While Lynch’s film is distinct for how it explores the Dune universe, there’s only so much desert players will want to explore. Whelan said his team thrived on developing the city locations that break out the rolling dunes of Arrakis. "[Developing cities] was significantly easier than making sand interesting, other than just changing the colour of the sand. The faction identity was brilliant to work on, because, like I said, they're uniq
Anyone planning to play Dune: Awakening at launch might do well to take advantage of the early Character Creator release, as there's more to do than just swap out some hairstyles. The Gom Jabbar test makes an appearance in the character creation process, as do the options to choose background characteristics like home planet and caste. A mentor can also be chosen from the available Schoo
Dune: Awakening isn't all combat, though. Most of your time on Arrakis will be spent surviving . Whether that includes draining blood from enemies to convert to water, or licking the dew off of various flora in caves and shade, you always need to stay hydrated. The harsh sun of the planet Arrakis is constantly beaming down on you, too, and sandworms patrol the deserts with ruthless efficie
That existing lore, and the attention to detail of die-hard fans, was something the developers at Funcom constantly had at the front of their minds while developing Dune: Awakening . I spoke to Gavin Whelan, the studio's Senior Art Director, about working with an existing IP and what the future holds for the upcoming g
Typically, six hours with a game is enough to really get a vibe for the title. That's not really the case with Dune: Awakening because there is so much to it that we couldn't experience in this timeframe. Dune: Awakening has a lot of unique mechanical elements, and that's probably what stood out the most. The mechanics are fully Dune and can be fun to play with. However, having just played six hours of a game that Funcom hopes keeps players immersed for hundreds of hours, it's hard to say how much we really experienced the game. If anything, it felt like a few grains of sand in the otherwise endless dunes of Arra
"What If?" is a powerful question in any fandom, sometimes leading to headcanons of unique events, changing character arcs, and creating radically different worlds. Oftentimes, though, these questions are complex and out there. For example, Marvel's What If...? series asks "What if T'Challa Became Star-Lord" or "What If The Avengers Assembled in 1602?" With Dune 's premise around the Kwisatz Haderach and abilities such a prescience, it's a good franchise to ask "What If?" about. Instead of something complex, however, the upcoming survival MMO game Dune: Awakening keeps it simple: What if Jessica did not disobey the Bene Gesserit and had a female child instead of P
As Frank Herbert wrote in the first Dune novel, "Beginnings are such delicate times," and players who are dumped on Arrakis and forced to survive are, indeed, living through delicate times. At a surface level, Dune: Awakening 's gameplay is as demanding as the sands of Arrakis. It has a clear audience, targeting hardcore survival players and lifelong Dune fans who appreciate its more hard sci-fi approach, and the game's various features and mechanics would fit right into a Dune novel. I was recently invited to Oslo, Norway to play Dune: Awakening , and after six hours with it, it's clear there's a lot of depth in its mechan
However, the Dune world isn’t just the modern films. There’s the saga of books Funcom has primarly worked from, previous Dune strategy games, and the movie directed by the late David Lynch. With so much lore, it’s been a challenge for Funcom to ensure no mistakes make their way into the game. Helpfully, "Joel [Bylos, Dune: Awakening’s Creative Director] knows everything," Whelan says. "He knows the books inside and out, so you cannot get things past him because he sits right behind me, Observatorioedu.Com so he will catch thin
Expanding on that, he said, "I know lots of people who love vehicles and vehicle sim games. Okay, it’s a lot easier and more straightforward, but it's still fun. The base level, just getting on a sand bike and driving around, is fun. Flying Ornithopters is fun. Yeah, combat will come…It will be fun and engaging. These are the things which people will gravitate to and this is something we picked up on with Conan Exiles. People make it their o
Traversing across the sands can attract sandworms that will devour the player, taking all their gear, items, and - if nearby - their vehicles. Dune: Awakening 's sandworms devour and destroy everything, while standard deaths in conventional combat lead to minor losses. It not only helps realize the dangers of Arrakis, but ensures players are mindful of what they are carrying where. The demoist showed us a couple of vehicles players could use, all derived from the Dune franchise obviously, and losing them in such a vast world is no doubt a serious loss, alongside any high-level gear. Players could craft that gear again, but it requires finding the schematic, necessary materials, and so forth. Gaining anything in Dune: Awakening is an investment, and the sandworm can just wipe that all cl