Dune: Awakening is a massive multiplayer, survival title from FUNCOM. Creator of The Secret World Legends and Conan Exiles, FUNCOM is no stranger to MMOs and Survival games and has brought all their experience and skills to their latest large-scale survival title set in the Dune universe. Having previously given Dune: Awakening a test drive back in April, I’ve been eagerly awaiting its release. Having spent the last week in Arrakis, Dune: Awakening is providing some of the best survival gaming I’ve experienced in quite some time.
While there are still hundreds of hours to be spent exploring and crafting my way through every inch of the vast and beautiful world that FUNCOM has created, the time I’ve spent with Dune: Awakening has provided incredible insight into lengths the developer has gone to in order to bring the world of Dune to the players in a real and fascinating way.
While I will hold back from revealing story details that could be seen as spoilers, the premise is that this is an alternate version of the Dune universe in which Paul Atreides is never born, the Atreides family survives the attack of Arrakeen, and is now engaged in a conflict with Vladimir Harkonnen and his forces. The player is thrust into the “War of Assassins” and crash lands on Arrakis, where they’ll work to gain renown with one of the factions fighting over the planet.
“Having spent the last week in Arrakis, Dune: Awakening is providing some of the best survival gaming I’ve experienced in quite some time.”
This “what if” scenario helps create a fully explorable setting that, while steeped in the rich lore of the Dune universe, isn’t bound to the story of the books. It creates a perfect backdrop for players to carve out a space for themselves in this rich sci-fi setting. While following an existing story can be a fun approach, it makes much more sense to create a world in this “what if” scenario, ultimately giving players more freedom to explore and create.
After a solid character creation process, players are dropped into the world and guided through the game’s main quest line by exposition from a mysterious figure. Once you complete the tutorial area, you are free to explore the world. That said, I quickly discovered that following the story’s main quest line is key to avoiding endless hours of grinding, as essential crafting blueprints and abilities are tied to these quests.
Other than the main questline, players will be provided with what feels like 100s of side quests to partake in, each with their own stories. On that note, FUNCOM has included hours of voiced dialogue for players to enjoy, similar to the experience of The Secret World Legends for those familiar with the title. This was a pleasant surprise and not something seen in the survival genre.
As for the world of Arrakis and the rich lore surrounding it, FUNCOM has done an excellent job of translating this to an interactive experience for players. The World of Arrakis feels dangerous at all times, with the only real reprieve being within the walls of your base or a trade post. Creating a sense of tension is something that Dune: Awakening does exceptionally well. Even as you progress and unlock new technologies, every venture out into the world feels as if it could be the last.
The environment itself is actively trying to kill you at all times, which means that you survive despite the world around you. From extreme temperatures to a constant need for water, to the lingering presence of the great Shai-Hulud (sandworms), there is never a moment that feels safe while out on the desert sands. It’s this tension that separates Dune: Awakening from many of the other survival titles I’ve explored over the years. Even when equipped with the gear and advanced technology, the desert reminds you constantly of your frailty when in its domain.
Navigating Arrakis is likewise a precarious and intense experience. On foot, the desert is nothing short of daunting. In those early hours, running across the dunes while watching your vibrations meter spike is some of the most white knuckling gaming play I’ve experienced in some time. Even after unlocking vehicles such as the sandbike or buggy, the ever-present threat of being swallowed whole keeps the tension high.
“FUNCOM has gone to great lengths to bring the world of Dune to players in a real and fascinating way.”
While on foot, Funcom has implemented a stamina system for climbing over almost everything (think Breath of the Wild), with the environment, thirst, and your character progression affecting how quickly that stamina runs out. Other traversal tools are introduced along the way, giving characters a variety of options for exploration. All of this works together to create an experience that encourages you to look in every nook and cranny as you gather resources and search for your next source of water.
Resource gathering, once again, is a constant struggle, as player storage is small and weight-based, meaning a run for ore ends much quicker than a run for other materials. Learning to leverage your inventory space, as well as unlocking more advanced storage solutions such as the Sandmikes storage attachment or leveraging the Buggy’s cutter tool, are all crucial elements to surviving in Dune: Awakening’s harsh and vast world. This intentional struggle helps, once again, elevate the tension players feel while in the world. It’s a smart way to help keep players on edge and engaged.
Base building and crafting are also exceptionally well thought out and implemented. Base building is some of the best the genre has to offer, providing a rich, complex system for the construction of free-form bases while still offering an easy-to-use interface for players. The base copy tool is also a game changer, allowing you to make a copy of the structure, save it as a blueprint, then relocate to another location and reassemble the base. It’s slick and works incredibly well.
Crafting is multifaceted and robust, offering multiple paths to levelling and progressing. While most titles emphasize weapons and armour, both of which are very much present here, due to the survival tension I mentioned earlier, it typically pays to focus on survival tech first before venturing into the more combat-focused elements of the system. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed crafting, with my only real challenge being what to craft next.
Dune: Awakening offers four base classes to begin your journey with: SwordMaster, Mentat, Bene Gesserit, and Trooper. Each takes on a different combat role, from melee tank to support to ranged demolition. Each class starts with a starting ability with the potential to unlock several more throughout the game.
Progressing a class unlocks both the aforementioned abilities as well as passives which can be slotted (up to three each), impacting your playstyle in combat and exploration. While the starting class defines your first traits and abilities, the system is flexible. It does allow you to spec into other class abilities, providing some unique builds for players to consider.
As someone who is terrible at stealth and has no finesse in combat, I chose the Trooper for my playthrough. Equipped with all of the guns and explosives I can carry, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my combat experience on Arrakis. Wielding my trusty Shigawire Claw (grapling hook), I’ve approached combat from unique vantage points, managing larger groups of enemies thanks to quick escapes and explosives.
By contrast, my son has been playing as a Bene Gesserit and as such has relied almost entirely on his voice abilities and a good blade to separate and dispatch enemies. It’s been an interesting experience and provided us with some unique and sometimes chaotic combat experiences. While I’ve loved the gun combat thus far, my one wish is that Dune: Awakening had some type of cover mechanic like The Division or Gears of War. This would help provide an even more robust combat experience for ranged players.
While I’ve loved my time with Dune: Awakening, I do have one concern that I already see becoming a challenge for solo or more casual players. While my play experience so far has been great, mostly soloing or in coop with my son, as the game progresses, the need for larger groups to help survive in the world seems more apparent. As an example, collecting key resources such as flour sand has been most successful when one of us distracts the sandworm on a boosted sandbike while the other frantically collects the resource. Soloing that collection is exceptionally difficult and slows progression considerably.
“At $49.99, Dune: Awakening is worth every penny for fans of either Dune or the survival genre.”
While crafted items, such as thumpers, can help make farming resources easier, in later stages of gameplay, you simply cannot compete with guilds or larger groups for resource farming. I worry this will become a bigger issue at the end game, as crafting is a key component to surviving in Dune: Awakening. While not impossible, it does seem that solo and casual players might struggle in the latter half of the gameplay experience.
However, other than this small concern, my time in FUNCOM’s Dune: Awakening has been incredible. It is the best survival experience I’ve had in recent memory. From gameplay mechanics to crafting to combat, FUNCOM has done an excellent job of creating a survival game that never lets off the gas in creating a tense and impressive gameplay experience. Additionally, their attention to detail and careful consideration of the lore from which they draw helps propel Dune: Awakening to the new gold standard for the survival genre. Priced at $49.99, Dune: Awakening is worth every penny for fans of either Dune or the survival genre.
