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Get ready for one of this year’s most highly anticipated new survival MMOs with our Dune: Awakening Preview!
Dune: Awakening is an upcoming open-world survival MMO set in the iconic universe of Frank Herbert’s Dune, where players must navigate the harsh desert planet of Arrakis. This highly anticipated game promises a deep and immersive experience. Blending the critical elements of survival, crafting, and combat as players struggle to thrive in a land full of deadly creatures, scarce resources, and political intrigue.
Dune Awakening Preview
Dune: Awakening is an open-world survival MMO set on the dangerous desert planet of Arrakis. Developed and published by Funcom, it is set to release on May 20, 2025, on PC. Additionally, the developers plan to eventually release the game on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles. There is no official release date for that version yet, but will likely happen later this year.
In this preview, we’ll take a closer look at the key mechanics of Dune: Awakening, from gathering resources to building your base and surviving the unforgiving environment. We’ll also dive into the combat system, which promises to offer thrilling encounters against both the dangers of the desert and other factions vying for control. Whether you’re a long-time Dune fan or a newcomer to the universe, this article will give you a taste of what to expect in this exciting new game.
Here are the top 10 preview categories for Dune: Awakening:
- Environment
- Story and Lore
- Combat
- Progression and Skill Trees
- Research and Crafting
- Base Building
- Death
- PvE Content
- PvP Content
- Group vs Solo Play
Environment
You begin your journey in Dune: Awakening after crash landing on the arid, desert planet of Arrakis. You’re in trouble right from the start, because the sun can easily cause heatstroke. Consequently, your first priority is just getting into some shade and finding water.
From there, the challenges that this environment throws your way will only increase. From scorching sun, dehydration, swirling sandstorms, roving scavengers, and the colossal sandworms, just surviving to live another day will be a victory. Furthermore, Arrakis is a land of scarcity, and every drop of water, every ounce of spice, and every piece of shelter matters.
Consequently, you’ll be spending most of your first hours gathering resources, drinking dew, and crafting weapons and items. You’ll want to find a spot near the rock ‘islands’, away from the shifting sands, and build at least a basic base to use as a refuge. If you leave yourself exposed to the sandstorms, they can tear you apart. And if you build your house out on the dunes, a sandworm can swallow you whole.
If you can get past the initial survival phase, then the world will start to open up. Desolate as Arrakis may be, there is a significant reason why so many are still interested in it. It’s the only known source of the valuable spice melange, which is crucial for space travel, granting prolonged life and heightened awareness. This resource will play a big role in the end game, influencing the power struggle happening between houses and guilds over the control of the planet.
Story and Lore
The Dune series, written by Frank Herbert, is set in a distant future where noble houses vie for control of the desert planet Arrakis and the valuable spice melange. The story follows Paul Atreides, the heir to House Atreides, who rises to power after his family is betrayed. Paul becomes a messianic figure, leading a rebellion against the oppressive rule of the Emperor and other factions. The popular series of books ultimately go on to span multiple generations, as Paul’s descendants struggle with the legacy he leaves behind.
In Dune: Awakening, however, Paul Atreides does not exist. The native people of Arrakis whom Paul originally came to control, have instead mysteriously disappeared. The story in the game is an alternate history of the Dune universe. Here, Duke Leto Atreides and Baron Vladimir Harkonnen pit the might of their houses against one another for control of Arrakis.
Your task, as you have been given by a Reverend Mother of the Bene Gesserit, is to discover what happened to the Fremen. Along the way, you’ll also have the opportunity to prove yourself a valuable ally to one of the warring houses. You’ll need to use every bit of wit, cunning, survival skills, and strength to rise from the burning sands and become more than a nameless survivor.
Combat
According to the developers at Funcom, the combat in Dune: Awakening is meant to be a mix of ranged gun battles and physical melee with a knife or sword. It isn’t recommended that you limit yourself to specializing in one combat playstyle. The enemies that you encounter in the world will require different tactics. Additionally, special shields or equipment can prevent them from being hurt by one weapon type or another.
Furthermore, you can also employ various technological tools and abilities, such as poison and grenades, to gain tactical advantages in combat. The use of shields and other defensive measures should add complexity to engagements. You may just start the game fighting basic scavengers with a dart gun and a rudimentary knife. But as you advance your crafting skills more tools and better weapons will become available to you.
