Dune Awakening is on the horizon, lastly bringing the Arrakean survival fantasy to life, however why has it taken so lengthy? Frank Herbert’s iconic sci-fi odyssey presents the proper atmosphere for a survival sport. All the pieces about Arrakis is demise upon demise, wrapped in demise with a aspect serving to of, properly, demise.

Dune has historically been synonymous with technique video games, its concentrate on useful resource administration and enjoying politics making for among the most modern video games to come back out of the ’90s. The closest we acquired to a full-fledged 3D survival journey on Arrakis was 2001’s ‘Frank Herbert’s Dune,’ which anybody sufficiently old to have sadly performed it should inform you was fairly terrible.

After twenty years and a few canned Dune tasks, 4X RTS Dune Spice Wars (revealed, coincidentally, by Funcom) entered early entry, and it appeared that the videogame wing of the collection would endlessly be tied to the style. Months later, nonetheless, Dune Awakening was revealed – a survival MMO on my Desert? My Arrakis? My Dune? Sacrilege.

However, as I stated, Dune is the proper setting for a survival sport. Between the burning warmth, shortage of water, and people teeny tiny sandworms burrowing concerning the place, amongst different threats, it’s wild to suppose that it’s taken so lengthy for this type of expertise to materialize. Somewhat than guzzling down the water of life within the hopes of understanding why (and possibly dying within the course of), I put the query to Dune Awakening producer Nils Ryborg.

“It’s humorous, proper?” Ryborg begins. “[Survival] suits very naturally while you take a look at it. Dune is so targeted on politics, so I perceive the pure intuition to go someplace political the place technique video games would go.”

Earlier than being greenlit by Legendary Photos to make Dune Awakening, Funcom had been pouring its developmental vitality into one other survival expertise in Conan Exiles – one thing that Ryborg hints had an affect on the studio’s path.

“We’ve labored with survival video games so it’s a style we’re very comfy with and we take pleasure in working inside, so once we acquired the chance to work with the IP, we noticed the pure match and located it very thrilling. It’s a distinct mind-set about it – you don’t see some issues since you’re not them with the precise eyes. There’s a saying concerning the particular person with a hammer who sees each drawback as a nail. For folks growing survival video games it’s like, ‘yeah, clearly, this can be a survival sport,’ however while you’re occupied with one thing fully completely different it’s very simple to overlook.”

With the Dune technique mould smashed, all we will do is wait to see if Funcom can nail the execution. My new Dune Awakening preview for the location provides you with a greater really feel for the place the sport’s at present at, and I’m quietly assured that it’s going to be a thumping good time – offered it doesn’t summon Shai-Hulud.

In different Dune Awakening information, peep the 1,000s-strong closed playtest Funcom’s been not-so-sneakily conducting. With the Dune Awakening launch date nonetheless unconfirmed, steam in the direction of a giant launch reveal and even open beta may lastly be gathering.

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