Dune Awakening Is A Real Treat For Dune fans

GamesRadar

We've had our hands on Funcom's foray into the epic Dune universe, and in the first two minutes we angered a sandworm, nearly died of thirst, and got killed by scavengers.

Transcript

00:00Dune Awakening feels familiar, yet overwhelmingly specific. It's a real treat for Dune fans,

00:06I think to myself as I sit down to the 45-minute demo at Gamescom, even if its survival crafting

00:11meets MMO formula gives me flashes of Minecraft, Lord of the Rings Return to Moria, and even

00:17Lego Fortnite. In Dune Awakening though, the world's hostility

00:20functions as a character trait. Arrakis is an arid desert planet where dehydration, heat

00:25stroke and being swallowed whole by the insidious sandworms pose near-constant risk. Even night

00:31time offers no solace, as searchlights will try and light you up for the kill squads on

00:35your tail. In short, Dune Awakening makes for a curious yet brilliant stage to set a

00:41game where survival isn't just difficult, it's also purposely complicated, as I find

00:46out almost immediately. As I step out of my wrecked ship, I'm immediately

00:50told to find shelter and water. Quickly. This proves a lot easier said than done. A sprawling

00:56desert wasteland spreads out before me in all directions, a gaping moor of sandy wilderness

01:01ready to swallow me whole. I mean that figuratively as well as literally, because no sooner do

01:06I start sprinting across the dunes, get it, the ground beneath me starts to quake. Enter

01:12the sandworm. It's a brief introduction and a terrifying one at that. The presence

01:17of the sandworm immediately puts me on edge, and as I make my way to the welcoming shade

01:21of a nearby stony cluster, I vow to avoid it at all costs.

01:25After talking with Joel Bailos, studio CCO and Dune Awakening creative designer, it seems

01:31I'm experiencing the intended reaction. I've always described the sandworm as a

01:35tension mechanic for players. Every time you step into that sand you feel like the Jaws

01:39music starts, and we don't want that feeling to really go away. Besides keeping players

01:43on their toes, the sandworm injects a clear sense of the lore, stakes, and potential dangers

01:49of Arrakis. And then there's the other side of this of course, is because we're bastards,

01:53Bailos laughs. It's like, we get you nice and cosy and understanding that you're safe

01:58on rock, and then we're like, now you need to go out here onto the sand and get this

02:02thing you need right now. You need to go out there and get flowers, for hydration too.

02:06So the tension should never go away for the players. Even when they have flying vehicles,

02:11they have to land them on the sand to pick that stuff up, right?

02:13On that note, the flying vehicles in Dune Awakening are a godsend. The kindly developer

02:18watching my every move during the demo implements a few cheats so that I can experience flying

02:22the Ornithopter for myself, though I'm told the ability to do so is usually locked behind

02:27a higher level, roughly 10 hours into the game. It speaks to the sheer expanse of Dune

02:32Awakening and the system it boasts, from the basics of crafting, scavenging, and base building,

02:37to a quest-driven storyline and the journey system intended to flesh out smaller areas

02:41of lore akin to the side missions or step-by-step how-tos. Grappling with each system would

02:46take far too long, especially given how closely each one ties into the lore and worldbuilding

02:51of the Dune franchise. Still, the taste I've had so far is a promising one for the Dune

02:56superfans everywhere. These clever system integrations are part of what makes Dune Awakening

03:01another survival feather in developer Funcom's hat, and if there's anything that can do

03:05justice to a Dune MMO, I think it's safe in the Conan Exiles studio's hands.

03:10So are you looking forward to Dune Awakening? Let us know in the comments, and stick with

03:13GamesRadar for the best previews and reviews.

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