Dune: Spice Wars News

The spice must flow in Dune this April

Dune: Spice Wars is the first Dune RTS in 23 years: and it will be here very soon. Releasing in Early Access on April 26, the game is based on the Frank Herbert novel, though does take some inspiration from Denis Villenueve's recent movie version. If you're unfamiliar with the material let me tell you: it involves wars over spice...
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Introducing: The Fremen and official Early Access release date!

Shiro Games and Funcom are proud to announce the final launch faction AND that Dune: Spice Wars has an official Early Access Release Date, with players being able to step foot upon the Dunes of Arrakis starting April 26th!

As we move into the final QA phase, the game already feels incredible to play and we're super proud of what we have achieved!

These last few months, sharing details about the game with you all, hearing your theories and seeing the anticipation building within the community has been a tremendous experience, and we can't wait to hear what you all think of the game.

The Fremen are the native inhabitants of Arrakis. Angered by the imperial invaders, they lead a fierce and relentless resistance. Often underestimated, their martial prowess is well known by the few who have been lucky enough to survive an encounter with them. During the 60 years of Harkonnen occupation, the Fremen have been a constant thorn in the baron’s side.

Their dream and long term goal is to turn the planet into a lush, temperate planet, which may endanger the spice trade. The Spice Wars are an opportunity to free the planet from the imperial grip, one that the Fremen would be more than happy to take.

Prominent planetologist of the Emperor, assigned to Arrakis to study the spice cycle, Liet Kynes is secretly leading the Fremen’s ecological project started by her father. Her twin loyalty has made her a skillful schemer able to navigate both the convoluted Fremen traditions and the impenetrable Imperial administration. The Fremen have an almost religious admiration for Liet, who they believe will lead them to a utopian Arrakis, freed both from the Imperium and from water scarcity.

Just like her people, Liet is wary of outsiders, but also kind and trustworthy, concerned to the highest degree with the well-being and freedom of the Fremen.

In the complex Fremen society, the majority of those in prominence support Liet Kynes’ plan, and respect her strategic mind. Some of them have joined her in Sietch Tabr to help lead the Fremen to victory during the Spice Wars.

Stilgar Ben Fifrawi is the Naib of Sietch Tabr. A formidable warrior, but an even wiser ruler, he is deeply respected by all of the Fremen.
Mother Ramallo is a rogue Reverend Mother of the Bene Gesserit. She inspires a strong religious fervour into the Fremen and holds a deep knowledge of all their rites.
Chani Kynes, the daughter of Liet, is a bold and charismatic woman. Her brilliant and intuitive mind helps her gather facts and figures from the tiniest hearsays.
Otheym is a renowned Fremen fighter. He is also a very good teacher and a great leader, specialising in desert guerrilla warfare.

Arising from and forged by the desert, the Fremen are less affected by the environment. They can travel further before suffering from exhaustion or attracting the sandworms. Better yet, they can use the terrible beast to travel faster and strike suddenly at the heart of their opponent’s domain. Experts in stealth tactics, they can also lay devastating ambushes on their opponents’ armies, or hide inside the dreadful sandstorms of Arrakis to surprise weakened, unsuspecting victims.

While their guerrilla tactics are more than adequate for combatting the invaders, their true power lies elsewhere: in rallying all of the sietches across Arrakis, the Fremen will grow even stronger and may be able to completely drive the imperium out of the planet.

The Fremen are experts in holding military influence over a large territory. They can cross long distances in the desert in a short amount of time using their legendary ability to ride sandworms, resupply less often and further from home and hold up longer against a superior force.

Their unique units include:

Warriors are the bread and butter of Fremen fighters. Armed with long knives, they are experts at using Arrakis terrain to disorient their opponents.
Infiltrators are so used to the desert that they stay invisible and unheard until they strike with their two knives. Their surprise attacks will always find a weak spot, breaking their opponents’ will and focus.
Skirmishers have a large supply of grenades. They use them to ambush well armoured units and soften them for their other comrades to finish off.
Fedaykins are the elite of the Fremen army. Trained in the weirding way and armed with the feared crysknives, they only get stronger the more opponents they face.
Kulon Caravans are the holders of the clan’s water. While they can fight the invaders with maula rifles, their main function is to set up a hiereg camp. At the camp, all Fremen units will be hidden, healed and resupplied. As such, Kulon caravans are best deployed near remote villages as proxy bases for an attack.

Dune: Spice Wars' release date reveal is coming "soon"

For any strategy game fans hoping to find out the Dune: Spice Wars release date, we've got good news - the reveal is coming very soon, along with the announcement of the game's fourth faction. The Dune: Spice Wars Steam Early Access release is planned first, and a recent leak suggests that it'll launch as soon as next month.

Dune: Spice Wars was announced as a hybrid RTS-4X game in January this year, and developer Shiro Games - the creators of Northgard - confirmed that the latest Dune game would release in Steam Early Access first. Various factions will be available in this early access release, including the Atreides, Harkonnens, and the newly-revealed Smugglers - however, Shiro neglected to reveal when fans would get to play it.

Shiro Games' Adrien Briatta tells us in an interview that the team will announce Dune's Early Access release date and its next faction "soon". More specifically, the reveal is coming in "something like two weeks".

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Dune: Spice Wars' Smugglers let you use your enemies' strengths against them

Up until now we've only known about the Atreides and Harkonnen factions in Dune: Spice Wars, the veritable Mario and Bowser of any potential Dune videogame. In an update posted to Steam on March 11, Shiro Games unveiled the game's third faction: the Smugglers...
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Dune: Spice Wars' third faction is the Smugglers

The third faction for upcoming RTS game Dune: Spice Wars isn't the Fremen, as might have been expected. Instead, it's the Smugglers - an opportunistic and scrappy bunch who have learned to make their living outside the reach of the powerful CHOAM corporation. Smugglers can infiltrate other factions' settlements and secretly siphon resources, and they're always looking for weak or isolated enemy units for a quick and easy kill.

Developer Shiro Games says in Dune: Spice Wars, the smugglers will control their own territory and begin near Arrakis' polar regions. Nonetheless, they'll encounter other factions fairly quickly, which works well with their ability to infiltrate enemy settlements to profit off of underworld dealings and expand their influence secretly.

The basic idea underpinning Smugglers playstyle is optimising economic outcomes and effectively squeezing blood from a stone. While their units "take some time to heat up" on the battlefield, they're good in long-haul occupation situations, since they gradually reduce the supply of enemy units over the course of a fight. They're also deadly opportunists who will eagerly take out a column of enemy units returning home after a long battle.

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