Dune: Awakening News

Short videos Roundup

Sleepers!

After seeing all your questions about Dune: Awakening, we’re excited to be able to show you some more details! Earlier this year, we started a series of brief but informative videos covering certain systems and aspects of the game that we had seen you ask us about.

Over the past couple of months, we have released five videos giving an overview on what Dune: Awakening is, the harshness of Arrakis, the building system, solo and group play, and the closed beta process. At the end of each video, we ask you to let us know what you would like to know more about. That way, we can try to show the most requested topics in future videos.

This is the perfect time to catch up on our short videos, as we are working on a new wave of clips based on your comments. After the wealth of information we shared in our first Dune: Awakening Direct, we’ve had a blast welcoming so many new members to the community. If you are new to Arrakis, the short videos are a great place to start!

You can watch our short videos on any of our social channels (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube Shorts), so grab some popcorn (bucket optional), choose your social media platform of choice, and catch up on all things Dune: Awakening! And let us know in the comments what else you would like to see in future videos!

GDC & PAX East Preview Roundup

Greetings Sleepers,

Shai-Hulud has reared his head above the sands. Blessed be the maker!

The last few weeks have been an exciting whirlwind with both GDC and PAX East taking place, where we got to sit down with journalists and content creators to present some extended, mostly raw footage of the starting experience in Dune: Awakening.

After presenting the game, we spent a few nail-biting days waiting, but we were blown away by the reactions. Here are some of our favorite previews:

“Dune: Awakening is looking supremely cool – as it was written.” IGN

“I'm finding myself more and more interested in Dune: Awakening the more I learn about it.”
PC Gamer

“For those of us who've dreamed of waging political, economic, and physical war on the Dunes of Arrakis, the game may be our best bet.” VG247

“Thankfully, it seems to be on track, judging first from the scorching gameplay released at the start of the month and now glowing preview coverage from outlet IGN, which has us more hyped than ever.” Pushsquare

“Dune: Awakening looks to spice up the world of survival MMOs.” Shacknews

“You are essentially given the opportunity to do whatever you want whether you are someone who enjoys PvP or PvE.” RectifyGaming

“If I wasn't already excited for the upcoming Dune MMO, what I saw would have put any reservations to rest about the ambitious project.” Techraptor

"Dune: Awakening ambitiously blends genres and lore.” But Why Tho

“Dune: Awakening has the spice to convert me into a survival game addict.” The Loadout

At the end of the closed-doors presentation, we also held a Q&A, in which we shared a lot of new information. Dive deeper into all the spicy details in Wccftech’s great summary.

Content creators also made their voices heard, and we are so excited with the response. Take a look at some of the reactions and videos from Force Gaming, TSWS Gaming, Luke Stephens, Renfail, Pokketninja, DTOX, Jay Oddity, Long Tran, Caffeinated Dad Gaming, Nightharrow Gaming, Noisy Pixel, MDee14, LV1 Gaming, and more!

After our first Dune: Awakening Direct, we also put together a reaction video which you can see here.

Dune: Awakening is a big game and there’s a lot to talk about, so we look forward to sharing even more with you as soon as possible.

Make sure to sign up for the closed Beta, and join your fellow Sleepers on our Discord. To stay up to date on all the latest news, follow us on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, TikTok.

The Dune Awakening trailer has one huge missing feature

The Dune Awakening trailer just dropped, revealing what looks to be a tantalizing take on how to build a non-linear game from a book and film so steeped in a grand, epic tale centered on a single character. However, while I'm excited by the innovative survival mechanics of the game, and the intricate way in which the developers have recreated the look and feel of the Denis Villeneuve movies, there's one aspect that just doesn't deliver. Where's all the sand!?

I don't mean all the rolling distant sand dunes or static drifts of the stuff littered about the corridors depicted in Dune Awakening's buildings. I mean the sort of qualities of sand that poor old Anakin so lamented all those years ago. The sand that's coarse, irritating, and gets everywhere.

Read the rest of the story...

Dune: Awakening may eventually take players beyond Arrakis to other planets

A couple of decades ago there was a period when all videogames and especially all Unreal Engine videogames had to be brown and grey and dingy. "The Gears of Warrification of graphics," we used to call it, huddled up in the chest-high trenches with our Xbox 360 controllers. Survival MMO Dune: Awakening threatens to bring that back in a big way: the novel and films on which it’s based take place, after all, on an entire planet made of sand.

Developers Funcom have various plans for sprucing up the aesthetic, however. For one thing, parts of Awakening are set underground, where there’s actual, canonical vegetation and thus, a wider range of colours. For another, it’s possible Dune: Awakening will ultimately leave the dunes behind and whisk us away on a journey to another planet.

If there's one thing I'm bad at in both my real life and videogames, it's staying hydrated. While water is, indeed, the font of life, it's also my arch nemesis despite how many tracker bottles I buy. In survival games, I'm equally as bad at remembering to hydrate, oftentimes scrabbling to find the nearest puddle to quench that seemingly never-ending thirst. It's one of my least favorite mechanics to manage - especially because it doesn't feel like anyone's really innovated upon it in recent years. Enter Dune Awakening - the first survival game that makes drinking water exciting.