Furthermore, in Dune: Awakening you will also be able to use skills and abilities. At the start of the game, these are based on the background you chose during character creation. You can only have three active abilities on your skill bar, however, so you will need to carefully choose which will be most effective against your enemies.
Progression and Skill Trees
When you start in the character creator, one seemingly pivotal question from the Reverend Mother concerns your mentor and background. There are four to choose from, with faction names or archetypes that will be familiar to Dune fans. Swordmaster, Bene Gesserit, Mentat, and Trooper will each unlock a starting ability for you. Furthermore, it opens the corresponding skill tree, where you can unlock additional abilities, as well as new passives. Passives can boost your survivability, endurance, attack, and more.
This background choice is not meant to be fully binding, however. No matter what you pick, there is a system in place where you can unlock the other skill trees in Dune: Awakening. Throughout the world, you will encounter other mentors who can provide training that will unlock the other skill trees. These individuals will set a task for you, and you’ll have to fulfill their quest before you receive their training.
Moreover, even in the skill tree of your chosen background, you will only be able to progress so far. In order to invest more skill points to level up abilities and passives you will need to find a relevant advanced trainer. Progression in Dune: Awakening is playing the long game. Your ultimate goal will be to eventually unlock and fully upgrade as many passives as possible and the most powerful abilities.
Research and Crafting
Research and crafting has its own progression system in Dune: Awakening, which you’ll want to invest in even if you’re here primarily for high-stakes combat. Like Enshrouded, the game will do a good job of showing you the ropes when you’re first starting out. The main story quests after you crash land take you step-by-step. You’ll start gathering resources and crafting the most basic of materials, such as healing consumables. Additionally, crafting simple tools will help you harvest more important resources such as stones and metals.
However, after this string of basic items, things will start to get more complex. You will eventually need a fabricator to craft more complex items and stronger tools. Moreover, before you can craft these things, you will first need to research them. In the early game, you can unlock nearly all research items as soon as the quest presents them to you. Later on, the system will open up and you’ll see many possible items in the menu that are locked. This means in order to research them, you will have to spend Intelligence.
Consequently, you will have to make strategic decisions about what research to prioritize. Do you spend five points unlocking a new set of armor, or a new tool that allows you to harvest a different resource? Either choice will impact the direction of your journey and reinforce the playstyle or role you’re most interested in playing.
Base Building
Building your base is a vital task on the planet Arrakis and the only way you will survive on the planet long-term. It will be a priority task after you first escape the crash. Because you will need those four walls and a roof to have a safe refuge from the sandstorms.
The building system in Dune: Awakening is easy for beginners to pick up, with a tutorial guide that helps you along the way. You start by crafting a “sub-fief console” to claim a small portion of Arrakis for yourself. This device allows you to establish a base within a designated area, marking your territory on the planet. From there, you can continue by placing foundation squares, building walls, choosing where the door goes, and constructing a roof. Furthermore, you should start small and simple because it’s easy to go back and expand or modify your space.
However, you also don’t have to stress too much about the placement of your first base. Just make sure it’s not out on the sands, and close to the rocks. Additionally, don’t worry about going overboard and spending too many resources to make it extravagant. This starting zone is just the beginning, and you will need to craft additional bases in new regions. In fact, the base building system in Dune: Awakening will even provide you with a tool that you can use to ‘copy’ a blueprint of a base. So long as you have the materials, this will streamline the process of restarting somewhere else.
Death
Death has consequences in Dune: Awakening, which any player of the survival genre will have some familiarity with. Much like other titles, dying in the world means that you will lose the items you were carrying in your backpack. Furthermore, while this is frustrating, you can reclaim all of your items again by returning to the place where you died. Most survival games will even conveniently mark the spot for you. This can be simple to return to, depending on where you respawn, and how far you have to go.
However, in Dune: Awakening it is possible to experience the ultimate consequence. Getting eaten by a sandworm means losing everything. Your items, backpack, equipped weapons, power pack, and even all of your armor! Depending on where you respawn, you can be left in the burning sun far from your base. If you’re lucky, you might be able to run back at night. Even so, this setback has a real impact and does feel a bit like you’re starting over from square one.
