I sat on a gamer chair for roughly six hours straight earlier this month, taking part in Dune Awakening with a room filled with different journalists, and rapidly discovered myself gripped by Funcom’s depiction of an Arrakis that would have been, if solely pesky Paul Atreides wasn’t round.
In that point, I flew by way of the sport’s introductory zone, constructed a horrible base on a rock too removed from an NPC outpost, and drove circles round press who hadn’t constructed a automobile as quick as mine. I got here away with many questions and some considerations, however stay satisfied there’s some actual Spice hidden within the sands of this recreation.
Dune Awakening is an open world, MMO survival recreation, from the creators of the smash-hit Conan Exiles (which a great deal of regular folks cherished), Anarchy On-line (which your dad could have favored), and The Secret World (which I and roughly 100 different folks nonetheless love).
Funcom is a studio with a historical past of combined monetary success, certain, but additionally of making an attempt out bizarre, unconventional concepts in earnest. As such, the builders there have introduced the identical ambition to the universe of Dune, itself a weird sci-fi IP at the moment sitting fairly atop fashionable popular culture. It is lined as much as be an enormous hit, so long as it is enjoyable to play. So is it?
In brief, sure! Dune Awakening shares a lot of the Conan Exiles DNA that made that recreation an endearing survival recreation, in addition to some contemporary concepts to higher immerse the participant in Arrakis. The distinctive qualities of Dune permeate the sport in such a approach that conveys a deep understanding of the supply materials and movies, whereas truly making surviving stated world an gratifying expertise. There’s a hydration metre, political intrigue, and large worms – what extra may you need! However at no level in my restricted play time was interacting with the sport’s overlapping intricacies overly irritating. The crew at Funcom has managed to strike an excellent steadiness between making a real and trustworthy Dune expertise, with out making me wish to claw my eyes out.
The act of finishing a mere aspect quest – or contract, to make use of the sport’s parlance – is arduous. You will need to dart between shaded areas, cautious to not keep too lengthy on the sand lest entice a worm to your location. Assets are scarce and scattered throughout rock formations, which act as islands out of the attain of those gargantuan threats. When confronted with enemies, a single stab or shot offers important harm, which may solely be healed with bandages that have to be looted or crafted from scarce plant fibers. The early hours of Dune Awakening is a saga comprised of many such journeys, all of them treacherous.
Motion may be roughly cut up into ranged and melee fight, although gamers can use The Voice to show the tables. Taking pictures people appears sturdy at first, however when you run into an enemy with a protect you are dragged into an upfront confrontation, gorgeous enemies with combos or parries earlier than slowly pushing your blade into the protect for large harm. I discovered myself totally engaged by this a part of the sport, regardless that I am considerably involved about whether or not or not capturing dusty dudes will stay as enjoyable 20, 40, 100 hours in. One hopes the range lies in mixing and matching expertise and skills, which the sport has no scarcity of.
It is not all violence, there may be respite, too. Constructing a house base is a core a part of Dune Awakening. Your base exists on a shared overworld with different gamers, in order you discover you may spot many bins and vaguely phallic abodes unfold in every single place. Relating to constructing your individual, it is a strategy of ramping up your individual manufacturing facility of kinds, capable of create an rising variety of devices, gear, and gizmos that will help you in your journey. You possibly can even copy your base for simpler relocation, which is useless helpful particularly whenever you transfer to a brand new zone. Going out to assemble assets, bringing them dwelling and refining them into new stuff is a gameplay loop Funcom has change into distinctive at over time, and Dune Awakening showcases this truth clear as day.
That is the essential gist. However what stands out as particularly nice, proper? What units this recreation aside from different survival video games? Effectively, the worms are the obvious instance. Funcom has accomplished such an excellent job with these items. They’re everlasting foes that roam the map, simply seen from a distance. You possibly can’t outrun them, nor are you able to kill them. There wasn’t something almost as cool to see as a sandworm bursting out from the sand, slamming again down, and consuming one other participant proper subsequent to you.
Higher but, when Spice erupts from the bottom, you’ll be able to watch worms rush throughout the sands like a prepare of kinds, pushing apart the sand dunes of their wake. It is fairly the present whenever you see it blast by, and really is a masterclass in not solely visible and audio design, but additionally recreation design. Including an insurmountable foe to a survival recreation made it so regardless of how assured I felt, I used to be all the time searching for the worms. They eat all of your gear in the event that they get you, too – all of it. Superb. Dangerous. Courageous.
