How can we transcribe the work of Frank Herbert, distilled into a series of books and since adapted for the cinema - remember that Denis Villeneuve is still on the job, with two first films and a third in preparation - into a video game? This is not the first time that Dune has been adapted into this format and the most recent is none other than Spice Wars, a real-time strategy game released two years ago and published by Funcom. This time, the Norwegian studio is also in development, and the teams in charge of Dune Awakening have chosen a different approach: we keep the same universe, the same precepts, the same environment (water, spice, giant sandworms, Arakis, the great houses, etc.), but we combine everything with a new story, an alternative to the one we already know.
So in Dune Awakening, Paul Atreides was never born. His mother, Lady Jessica, gave birth to a daughter, Ariste, as the Bene Gesserit order wished. A change that provokes many others. Who says no Paul, also says no Lisan Al-Gaib, the famous messiah of Dune. The Fremen, the people who embrace the character's destiny and accompany him, have almost disappeared. This is where the player comes in. Dune Awakening puts us in the shoes of a fully customizable avatar—hats off to the Funcom teams, who offer a complete creation and customization tool in the game—sent on a mission to search for these famous Fremen, in order to understand their fate. Obviously, our ship is attacked during the journey and obviously, we find ourselves stranded in the middle of the desert on Arakis. The conflict between the Atreides and the Harkonnen is still present. Other houses assert themselves in the war for control of the spice and the player's goal is to make their way through all this, becoming a respected and powerful character. Enough to lay the foundations for the endgame of Dune Awakening, focused on both community and political aspects.
A survival game faithful to the original work
Once on Arakis, the survival aspect of Dune Awakening takes on its full meaning and it is even THE main strong point that we retained during our experience. As in the main work, survival in Dune is governed by mastery of the environment. On Arakis, there is only sand, rocks and canyons. You will have to find water. Either in plants with dew (in very small quantities however), or by recycling your own sweat with a suitable suit (as in the films) or by collecting blood, which, after treatment, can also serve as a source of water. You'll also have to manage the day/night cycle in the movements the player will have to make (and there are many, we'll come back to that), the heat and the sun to avoid sunstroke.
When this happens, it's obviously game over, with a player crawling on the ground and consuming their last minutes of life. Finally, there are the giant sandworms. While the latter, which react to the sounds you make when crossing large areas of sand, are not very dangerous at first, they quickly become so as soon as you want to truly change region or zones. Needless to say, the penalty is harsh: not only is it death, but you also lose absolutely ALL your equipment. And to go and get it, good luck: it will be located precisely at the place where the worm devoured you. It is impossible to know at the stage we were at if it will be possible to learn to ride them. In principle, riding and controlling these giant monsters would necessarily be something enjoyable. Moreover, some players have almost succeeded in doing so, by landing on the back of a worm, but without ever being able to control it or stay on it for very long.
A very solid solo game
While the multiplayer component is certainly highlighted, it doesn't impose itself in Dune Awakening. We don't count the hours spent exploring the desert plains of Arakis solo before meeting other players. The game contains areas dedicated to cooperation, and you'll need to be well-equipped with knowledge and experience before venturing there. On Arakis, pillager camps and inhabited areas, as well as fallback bases, are legion. Sandstorms also tend to redefine the environment as we know it on the map. While we haven't seen any locations disappear or become inaccessible as promised by Funcom, we have, however, seen areas significantly modified after the passage of a storm. And in terms of sound, there's always something going on on Arakis, not to mention the incessant sweep of Sardaukar ships in the sky.
The lifespan of Dune Awakening is substantial. It is mainly linked, in the first part of the game, to learning the possibilities offered to the players. The back and forth is incessant and particularly tedious on foot, even if you can take advantage of it to loot, attack and collect resources. The player is motivated and driven by the perspective and the need to evolve, and if possible as quickly as possible. Being able to travel by motorcycle or ornithopter therefore has a double cost: that of the resources to be gathered to build them and that of patience, above all. As for survival, Dune Awakening pushes the player to constantly reflect on how he or she will experience the game. For example, is it better to have a real base of retreat and development in a fixed location, even if it means swallowing up the kilometers, or to have several zones of one's own in the Arakis desert, in order to move more easily and follow a true nomadic lifestyle? Finally, the game obviously offers a skill tree to complete, with the possibility of unlocking others and having access to other knowledge. For example, one can choose to take the path of Bene Gesserit teaching and control the Voice and perfect one's mastery of weapons later, or the other way around. All of this is determined when creating your avatar, your choice of class, mentorship, and origin.
We liked it less because...
Dune Awakening is not without its flaws. While, unlike other players, we managed to escape a wave of bugs and untimely crashes during the experience, we still detected a few flaws in the armor of Funcom's title. First of all, the combat system. As we know, in Dune, epic clashes are fought by hand and/or with bladed weapons, with a protective shield system to avoid being killed from a distance by firearms or their imitations. In the game, we are therefore entitled to different types of weapons and as many ways to eliminate an enemy.
The first thing that bothers us is the latter's behavior. The AI in Dune Awakening isn't exactly the toughest and most wanted. The enemy charges at you when they see you and can hear you coming from miles away, or completely ignore your presence. The actions to attack and defend are slow and lack dynamism. The whole thing is sluggish, not very immersive or enjoyable, and the shooting sensations—apart from the sound of the needles—are nonexistent. So we come away frustrated at this level.
Then, the first part of the game—the longest, since it sets up all the basics of the game—turns out to be redundant too quickly. There are a series of back-and-forths, especially on foot at the beginning, and the distances to be covered are long, very long. The repetitive nature of the first quests will probably put off more than one, not to mention the incessant thirst management, which can make some of the paths taken even longer than expected. But one thing is certain, Dune Awakening has a certain potential, which we unfortunately were not able to fully exploit in more than twenty hours. The title is spread over several stages and with a significant number of hours (around a hundred, at least) to see it through. Since the launch in early access less than a week ago, updates and maintenance have been coming one after the other to offer players the best possible experience. If you're a fan, you know what to do.
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