In Dune: Awakening, players often used a feature for map switching, which might make one think there were also survival elements. A player has now risked their Ornithopter and found out: Everything is harmless.
What feature is it? Those who fly to the edge of the Harkonnen Basin in Dune: Awakening land in a kind of overworld mini-game for map switching. Here, you see your own aircraft on a map with important locations of Arrakis marked on it.
Using mouse control, you can fly your aircraft to regions like the Deep Desert, the cities of Harko City and Arakeen, and the Harkonnen Basin. Later, further locations are expected to be added with updates.
However, there are more places on the map to fly to, namely water and fuel stations. While moving on the map, your aircraft apparently consumes these two resources and must be regularly refilled. At least that’s what one might think.
Now a player has found out what actually happens when you let your tanks run empty.
This is what the future of Dune: Awakening looks like:
Survival? Not really.
What happens when the tanks run empty? Many players’ first instinct is likely to be: If fuel runs out or the water gauge hits zero (so the character is dehydrated), then the hero loses their vehicle and dies. But that is not the case.
The YouTuber Vash Cowaii recently tested in a stream (via Reddit) what really happens when fuel and water run out in the mini-game. Instead of a lost Ornithopter or a dead character, almost nothing happens. The video shows that the aircraft with an empty tank simply flies slower. The Ornithopter does not crash, nor does it sustain any damage.
Vash Cowaii explains in the video that when the water tank hits zero, there is just a message indicating that this is the case. Otherwise, the gauge had no effect. More than slower flying and a message from the game asking to refill water is what players need to worry about.
But what if you then arrive on a map? According to a comment from the thread creator on Reddit, you retain the fuel and water levels you had when leaving the previous map after landing on another map. The mini-game itself has no influence on the “real” game world.
Even if the mini-game mechanics will later be supplemented with more points through updates, their purpose at present seems to be more to make the journey between locations fitting for the story in the game.
The fact that real survival features of the mini-game are more of an illusion than a real threat is rather secondary for immersion. Whether the tank indicators will have more impact later is unclear. However, what is sure to change in the future can be found here: Dune: Awakening reveals plans for the near future, set to receive new story and PvE content every 3 to 4 months.
