Dune Awakening is out at last, and it’s a strange, wonderful blend of an MMORPG and an open world survival game. This melding of genres results in a game of two halves, weaved together with a rich and deep care for the source material. Funcom, somehow, has managed to juggle these components expertly. The result? A game unlike any I’ve really played before.
The game itself is massive. Already I’ve sunk 30+ hours into it and still find myself with plenty to explore, heaps to build and the fog of war covering portions of the map. In that time I’ve explored the majority of the main map: Hagga Basin. I’ve narrowly avoided getting vored by a worm, and I’ve experienced something I only thought 40-year-old home owners get to experience: house envy.
The soul of survival in Dune Awakening is an ever-present core of every play session you’ll have with the game. When you start, you’re building scrap metal knives and plant fibre rags, but soon enough you’ll find yourself constructing more elaborate, more expensive goodies. The survival cycle is thus: build a base, gather materials, construct new gear.
You repeat that until you’ve finished crafting everything you want from the tier of materials available, at which point you hop on a bike or buggy and drive into the perilous unknown in order to do it all over again. It’s a moreish process that even 30 hours in I’ve not gotten tired of yet.