The Game Awards 2022 are over and presented a never-before-seen fireworks display of trailers. Among them was Dune: Awakening. For MeinMMO editor Maik Schneider, it was the highlight, alongside the giant Diablo 4. According to the latest information, the survival genre could turn a whole new page with Dune.
What kind of game is Dune: Awakening? The new title from Funcom describes itself as an open-world survival MMO. Roughly speaking, we get a Conan Exiles set in the world of Dune: The Desert Planet, one of the most successful sci-fi stories.
You start in the middle of the desert with few or no resources, gather and craft important items and food for survival, and gradually attain wealth and fame as well as a much too large base built with your own hands. So far, so familiar.
But Dune makes it clear that it wants to take a few steps further. Thousands of players are to roam the desert world and interact, NPCs govern the economy, which we can influence with our own guilds, and heavy military equipment such as tanks and planes engage in battles for the most important resource in the universe: the spice.
I see here nothing less than the next evolutionary step in the survival genre. Towards more interaction between players and their allies. Dune: Awakening feels more like an MMORPG to me and could change the genre forever.
I’m embedding the latest trailer with the first gameplay for you here:
I caught up a lot and followed the development of the survival market. I have now spent thousands of hours in the genre: 7 Days to Die, Terraria, Conan Exiles, ARK: Survival Evolved, Rust – all titles that I have enjoyed for several hundred hours.
With Dune: Awakening, there is now a game that I find the background story very appealing. And if it can keep its promises, it should change the entire survival genre.
Dune: Awakening is a product of the survival hype
At the end of 2020 / beginning of 2021, suddenly a game that had already been on the market for 7 years was hyped: Rust.
Due to the Corona pandemic and game delays, the supply situation in the gaming market was tense. On the demand side, however, many more people wanted to play. Rust became known through Twitch and drew many players into the survival game.
Twitch streamer shroud also celebrated Rust back then and said: “You go in, walk around, can shoot at things or talk to people.” This led to the creation of roleplay servers and huge streamer projects. Rust was for months the epitome of gaming, especially due to its social component.
Why could Dune: Awakening change the genre? The new survival MMO makes social interaction a main feature. On the new Steam page, it says:
“Dune: Awakening combines the harshness and creativity of survival games with the social interactivity of large-scale multiplayer titles into a uniquely ambitious open-world survival MMO. Survive and dominate on a huge seamless Arrakis in battle with thousands of other players.”
It therefore offers a huge open world where thousands of players compete for the favor of the great houses of Arrakis. The current info on the game outlines a massive world where many player groups fight for the most important resources.
Allies will be as important as a well-developed fortress. Communicative players could be as important a resource as the spice itself.
And in Dune, everything revolves around spice – a rare resource needed for space travel, serves as currency, and is almost only available on the desert planet Arrakis. The developers at Funcom can rely on the stories of a vast sci-fi universe.
Many details about the title are still missing. But the focus on the social aspect could herald a new era for the survival genre. An era where survival games become almost life simulations that offer a scope similar to MMORPGs.
What features does Dune: Awakening offer? In conclusion, I will list some further features that Dune: Awakening has already announced:
- Meet characters from the books and films
- Constantly fight against other players in PvP or ally with them
- Unravel the secrets behind the motives of the rulers
- Abilities improve with use
- Many different points of interest in the open world
- The desert world changes due to constant storms
- Harsh survival due to lack of water
- Wait for and improve desert suits
- 3rd-person gameplay
- Battles with tanks, infantry, and planes
- Specialization in melee or ranged combat
- Complex economic system revolving around the spice
- Guilds can ally with large (NPC) houses
- Crafting of weapons, attachments, modifications, armor
I am very excited about the title and will keep a close eye on the development surrounding Dune: Awakening. I am sure it can shake up the survival genre significantly if it keeps its promises.
Your opinions on the first information also interest me greatly. Leave me a comment on the topic.
If you prefer to learn about other survival titles, we have a suitable list for you here: The 25 best survival games for PlayStation, PC, and Xbox
