Funcom has built upon their efforts with Conan Exiles with their latest project, which brings a bigger, bolder framework to Frank Herbert’s iconic universe. Dune: Awakening drops players onto the unforgiving desert planet of Arrakis, but it freshens things up by pivoting from the established canon. Instead of following the books, the game takes place in an alternate timeline wherein Paul Atreides is never born and Duke Leto actually survives his assassination attempt. The result of these universe changes is a massive War of Assassins between the great houses. Adding a layer of mystery to these proceedings, the Fremen have vanished without a trace. It’s a much different setup. In this world of modified events, players create their own character, choose a house, and try to survive despite everything—man, beast and nature—wanting to kill them.
Much like Funcom’s other popular open-world game, survival is at the heart of Dune: Awakening. And that survival starts the second players step out from their crashed transport ship in Hagga Basin. With practically nothing to their name, the player is forced to contend with the unrelenting heat, making hydration an immediate problem. Staying out in the harsh sun for too long can cause overheating, and that’ll translate to a rapid depletion of crucial water reserves. Fortunately, a few drops can be squeezed from certain plants. Or, for the more brave, processed water can be raided from outlaw camps. However, the most reliable method is through a blood extraction tool, enabling the draining of corpses dry before dumping it all into a blood refinery for precious H2O.
So what else is there to worry about aside from outlaws, the sun and water? The sandworm, of course! Traveling across Arrakis is bundled with paranoia because Shai-Hulud is listening to nearly every footstep crossing the surface. Running out into the open sand can be a death sentence, making traversal a connection of mad sprints between rocky outcroppings. When a sandworm does attack, the controller violently rumbles as the terrifying creature closes in before breaching the surface. Getting eaten is a nightmare. Characters lose everything they are carrying at the time. Thankfully, the console release dropped alongside update 1.5, which has reduced penalties upon death and lessened some of the sting.
Deep Progress, Shallow Combat
Every crafted item serves a vital purpose, giving progression added weight. An extensive research tree is home to countless unlockable recipes that aid in-game survival. It isn’t long before players are accumulating copper to build their own sandbike, making long-distance treks easier. Even the iconic ornithopter can be crafted to travel safely above the worm-monitored dunes. When it’s time to settle in for a bit, the deep base building mechanics spring up. Anyone who’s played Conan Exiles will feel at home here. Construction uses a snappy interface that allows the easy flipping of walls, foundations, and stairs to design elaborate desert fortresses. However, building is only half the battle. Structures must be powered with fuel cells. If depleted, the vicious sandstorms will begin tearing away at the base—vehicles left outside will degrade until they are completely unusable. Luckily, an unlockable base reconstruction tool makes plopping down the blueprint of a previously lost home fairly effortless.
Everything on Arrakis revolves around spice, and the universe’s most valuable substance is integrated into character progression. Raw Spice Sand can be harvested, processed, and consumed via Melange Spiced Foods. Eating spice fills up a meter that grants powerful buffs, like wall-hacks to see hidden enemies and passive health regeneration. But it comes with a catch. Consuming spice leads to a lore-accurate withdrawal system. Players can suffer from hallucinations and a rising tolerance level if they are not careful.
Combat is where the experience stumbles a bit. The developer stayed true to the lore by implementing personal shields, meaning fast projectiles bounce off and only a “slow blade” can penetrate the defense. This creates a dynamic where fights shift between ranged shootouts and frantic melee stabbing. There’s nothing wrong with the concept, but the enemy AI backing it leaves a lot to be desired. Out in the open desert, scavengers will blindly charge forward in groups. If they get bottlenecked by geometry, they slowly shuffle forward one at a time. The ranged enemies don’t fare much better, mindlessly taking potshots from behind cover with little else in the way of tactics. While not a massive omission, the lack of a true cover system adds to the stiffness of firefights. As for bosses, they are essentially just large bullet sponges that spam area-of-effect attacks and summon adds. Active abilities are the saving grace punctuating all of these encounters; they’re a blast to use. The Swordmaster’s Knee Charge ability can drop early enemies with ease; the Bene Gesserit can use the Voice to compel enemies to come to them; and the Trooper can use the Shigawire Claw to launch from point-to-point, adding valuable verticality to the early game. Each of the abilities gives combat some much-needed flair.
Arrakis Your Way
A massive selling point is Dune: Awakening‘s recent pivot toward approachability. While it initially pushed players toward an MMO-style experience with a heavy PvP focus, update 1.5 changed the landscape entirely. Arrakis now features a dedicated single-player mode. The game automatically handles and simulates the multiplayer systems in the absence of other real-life players. Features like the player-driven market, known as the Exchange, become a simple market for solo players to buy and sell goods. Additionally, the Landsraad political system maintains the essence of a living world by simulating rival guilds.
If you hate the idea of getting harassed by rival factions, you can relax. The starting area of the Hagga Basin is strictly PvE, and the endgame PvP zones out in the Deep Desert are entirely optional. The Coriolis storms have even been softened slightly to allow for better exploration. Funcom also added a suite of difficulty settings. There are hree presets to choose from or custom sliders can be tweaked to further modify sandstorm damage, base decay timers, item durability, and experience multipliers. It offers a tailored experience, completely transforms the orignial game. The unforgiving multiplayer survival test can be a smoother solo adventure, if you so choose. Perhaps two of the most exciting changes are the complete elimination of base upkeep taxation and the recovery of destroyed vehicles for up to thirty days.
Running through the deserts of Arrakis on a current-gen console is mostly a stable experience, but it comes with a few quirks. On the positive side, the game runs far better than its early PC days. Performance mode locks in 60 frames per second, and the visual draw distance is impressive. And the dynamic lighting strongly captures the shifting desert colors as the day progresses. That said, the character models do not look as good as the environments. The lighting on character skin looks somewhat basic, and character hair is entirely rigid. The user interface is another sore spot, largely due to the dreaded virtual cursor that accompanies far too many PC ports. Instead of snapping neatly between menu items, a floating cursor is pushed around around the screen. It makes navigating the deep crafting menus, skill trees, and inventory screens feel slow and clumsy.
Dune: Awakening Review Verdict
Dune: Awakening: is an ambitious, aesthetically-accurate survival game embedded on the harsh world of Arrakis. It stumbles a bit with basic enemy AI, stiff combat, and cumbersome menus, but the deep base building, terrifying sandworm encounters, and update 1.5 overhaul spice things up enough to make this adventure worthwhile. – Joshua
