Dune: Awakening combines survival and crafting mechanics with the social interaction of a massively multiplayer online game, allowing players to fulfill the hellish fantasy of surviving life on Arrakis. Yes, you can fly an ornithopter. Yes, you can use the Voice to bend the will of your enemies. And yes, you can drink the blood of your enemies in an attempt to stay hydrated on the deadly desert planet of Dune.
Monday, during the Dune: Awakening Direct live streamFuncom Chief Creative Officer Joel Bylos walked potential players through the scope of the survival MMO and explained what they can (and can’t) do in the game. You can’t kill a sandworm, and it doesn’t sound like you can ride one either – at least at launch.
Survival and crafting are unsurprisingly an important part of it Dune: Awakening. Players must be aware of dangers such as sandstorms, sandworms, exposure to the intense sunlight of Arrakis, and dehydration. To combat the latter, players can explore the dew fields of Arrakis or eat plant fibers that contain traces of water. In more desperate situations, players can shoot enemies and use their blood as a water source.
Players will also look for resources to build their personal arsenal. They make their own still suits, forge steel, build bases, and build machines as they progress Dune: Awakening‘s technology boom. Players will have access to ornithopters, sand bikes and thumpers – all useful devices as they try to avoid the sandworms of Arrakis, a constantly looming threat.
Another threat? Other players. Dune: Awakening will take a combined arms approach, allowing players to use melee, ranged weapons, special abilities and vehicles to wage war against their opponents.
Dune: Awakening also promises ‘political survival’, as players can join House Atreides or Harkonnen and rise through the ranks to reach positions of power. “The Dune universe is a perfect place with these politics and intrigues,” Bylos said, noting that Funcom’s approach was “let’s get players hooked on survival (gameplay) and then involve them in the political survival of it Dune universe.” Players begin their journey in Dune: Awakening as a survivor lost in the desert, but through mentorship and in-game contracts can end up as a high-ranking baron.
It seems there are also fewer politically motivated career options. Players who want to live their lives on Arrakis as a craftsman or architect and sell blueprints of their extensive custom bases can do so too.
Dune: Awakening coming to PlayStation 5, Windows PC and Xbox Series X, but Funcom has not revealed a release date for the game.