In making a survival MMO, Funcom has welded two concepts together in a way we rarely see.
It feels quietly, profoundly, new.
Dune: Awakening preview
But I was concerned before I played it.
But after spending a day playing it, my mind has changed.
It’s in establishing a sustainable existence in one of the most inhospitable environments possible.
It’s driving friends around on desert bikes or flying them in an ornithopter.
It’s all of that mushed together, and where it all meets.
It begins like a single-player role-playing game.
The Dune music blares.
It’s an atmospheric start.
They spare me, and we talk briefly before the Emperor’s elite Sardaukar soldiers fly down to attack.
Here’s how to craft blades and bandages, the game tells me, here’s how to climb.
Finally, combat, and how to strike, dodge, parry and shoot.
Crafting, too, is a doddle - easy to follow, quick to perform.
It’s a confident start.
(Briefly, there are four phases roughly linked to an amount of time spent playing the game.
It’s a familiar survival loop: make a basic suite of equipment and a place to call home.
But it isn’t long before I notice a difference.
you could feel the months of closed beta streamlining and years of expertise from makingConan Exileshere.
Building a base is, in particular, a breeze.
Your hand is held quite firmly during these opening moments of the game.
What happens if they do?
I decide to goad one and find out.
This time it’s all business.
Maw agape, the sandworm dives and surges towards me.
I venture to run - to use my magical sprint ability and escape - but it’s hopeless.
It swallows me in an instant and I die.
I respawn feeling wonderfully naughty, only to realise the full consequences of actions: I have lost everything.
It’s not that hard to come by.
Sandworms are clearly not to be trifled with.
But it’s only material things I lose.
I chose the Bene Gesserit archetype, so the magical sprint I mentioned comes from that.
It lets me dash like the Flash for a short distance, which is both useful and fun.
The strategy comes from choosing which three abilities to actively use.
Broadly, there’s nuance within that.
The governing idea is adaptability - there should never be only one approach to combat.
This is because of the way the game’s servers work.
Plus a lot of progression is based around improving your traversal speed.
It even serves as a mobile respawn location.
These moments feel liberating because of all the dues paid earlier.
To run and hide from the great storms that occasionally blow through it.
In moments like this, Dune: Awakening feels like the Denis Villeneuve films.
In fact, the whole game experience reminds me more of the films than I was expecting.
There is a sense of a story running through the game, too.
Spice, then, features heavily in the game, both a thematic concept and a mechanical one.
Much about Dune: Awakening is interesting.
It’s familiar yet not at the same time, and I like that.
They’re just one part of a bigger whole, I tell myself.
How Dune: Awakening will come together many hours later, I don’t know yet.
Likewise for how venturing to city hubs and joining guilds and factions will potentially change that experience further.
Or you’re able to simply survive.
Dune: Awakening has promise - keep an eye on this one.
This article is based on a trip to a preview event in Norway.
Travel and accommodation were paid for by Funcom.
