the game, Joel Bylos, he said to WCCFTech that the game borrows several details from Dune Messiah. Nevertheless, the bizarre sandworm transformation is out of the picture- “But you cannot cover yourself in sandtrout and become a sandworm in the game. That’s definitely not part of the plan.”
Joel Bylos agreed that once he wanted the players to have mental trips as sandworms after a high amount of space enters their bloodstream. However, such a plan was also scraped out by the makers of Dune Awakening.
“The higher the amount of spice in your bloodstream, the more things you see. One of the things we talked about originally was just making mental trips in which they would just turn into a sandworm and roam around on the map, but we decided not to do that.”
Following his monstrous transformation in Children of Dune, Leto also continued to rule the universe as the tyrant hybrid in God Emperor of Dune. Even though it is not likely to make it to live-action until Warner Bros. decides to extend the franchise beyond a trilogy, it is debatable if Denis Villeneuve would take the risk of challenging the age rating by presenting such an abomination on-screen.
How will the Sandworms function in Dune Awakening?
The Sandworms play a crucial role in the Dune universe. They play the central role in producing the Melange or spice, the most precious and important commodity in Frank Herbert’s universe. While Denis Villeneuve aced in bringing the mesmerizing world of Paul Atreides to life, he completely outdid himself with the Sandworms shown in both films.
The same audience who could not believe their eyes after watching the colossal creatures in the first film were elated when Timothee Chalamet’s Paul Atreides rode the massive Shai-Hulud in the sequel. Several fans also wanted to experience Sandworm riding in the survival game. Sadly, such a feature will not be added on launch.
Bylos stated that the film pulled off the Sandworm riding flawlessly and they also wanted to take their time in executing the complicated feature. It is also reported that the Shai-Huluds will be invincible in this game. The director confirmed in a live stream (via Funcom) that once confronted, the players will get a few seconds to save themselves from the mammoth creatures.
Currently, Dune Awakening does not have a release date while Dune: Part Two is still running in theaters near you.
