With Dune: Awakening, a new survival game is set to be released in 2025, aiming to redefine the genre – and I believe it can. At least that’s what MeinMMO editor and survival expert Benedict Grothaus says. Funcom, the creators of the Dune game, invited him to a preview event and completely impressed him with what they showed.
Even though I often rave about other genres here, survival games are my passion. I’ve spent more than 1,000 hours across Conan Exiles, Valheim, the new Enshrouded, even the hardcore Rust, and many other titles combined.
In this year, 2025, a game I’ve been eagerly waiting for is coming out: Dune: Awakening. Already at gamescom last year, Funcom’s new game could excite me immensely. Dune: Awakening is exactly what I want after Conan Exiles.
Already at the end of 2022, during the first look at Dune: Awakening, it was clear to us at MeinMMO: The game will feel more like an MMORPG and could redefine the genre. Now I have had the opportunity to play an early version for 6 hours, and I’m sure that this is the case.
A small disclaimer: The version we played is an earlier state of development, with some bugs and missing content that are supposed to come later. There were some technical hardware difficulties, but none of these affected the overall enjoyment of the game.
MMO or Survival? Both!
What is Dune: Awakening actually? At its core, it is still a survival game. That is the foundation upon which everything else is built. I play a character in a hot desert full of giant worms and bandits, and I have to survive in some way.
What sets Dune: Awakening apart are the familiar setting in the Dune world and the MMO aspects. Because the game is not a sandbox where I have to set and pursue my own goals.
The survival game has a clear endgame and is full of NPCs that I can interact with, who give me quests and even teach me new skills. The different factions of Arrakis, the planet where we play, and the war over the coveted spice are at the heart of the story.
That Awakening is different from any survival game I have played so far is already evident in character creation – which intentionally does not come with the notorious penis slider. Instead of just building a cool dude with numerous options, I create a real character with a story and background.
A Survival MMO with Classes, Skills, and RPG
I choose how I look, which planet I come from, and what my background is. My homeland determines what traits I bring with me. My past status before the events indicates whether I belong to nobility or the commoners.
The selection is not purely cosmetic. The various options provide unique dialogue options when speaking with NPCs as an RPG factor in the game. Additionally, I can choose from one of four classes:
- Mentat, a kind of agent and sniper with tech understanding
- Swordmaster, who … is a master of swords
- Bene Gesserit, basically the magicians of Dune
- or Trooper, the standard soldier with firearms, grenades, and more.
The classes all have their own skills, both passive and active. Later in the game, all other classes can be unlocked, but that takes time. But those who want to become the Kwisatz Haderach must work for it.
In general, the developers are guiding themselves by what is possible, logical, and given in Dune. Shields, for example, don’t just weaken but completely stop attacks – unless they are penetrated with special projectiles or slow blades. The developer philosophy is: “Do not adapt Dune to your ideas, but adapt your ideas to Dune.”
Even the famous Spice is applied and grants you special abilities. The only true survival resource is water, but you need spice for combat and trade. And those who are not careful will become addicted.
We could only play for 6 hours, but everyone wanted more
Funcom gave us roughly 6 hours to play, during which we played together on assigned devices in a large room. It was basically a big LAN party with dozens of journalists – and a lot of nerds.
In that time, I was able to achieve quite a bit on my own:
- My base is established and somewhat expanded. I even managed to form a guild with other German players, and we completed several dungeons and quests together.
- I have several armors in my inventory, including one for combat and a “stillsuit,” which helps me stay hydrated in the desert.
- The first vehicle is also ready, a sandbike that I could race through the desert.
- Overall, I reached level 15 and was dramatically eaten by a sandworm at the end (which, by the way, irretrievably deletes the inventory).
The excitement around Dune: Awakening grabbed me and most of my companions: On the second day, there was a tour through Funcom’s studio, and pretty much everyone in the group asked if we could play for a few more hours instead.
The tour was still worthwhile. We learned a lot about Awakening, its state, and the future – and perhaps you might even hear my voice somewhere in the game. Possibly.
PvP as Endgame – But it’s not as bad as you think
The only big question mark left after playing is the game’s end. None of us got that far; it is supposed to take several dozen or hundreds of hours.
However, at our request, we received an ornithopter to at least have a look at the endgame content. However, there wasn’t much to discover yet because that area was still unfinished. In general, the endgame is supposed to go like this:
- Players interested in PvP and risk go into the “Deep Desert” and farm spice there to strengthen their guild’s power. Spice can also be found in PvE areas in smaller amounts.
- Those who are not interested in direct PvP can work as a cartographer or sell their skills in the free market – thus earning spice.
- With spice, you then influence the Landsraad, the politicians and factions of the game. This is where the intrigues and the actual endgame with power plays take place. Also, the NPCs want taxes from you …
How well that will work, I cannot yet assess. But Funcom has already proven that they master both survival games and MMORPGs. Conan Exiles ultimately saved the studio, and with Anarchy Online they operate one of the oldest still-running MMORPGs.
And just to mention it: The Secret World had the best quests in the entire MMO genre and unfortunately faded into irrelevance far too early. So Funcom obviously knows what they are doing.
I for one am incredibly excited about Dune: Awakening. While I doubt it will be a massive hit – it’s too niche for that. But it will provide many enjoyable hours for me and countless other fans. It’s already extremely popular even though it isn’t out yet: The new survival MMO Dune: Awakening currently has thousands of players on Steam, even though it hasn’t been released yet.
