As soon as things open up and players are finally introduced to Dune: Awakening 's open world, the game completely changes. Immediately, it was easy to get a sense of just how unforgiving the world is, even with Zantara's hand guiding us through it all. While some of this was due to being out in the open now with no idea of what to do next, much of it was on account of the fact that Dune 's dreaded sandworms had now entered the arena, which alone is enough to make the unending desert a terrifying thing to set foot
For example, players can freely climb walls as long as they have the stamina necessary to do so, similarly to Zelda: Breath of the Wild 's climbing mechanics . Dune: Awakening 's dehydration mechanic is also introduced here, which requires players to stay hydrated at all times using Dew Flowers on the ground or other methods. Otherwise, their stamina, health, and movement are negatively impacted. A mechanic called Sunstroke also factors into dehydration, which encourages players to avoid prolonged exposure to the sun by staying in the shadows. Should Sunstroke occur, the dehydration rate will increase until players find somewhere to cool
Game Rant was recently able to play a beta for Dune: Awakening that was meant to represent the first 20–25 hours of the game, but we ended up spending around 30 or so just pacing ourselves in its immersive world. The full game will feature over 100 hours of gameplay, but based on the 30 that we already spent in Dune: Awakening , it's shaping up to be a fulfilling and daunting survival MMO experie
One other important element introduced during Dune: Awakening 's tutorial is the Cutteray, which is the player's primary mining tool. Using the Cutteray's Analysis Mode, players scan a resource to detect hidden structural weaknesses within it. Once a weakness has been detected, it appears as a jagged line across the node, and the Cutteray is then used to trace the line until the resource breaks and the materials are automatically added to the player's inventory. The Cutteray can also cut open certain locked doors, making it a very useful tool, but the best thing about it is that it isn't just a "point and shoot" harvesting t
The act of crafting is fairly painless . If you have the resources, you queue a researched item up in a menu (from anywhere you like), wait a few seconds, and boom, your harvesting tool/blood bag/weapon is done. Once I got into the groove of things, running around and making progress felt good, until I hit a new hurdle and ran out of resources again. It's the nature of the ge
In the first five hours or so, a lot of the game is on rails, teaching you all of its facets and forcing you to put all of your knowledge together to stay alive. You'll need to salvage scraps of metal and other reagents, research blueprints, and build them yourself . It's a multistep process that can be tedious, especially for some of the more demanding crafting requireme
Once their character model is complete, players enter their name and the Reverend Mother initiates a character-building conversation with them. Here, she asks questions like "Where were you born?" and a list of even more customization options presents itself. Throughout the conversation, players will choose their homeworld, caste, and mentor, with each choice granting them a specific trait, bonus, or skill. The player's choice of homeworld gives them a unique dialogue trait and emote, their chosen caste gives them yet another dialogue trait, and their mentor affects their training and starting abil
Dune is by far one of the most influential science fiction novels, with a legacy now reaching back over six decades that has found its way into the film, television, and video game media. Developer Funcom is now poised to hop on that bandwagon with its upcoming survival-crafting MMO Dune: Awakening , which will take players to a reimagined Arrakis when it launches on June 10, 2025, with a headstart beginning on June 5. While there is certainly no shortage of survival MMOs out there, Dune: Awakening already looks to offer a compelling blend of resource management , political intrigue, and exploration, all set against the backdrop of a universe where Paul Atreides was never b
Paul Atreides is not an aspirational figure or power fantasy, but he is a cautionary tale. Dune Awakening news ’s author, Frank Herbert, made this pretty explicit in Dune Messiah when Paul openly compares himself to Adolf Hitler. The idea of potentially filling in for Paul as someone who exploits the Fremen’s religion to win their allegiance doesn’t excite me; it makes me feel dirty. I hope the Gom Jabbar is included in some other capacity, but I’m concerned it is meant as a way to empower the player in a similar manner to Pa
Were Dune: Awakening simply a survival game, I would likely have fewer reservations about it. The idea of trying to survive the harsh environments on Arrakis sounds like a fun challenge for a video game. However, if the way I’m forced to do that is by building settlements on Fremen land and working with colonizing forces like the Harkonnens instead of Arrakis’ native people, the game will feel like a betrayal of the warnings Herbert’s novels tried to instill in