There is no way to totally avoid the sandworms in Dune: Awakening. Not if you want to get out of the starting zone where you create your first base. To continue the story, progress your character, and get stronger you will have to be willing to venture over large expanses of sand. Contrary to what the Imperium may say, the sandworms are the true ultimate authority on Arrakis.
PvE Content
The player-vs-environment content found in Dune: Awakening will likely be familiar to players who have played any RPG or MMO in the last couple of decades. Significantly, in Dune: Awakening you will start the game in an entirely PvE zone. Therefore, you won’t have to worry about getting ‘ganked’ by other players while you’re just trying to create your first basic base.
The starting zone of the game has all of the hallmarks of a standard RPG/survival game. First, gather materials, using the crafting system to create basic tools. Start to build shelter, and expand as you craft better machines and technology. Once you’ve established a decent foothold, and have a proper suit and weapons, you can start to explore more widely. Uncover more of the map. Learn the basics of combat fighting scavengers.
As you get stronger and more confident, you’ll want to venture farther, following the main quest towards populated points of interest. You may find trainers for the other skill trees, which you can unlock by completing quests for them. Side quests may seem small, but they’re worth doing because they reward you with XP and boost your level faster.
Ecology Labs will serve as the dungeons of Dune: Awakening, where players can delve into unique locations filled with scavengers, secrets, special crafting materials, and valuable schematics. Moreover, these locations are seamlessly part of the overworld and not something you have to queue into or wait for a loading screen.
Later on in the game, you will be introduced to the two warring factions currently fighting for power on Arrakis. House Atreides and House Harkonnen are the two major factions in the game, although the developers have also suggested that there may be a secret third faction revealed later on. Player guilds can also be created, with their loyalties tied to the faction of their choice.
PvP Content
According to the developers at Funcom, the overall goal of the PvP in Dune: Awakening is to have it focus primarily on fighting for resources instead of destroying other player’s meticulously crafted bases. To further this goal, the player-vs-player portion of Dune: Awakening will take place almost entirely on its own map, in the deep desert beyond the Shield Wall mountains. Consequently, PvP will not be required of players. And it will have a limited impact on the PvE portions of the map. However, there will be compelling reasons for you to risk going there. The deep desert is where most of the major spice resource pools will be found.
Players can and likely will need to build bases on the PvP desert map. However, everyone will have a full understanding that these are made to potentially be attacked. Additionally, the map itself will only be temporary. In the lore, the shifting sands can change the nature of the terrain on Arrakis. This is especially true in the deep desert, which gives the developers an easy way to reset the map on a scheduled basis.
Finally, even if you are not interested in engaging in PvP combat directly, the developers have created ways for you to still participate. Dune: Awakening will have a strong political system and intrigue. Cartographers can scan areas for resources and other POI to contribute to their faction, or sell to the highest bidder. Moreover, even those who prioritize crafting and gathering resources can support their faction by offering materials critical to a Landsraad vote or selling rare items on the Exchange.
Group vs Solo Play
According to the developers at Funcom, it is possible to experience the story and world of Dune: Awakening by playing entirely by yourself. Indeed, you will start off the game as a lone survivor. And will have to take the first steps of gathering, crafting, and building on your own. You can choose to continue on your own, and for patient or more casual gamers this playstyle may be preferred.
However, at a certain point, your progress will be significantly slower than players who come together and pool their resources. After you build your first base or vehicle, you will notice that you can set permissions for who can enter or use an item. Banding together with friends on the same server will allow you to share resources and build bigger and better technologies faster.
Beyond that, there are player guilds. These guilds will operate under one of the two House banners, so you will need to choose your alliance carefully. Guilds will likely be vital to combat in the PvP zone of the deep desert. Even if you don’t plan to participate in the combat, there will be other ways you can participate and contribute to your guild’s progress.
It’s difficult to draw a solid conclusion on how viable solo play will actually be when Dune: Awakening launches. Doing so will likely make your progress in the game much slower. On the other hand, if you approach it with adjusted expectations, you will still likely be able to advance and have fun with exploration and base build in the game.
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