Were Dune: Awakening a narrative-driven game, I would be more confident that some of my concerns would be meaningfully addressed. Traditional RPGs can present players with a variety of choices, which would perhaps have allowed for a route where I wouldn’t have to work with Harkonnens or colonize Arrakis. Even if it was more action-oriented, Dune: Awakening could have done what Spec Ops: The Line did and challenged players by having them examine their morally dubious actions. However, I worry that an MMO is ill-suited to properly address these topi
Paul Atreides is not an aspirational figure or power fantasy, but he is a cautionary tale. Dune ’s author, Frank Herbert, made this pretty explicit in dune awakening patch Notes Messiah when Paul openly compares himself to Adolf Hitler. The idea of potentially filling in for Paul as someone who exploits the Fremen’s religion to win their allegiance doesn’t excite me; it makes me feel dirty. I hope the Gom Jabbar is included in some other capacity, but I’m concerned it is meant as a way to empower the player in a similar manner to Pa
While most of Arrakis is a barren wasteland filled with scavenger camps and other locales to discover, there are also various settlements and trading outposts that are worth exploring. The first one you can discover in the starting area is called Griffin’s Reach Tradepost, and has a merchant in addition to some other important N
Lastly, while your Arrakis guide will teach you a lot about what kind of things you can fabricate and craft using various resources. There are two main pieces of optional gear you’ll want to craft early on: water carriers and suspens
Dune Awakening’s biggest change to the world is its story, and unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see much of it. Staying away from the world of Denis Villeneuve’s films, you play as a generic prisoner who’s sent to the desert. Of course, political intrigue quickly rears its head, but I’m told it becomes the focus later in the game as more characters and narrative arcs are introduced. I can’t comment on how the story will play out, but I wish the player character had a voice. One-sided conversations are always awkward in games like this and Awakening could have bucked this tr
This isn’t just your regular soldier-type class; you’ll be manipulating gravity in the heat of battle, slowing, stunning, or lifting your enemies into the air while tossing grenades into the mix. I also love the focus on weaponry expertise as it makes your experience as a highly-skilled trooper feel more immersi
My favorite thing about this class is that it doesn’t feel basic , which is usually my concern when approaching melee, barbarian-type classes. When they’re done right, it’s amazing, and Dune: Awakening gives us a truly great melee cla
While it isn’t clear if working with the Harkonnens in Dune: Awakening is required, it does seem like building bases in the desert is a major part of the game. While I’m willing to suspend my disbelief for the sake of gameplay and ignore how unlikely that safely building such structures would be on Arrakis, I’m still not so enthusiastic about actually doing it. Being an outsider building bases on Arrakis feels very **counter-intuitive to the major anti-colonial message the Dune series communicates
The character class and skill trees in Dune: Awakening are some of the game’s best qualities, as they allow for highly customizable character development and a really immersive experience right out of the g
I’ve found that using turrets and mines to clear camps is a really efficient way to level , making it one of the best starting choices in my opinion. There’s a lot of focus on increased ranged weapon damage, as well as headshot damage, so if your aim is good, you can clear camps like a pro, especially if you’ve set the scene with traps and turr
Therefore, every time you must head out into the desert to find something, you’ll be weaving between islands to avoid the worm, checking in corners for resources to scavenge and sticking to the moving shadows to avoid dehydration. Funcom has done a great job of adding a level of excitement to what are otherwise standard survival activities that feel like they belong in this iconic unive
One of the clearest indications we will be taking on the role of the villain in Dune: Awakening comes from clips showing the player working with, and even bowing to Harkonnens . While the world of Dune is rarely so simple as saying one faction is the clear good guys, the Harkonnens are very clearly one of the worst groups . They are power-hungry and violent, and they aren’t afraid to kill their allies or own family members to get ah
Thankfully, Dune: Awakening has enough to attract even survival game sceptics. “I think so. I hope so,” Whelan said when I asked if the third-person shooting and multiplayer aspects are enough to entice fans of those gen
You can do this by gathering Intel, a resource you can find marked on your map at various outposts. You also get Intel by leveling up and playing through the game normally. The more Intel you have, the more technology you can research, and the more powerful you can bec