I additionally love the illustration of the 2 main factions: the Atreides and Harkonnen. I noticed valuable little of their presence within the recreation, however after they do present their faces, you’re feeling the impression they’ve on the world. You rapidly get to decide on which of the 2 you wish to work for, and they’re depicted precisely as you’d anticipate. The Harkonnen man at The Anvil is a jerk, whereas the Atreides lad is a boy scout. A simple alternative, you’d assume, till you notice the Harkonnen man seems to be 10x cooler.
Contemplate Harko village, a capital metropolis of kinds for the Harkonnen. The second you stroll by way of the entrance gates you’re confronted with slaves in cages, and a refrain of determined wailing. Black stone looms over you, creating this glorious conflict between brutal militarised streets and lavish interiors present in its bars and banks. The Harkonnen are unashamedly evil, however there’s a girl lounging within the again who calls you kitten, so who can really say for sure in the event that they’re all unhealthy.
One may want for a extra murky gray morality between the factions. However given how battle between stated forces seems to be the bread-and-butter of later recreation content material one sees the advantage in clear goodies and baddies. That is not even to say the inevitable actual life holy battle Dune followers would wage if Funcom determined to current the political turmoil on Arakkis in the same method to fashionable World of Warcraft’s faction hand-holdiness. Typically, it is good to be unhealthy. The sport rapidly urges you to choose a aspect, and spares no expense in letting you revel of their tradition, aesthetics, and so forth.
However this is the place I chat about considerations, and I do have some. My first is one that would completely be addressed in the course of the recreation’s beta section. I believe the opening hours want a little bit of tweaking. It is virtually there, however the recreation does not fairly inform you the whole lot you must know earlier than sending you out into the broader world. So, there’s that base copier I discussed earlier. Nonetheless, the sport has you construct a motorbike and sends you throughout an unlimited patch of desert with out copying it. When you arrive, you are left fairly the gap away from all of your stuff. That is made a lot worse in case your bike breaks down, leaving you largely stranded save for an expensive copter experience again to the primary zone.
I am additionally nervous about simply how lengthy it will take for gamers to transition from the solitary survival expertise to the ‘MMO guilds and factions’ aspect of issues. All the time I performed, I performed alone, I did not want anybody for something. That is wonderful! That is A-OK. However I’ve not personally seen any cause to cooperate throughout my preview. Artistic Director Joel Bylos instructed press after the preview that he hoped that gamers would organically collaborate when confronted with tough content material. However I might not see something actually tough throughout my time with the sport.
The one place that would have confirmed difficult was the bio lab situated within the first zone, which I surmised was filled with enemies. I say surmised, as as a result of seamless nature of Dune Awakening, I solely noticed one enemy in there the complete time, alongside quite a few different gamers who’d already cleared out the dungeon-esque inside. Now, I get why it is a factor; it might be much more irritating – particularly given the restricted therapeutic gadgets and harsh demise penalties to dying – for enemies to quickly respawn in such an space. However this additionally meant the climactic finish level to the sport’s opening hours was extra of a lootathon than a battle for valuable cargo. A tough downside, and one with out a clear reply.
On launch day, when hordes of gamers swarm to the sport, will there truly be something to pose an actual menace to people? Or will the journey by way of the sport show a easy experience the entire approach by way of? I get the sturdy impression that a lot of the problem in Dune Awakening will stem from end-game PvP actions. You and your 5 or so buddies guard a spice harvester whereas one other gaggle of terminally on-line bozos attempt to steal your stuff. That is the place I am guessing the candy honey oozes out of Dune Awakening, the form of syrup that turns inquisitive newbies to impressed hardcores. However, I’ve not seen that. Naught however the closed beta testers have. All I noticed that even glimpses these elder hours of the sport is once I kamikaze’d my ornithopter into one other participant’s home. And it was spectacular.
I’ve come away from Dune Awakening with a optimistic impression and a starvation for extra, a lot in order that I redownloaded Palworld once I bought dwelling simply to fend off the cravings considerably. However there’s nonetheless quite a lot of thriller round it! I get the sturdy impression that the make or break portion of the sport, the half that the sport’s longterm success, was far out of our attain. So I am eager to see simply how good that fifty+ hour expertise is. However, what I can say is that this: the brand new participant expertise in Dune Awakening has actually set the stage for a very compelling MMO survival recreation, and what may simply be the most well liked survival recreation of the yr.
This preview was written following a preview occasion in Oslo, which was facilitated by Funcom.
