The anticipated Dune: Awakening has received a new trailer showcasing not only the game’s lore but also some snippets of gameplay. For those who don’t know, Dune: Awakening is an upcoming survival MMO where players are thrown into the hellish world of Arrakis and forced to survive the dreadful landscape.
The trailer for Dune: Awakening reveals that the upcoming MMO is going to do a deep dive into the world of Dune and even include flying your ornithopter and using the “voice” to bend the will of your enemies. You’ll also drink the blood of your enemies to stay hydrated across Dune’s deadly desert planet.
Chief creative officer at Funcom, Joel Bylos shared details on Dune: Awakening and exactly what players can and can’t do in the game. He set the tone for the game saying that players can’t kill a sandworm and won’t be able to ride them either. Well, he says no sandworm riding at launch it seems. So the feature might be added later down the line.
Players will have to survive and this means paying attention to the world around them including weather systems, exposing themselves to sunlight and preventing dehydration. Players are able to explore Arrakis and eat plants that contain water, for example. They can also kill enemies and take their blood as another source of hydration.
Other survival mechanics seem to be in line with most games in the genre. This means you’ll craft your own gear, build bases and construct technology that will evolve into new inventions as you progress the game. Players are able to craft some of the series’ most popular vehicles including the ornithopter, sand bike and thumper.
When it comes to combat, players will have to kit themselves out with various weapons including melee, guns and special abilities to fight off their opponents. Large-scale wars will require vehicles too. Bylos says Dune: Awakening features a “political survival” system where players will align themselves with house Atreides or Harkonnen. They will then rise through the ranks to achieve better positions that come with their own unique perks.
“The universe of Dune is a perfect place with these politics and intrigu. Let’s get players hooked on the survival and then bring them into the political survival of the Dune universe.”
Bylos states that upon starting Dune: Awakening, players will be helpless characters lost in the desert. However, through mentorship and in-game contrast, they will grow into an imperial overseer capable of so much more. The game is set to launch on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. There’s no release date yet.
Watch the two trailers down below. The first is the gameplay mix trailer and the second is a deep dive on the world creation.
Gameplay
World creation
