Here’s everything we know about Dune: Awakening so far

You’ll be able to explore the deserts of Arrakis when Dune: Awakening launches next year. The game is an MMORPG set in the world of Dune and focuses on surviving on the harsh desert planet of Arrakis. There’s still a long way to go until the game launches, but we do know a little bit about the upcoming game. Multiplayer And recently, the gameplay was revealed Gamescom .

Dune: Awakening looks like it has a lot to look forward to for fans of Dune, MMOs, and survival games alike, and for die-hard Dune fans, the game’s story looks set to delve into entirely new material that will be new to fans and new players alike.

What we know about Dune: Awakening gameplay

Arrakis-style survival and crafting

Dune: Awakening gameplay was recently shown at Gamescom, revealing a number of noteworthy aspects of the game, the most important of which is the ability to create your own character – it wouldn’t be an MMO without a character creator.

After character creation, the gameplay demo focused on showing off the harsh environment of Arrakis, with some gameplay showing the player running into a sandworm and HUD elements such as a hydration meter, sunstroke, and indicating the player has not taken shelter.

As we made our way through the harsh conditions of the Dune: Awakening world, we found ourselves in a two-player encounter, with one player in a four-wheeled vehicle. The two players swapped roles, with one player acquiring weapons and a stillsuit while the other helped take down a deserter.

The base takedown gameplay showcase will be familiar to anyone who has played a Ubisoft game in the past decade. It mainly showed a meticulously laid out base with a ton of enemies waiting to be taken down. The showcase offered a few glimpses of the game’s shooter combat, but didn’t specifically mention the hand-to-hand combat in the world of Dune: Awakening. For fans of the Dune movies and books, the absence of hand-to-hand combat will be noticeable, as much of the combat in Dune is close-quarters combat. A short snippet of combat gameplay also showed the player using the Hunter Seeker Assassin machine to perform a stealth takedown from a distance. Near the end of the demo, it was also shown that players can summon a sandworm using the Thumper.

After destroying a base, it was shown that resources can be harvested from it, presumably including moisture from fallen enemies, as is common in the Dune books and films. With the harvested resources, players were shown to be able to team up and build a base to craft supplies and refine resources in addition to a reliable shelter. As for the base construction itself, blueprints can be created within a larger blueprint system to quickly rebuild bases in different locations, and blueprints appear to be able to be sold between players.

Bases aren’t the only thing you can build. Players can also build and fly ornithopters. While in the ornithopter, players can listen to the in-game radio to keep up with ongoing events. From within the ornithopter, players can also map Arrakis, discover crashed ships and other encounters.

Finally, a glimpse of the village of Harko was shown, which will likely be the base location. It’s unclear if this will be the only village or if we’ll also see Arrakis’ capital city, Arrakien. Harko will be home to Guild bankers, spice traders, smugglers, House envoys, and other players. It was also noted that players will be able to pledge allegiance to the brutal House Harkonnen, who ruled Arrakis before the events of the first film.

When will Dune: Awakening take place?

Another past

Funcom

Dune: Awakening will revolve around the events of Dune: Part One and will follow an alternate history to what happened in the books and films. In the game’s story trailer, Paul Atreides was seen explaining that the game will take place in a timeline where he has never existed.

Further details revealed in the story trailer revealed that the game takes place in a world where Paul’s father, Duke Leto Atreides, never died. Instead, the betrayal that led to his death never happened. In this timeline, Arrakis seems to be caught up in a power struggle between House Atreides and House Harkonnen. The story trailer concluded with Paul saying that every timeline he’s ever seen ends in horror “except this one.”

Very little is known yet about the actual storyline players will experience. What is known is that players are prisoners who wake up after crash-landing on Arrakis, with their only goal being to survive on the harsh desert planet. It is unclear whether players will be caught up in a power struggle on Arrakis, but players will likely be able to choose a side: the Atreides, Harkonnens, or Fremen.

Dune: Awakening release date and platforms

On all consoles in 2025

Funcom

Currently, we don’t know a specific release date for Dune: Awakening. What we do know is that the game is scheduled to release on PC in 2025. Xbox and is playable on PlayStation 5. A closed beta for the game is currently running, and you can sign up for it on the Dune: Awakening website.

The closed beta has been ongoing for nearly a year, with PC players expected to gain early access in early 2025. For now, players will have to wait for more information on when Dune: Awakening will officially release.