Dune: Awakening has announced a major update alongside the release on PS5 and plans improvements as well as new content. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus was able to get a first glimpse of this at gamescom 2026. By the way, the director showed him something that no outsider has been allowed to see before.
A few months ago, Funcom announced the single-player mode for Dune: Awakening along with the update marking the end of the story of the “first book.” The patch will be released on September 22, on the same day that the launch on PS5 and Xbox is supposed to happen.
For many (potential) players, myself included, this is excellent news, as the mode means more freedom to play how you want and above all: when you can. A good portion of gamers simply cannot be online all the time.
At gamescom 2026, I wanted to catch up with Creative Director Joel Bylos again. I’ve had many interesting conversations with Joel about the lore and gameplay.
And exactly because we are “old friends”, I got to see the end of the story during what was supposed to be a brief insight into the new update, something that no one else has been shown yet. A mild spoiler alert beforehand: While I won’t go into the specifics of the content, I will at least hint at what will happen.
We are leaving Arrakis, and the new planet looks fantastic
Yes, you read that right. The planet on which Dune: Awakening (and really the entire saga) takes place will no longer be the only location with the update on September 22. In the final chapter of the story, you will leave the planet for the first time and enter another.
I can’t go into detail about what I saw, as that should still be a surprise for you. However, I can say that the new planet looks really good and is something I definitely wouldn’t have expected from Dune: Awakening.
The journey away from the planet is just the first step, albeit a significant one. The survival game, which with the upcoming single-player update is definitely no longer an MMO, has much more in the works.
Ice instead of sandy desert and much more is possible
Later this year, a free update is supposed to come that is almost equivalent to an expansion. In addition to the desert and the new planet, the polar caps of Arrakis will be a new biome in Dune: Awakening.
It is, logically, cold there with new challenges. Just as you have to protect yourself from the heat in the desert, you will need to shield yourself from the cold at the poles, and vehicles certainly won’t work there. They are simply not built for that climate.
By the way, there will be no snow there because water from the sky simply does not exist on Arrakis. However, sandstorms occasionally stray to the polar caps. And what is funnier than a sandstorm in the desert? A frozen sandstorm without an escape route!
Funcom has also been working on Conan Exiles, and Joel Bylos was also responsible for many contents there. Accordingly, I had to ask him if this all means we will see even more biomes in the survival game, and the answer makes me happier than you might guess. When asked if more biomes were possible, Joel remarked:
“Oh, 100%. Yeah. The polar cap is one… […] It’s just one of the disadvantages of Dune as an IP. Arrakis is a desert, right? But you see in the story mission that we’ve added now, the first time you go off the planet. […] Soon we’ll start being able to send people off planet regularly to other planets, and then we have all the same control that Conan Exiles had.”
Joel Bylos, Creative Director of Dune: Awakening
The polar caps are observable in terms of lore. Joel emphasized that Frank Herbert describes in his book very clearly how it looks there and how the people there “harvest” water in the form of ice.
Dune: Awakening is more aligned with Conan Exiles, will be much more convenient
To stay on topic: The upcoming single-player mode of Dune: Awakening is heavily oriented towards Conan Exiles, including all possible sliders to adjust damage, building costs, and such. Players who want to experience the story but do not wish to grind forever can simplify many things here.
In addition to the update, a paid DLC will also be released with some cosmetics, building materials, and skins that you know from the movies, fittingly titled “Filmic Archive.” It will cost €9.99 and is entirely optional.
With the single-player mode, the story (of which I already know the wonderful direction), and the outlook for more biomes, Dune: Awakening is luring me back in stronger than before, although I stopped playing a while ago. Though with the intention to continue someday, but now I finally have the right excuse for it – while I, also on Joel’s advice, will more likely start a new run.
Are single-player mode and the prospect of seeing more than just desert enough incentive for you to check out Dune: Awakening again? Or have you never stopped playing? What new features do you find the best? Leave a comment!
As far as survival games are concerned, the next few weeks will be really good, but annoyingly also quite packed. Valheim releases its version 1.0 at the beginning of September, Dune brings the new update on September 22, and Enshrouded will finally grow up too: Enshrouded has so many new features for the release that I can’t fit them all into one title.
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