Standing over the planes of Arrakis, I don’t suppose I’ve ever felt so thirsty taking part in a sport.
Dune: Awakening, the survival expertise from Funcom, has lastly made its approach to consoles, and I’ve been trying out the sport on PS5. This was a launch I truly had a little bit of time with on PC, however determined to carry off for the eventual console launch. It’s been a prolonged wait, however this one has undoubtedly been value it.
Dune: Awakening drops you in an alternate timeline within the Duniverse, one the place the prophetic chief, Paul Atreides, isn’t born. That leaves the desert planet as a little bit of a No Man’s Land, with Home Harkonnen and Home Atreides, together with each different scavenger, vying for energy.
You play a customisable character, each cosmetically and in your backstory. My character was a trooper from the moist plains of Caladan, however you may make yours from Salusus Secundus, or that you simply’re educated within the methods of the Mentat or Bene Gesserit.
These selections are cool role-playing elements, however they’ll truly have an effect on a few of your dialogue selections and the beginning ability tree you have got entry to.
Your mission on Arrakis is easy: discover the Fremen. The native individuals of Arrakis have gone lacking, with many believing that they’ve been fully worn out by the Emperor and his Sardaukar. Earlier than you possibly can even begin your investigation, your ship is shot down, and also you’re saved by a mysterious determine.
From there on out, you’re thrust upon the sandy vistas of Arrakis with nothing however the garments in your again. Instantly, there will likely be one factor in your thoughts: water.
Water goes to be a big a part of your early hours with the sport. Standing within the solar causes you to overheat, which in flip dehydrates you extra shortly.
You’ll be able to sip dew from vegetation dotted across the map, however they solely partially quench your thirst. Which means there’s solely to date your character can journey, as you shortly collect provides to your beginning base.
It’s in these early hours that I actually loved the ability creep. You are exploring close by camps with a crappy maula pistol; you’re at all times thirsty; and it feels such as you’re gathering small quantities, heading again to base, and repeating it another time.
Nonetheless, greater than something, I believe Dune: Awakening excels with its sense of development. Exploring new areas, taking out enemies, and finishing quests assist you to earn analysis factors, and people can be utilized to unlock schematics for brand new craftable gadgets.
Blood purifiers to make water, cisterns to retailer it, storage packing containers to your copious quantities of crafting supplies, ore refineries, chemical refineries, fabricators, and extra. Steadily you’ll be increasing your base, not only for the sake of it, however since you genuinely want the house.
You’ll be able to gate analysis unlocks to profession development if you need a extra linear expertise, however Dune manages to throw so much at you with out it ever feeling overwhelming or complicated. At any time when I headed out on an expedition, I knew precisely what I used to be leaving for. I at all times had a clear-cut objective in thoughts.
As you allow your humble abode, expeditions additionally change, like once I lastly unlocked the sandbike and will go a lot additional. Or once I unlocked the suspender belt and will use that along side my shiga wire grapple to scale mountains with ease.
The best way I performed the sport and the tools I had entry to was continually altering in a method that I at all times felt like I used to be constructing as much as greater and higher issues.
Base constructing can be quite a lot of enjoyable. This doesn’t really feel an excessive amount of like a PC sport sure to a console management scheme, so constructing and increasing your bases, in addition to putting new gadgets, feels very simple.
It doesn’t have that awkward finicky placement challenge you get with quite a lot of survival video games like this. It simply works.
As soon as I’ve made my massive base in most survival video games, that’s sometimes the place I tail off. I’ve performed the cool stuff, and now I can’t be bothered entering into the weeds of all of it. However Dune has a few issues going for it.
For one, there is a pretty deep ability tree system. You begin with one relying in your character choice, however by exploring the world and coming throughout new quests, you possibly can steadily unlock extra.
These vary from combat-focused talents to traversal, so just like the craftable gadgets, these upgrades really feel genuinely significant to my play model.
Then there’s the lore side. As an enormous fan of Frank Herbert’s Dune books and Denis Villeneuve’s motion pictures, it’s so cool attending to discover this sandy world.
Seeing the Hand of God moon or having to hold out the mantra of “the sluggish blade pierces the protect” in real-time fight is de facto enjoyable.
Fight too is surprisingly tactile, particularly once you begin to unlock extra tools and weapons. Certain, enemies are fairly rinse-and-repeat, however encounters are snappy sufficient that I by no means actually bought bored of it.
One thing I did get somewhat bored of, although, had been a few of the extra linear mainline quests. There are a collection of Fremen trials, which do unlock substantial gear and talents, however they’re endlessly tedious.
Even worse is that I typically discovered these trials naturally, however I might solely activate them if that particular one was subsequent in line.
That is truthful sufficient if these trials had been based mostly in that particular mountain, however every teleports you to a different place. It is a counterproductive design and really stifled my sense of exploration, as I began to wonder if I ought to discover some cliff if I did not have a quest marker pointing me in that course.
Nonetheless, a lot of what I’ve spoken about has been the case because the sport launched in 2025 on PC. What does this console model do to convey new gamers in? The most important, and certain most interesting addition is that of single participant.
When Dune: Awakening launched, it was just about an MMO. With PvE areas and PvP areas, every server you dropped into you’ll share with your mates, but in addition randoms.
That meant the place you constructed your bases was restricted, and naturally, as you get into these PvP areas, specifically the Deep Desert, all of your exhausting work might be scuppered by some hostile gamers.
That is all nonetheless there for these which can be eager for it, however Funcom has observed that most individuals play this sport as a solo expertise. Now, as a substitute of attempting to power a multiplayer sport right into a single-player-styled expertise, there’s a wholly devoted mode.
You’ll be able to’t carry your characters from multiplayer to solo, nevertheless it means you possibly can take your time with it. I believe this frees Dune: Awakening in quite a lot of methods, as you are now not burdened by the stress to maintain up with a live-service-like sport.
Single participant does take away a little bit of the spark of the sport, for me personally, however I additionally admire that I can now play the entire thing at my very own tempo.
I believe, long-term, it’ll guarantee I preserve coming again to the sport, and since Dune’s development programs are so RPG-leaning, it nonetheless doesn’t really feel like the purpose of the sport has been eliminated.
You’ve additionally bought over a yr’s value of streamlining and sprucing due to Funcom implementing participant suggestions. Having performed the sport at launch on PC, I couldn’t actually let you know what was new or not – it doesn’t really feel like a brand new sport or something – however I did admire the flexibility to repeat and pack up my base.
One factor is for certain although: Dune: Awakening doesn’t really feel like an early entry sport. It’s the complete package deal.
All of that is topped off by fairly respectable efficiency on each PS5 and PS5 Professional. Body charges are pretty steady, and there’s even a wee little bit of DualSense haptic assist in there for good measure. Dune Awakening could be a nice-looking sport, nevertheless it’s not going to win any awards in that division both.
