I’ve been eager to play survival MMO Dune: Awakening since I first saw it back in March. It all looks pretty great so far: the crafting, building, exploring, even the mundane stuff like water gathering and rock breaking looks fun. It’s even converted a few of us who aren’t normally into this kind of thing. Wes doesn’t like survival and Josh doesn’t like MMOs, but even they’re keen to play it.
Release Date Announced
We now have a rough idea of when we’ll get the chance—on PC, at least. “Funcom are thrilled to announce that Dune: Awakening, the open-world survival MMO, will release in early 2025, with the console release planned for a later date,” Funcom said today at Gamescom. That’s probably not as specific as we’d like, but it’s something.
New Gameplay Footage
The announcement came along with five minutes of new gameplay footage, which you can see below. The gameplay trailer shows how a rando dumped on Arrakis can become a spice tycoon, building a base, crafting gear and vehicles, and battling other players over spice blows deep in the desert.
Expectations and Feedback
One thing we haven’t seen much of yet are knives and swords, something that the Dune fiction is kinda known for. The little we have seen looks mostly like people just whacking each other over the head, rather than the elaborate martial arts we’re accustomed to. An MMO probably isn’t the environment for a complicated melee system, but I am expecting a little something extra considering the source material.
We’ll see more from Dune: Awakening soon: more footage is set to be revealed during Gamescom this week, plus a new Dune: Awakening direct will take place on August 29.