Bending over I pick up a handful of the sand, the lifeblood and death sentence of Arrakis. If it is not coated with Iron dust it is infused with the all holy Spice we wage eternal war over.

When I arrived here I remembered Arrakis as a concept, but the longer I stay I know I have been here, lived here before. The brutality, the harshness, the endless nature of it and above all it’s unmistakable beauty. This world is worth fighting for not just for the Spice, but for what Arrakis makes us.

I have hunted the remnants of the Fremen for months, learnt their ways, explored their past in strange visions and as I grow, learn and conquer I feel more attached to this world. The families all want a piece of Arrakis and their paths align with mine in some ways, but I will use them as I use any tool I find, steal or make.

Today I approach a vast reach of desert, the great worm has yet to catch me but this may be the day. I must head across to the ridge I see in the distance, more visions linking to the soul of this planet await. My sandbike is worn, but still fast, I will need all of its energy to get there safely.

The sand drops from my fingers as I get on the rusted machine that is my only way across this barren and scorched stretch of desert. Gloves tightened and mask on I kick into gear praying I don’t hear the worm approach and that the answers I seek are on that next ridge. If not I will keep searching, for Arrakis, for my very soul.

Dune Awakening is the latest game from Funcom, known for it’s Conan survival games, and is the only survival game in recent memory that has grabbed and held my attention. Built upon the rick legacy of the books and visual style of the movies Dune Awakening is an addicting experience despite some repetitive mechanics that would normally hold a game like this back.

The concept of the game looks at an alternate narrative where Jessica Atreides gave birth to a daughter rather than Paul. This alters the course of the Atreides family and triggers a war of assassins between them and the Harkonnens with all the other minor families choosing sides or stuck in the middle.

The custom character I play in the game is a prisoner who has crash landed on Arrakis with a mission to discover why the Fremen disappeared from Arrakis. Over the course of the game alliances are made, mysteries discovered and many, many things are mined and crafted.

Dune Awakening is a 3^rd person Multiplayer Survival game that hinges heavily on exploration, resource gathering and crafting. Starting with nothing aside from some basic schematics I had to learn to survive, grow in power and create to tools to discover the secrets of the Fremen and uncover our own destiny without a figure like Paul Atreides in the mix.

The game follows the standard Survival mechanics at the start, find basic resources, create basic items, get shelter, discover more advanced resources, create better gear and shelter. However, the exploration, story elements and immersiveness of the world makes these somewhat standard mechanics addicting and most importantly worthwhile.

As I worked my way through the tutorial areas and into the wider dessert and more treacherous regions I found myself literally addicted to just seeing one more area, or creating one more new tool or weapon. Normally these mechanics bore me to tears, but in here, in the economy and ecosystem of Arrakis it was fun and fresh.

The world is brutal and carelessly exploring will lead to death and in some cases heavy loses of resources. Unlike my narrative above I have been destroyed (eaten) by the great worm Shai-Hulud and let me tell you that was a devastating loss.

My sandbike, my money, gear, everything was gone, I almost rage quit the game at that moment, but instead logged back in and started over and learned some harsh but important lessons. Always have the materials in a base to build back necessities, setup a respawn beacon and never carry all your hard earned money with you.

Now I have an evolving group of 3 bases I use as forward stations with one setup as a prime location. I have sandbike parts ready to assemble, full stillsuit and weapons and a cache of the main resources.

All of this is stored in the bases that all players can create and use as sanctuaries. Mine tend to be one or two floor modest but well made building, but the Dune Awakening community has gone crazy in their creativity based on all the buildings I pass as I explore.

The reason is that Funcom made base building easy with a ton of options to choose when making any new home in the desert. Using primarily Granite, salvaged metal and copper resources which are literally everywhere building up a new base with general fabricators and refineries is a breeze and actually really enjoyable.

They even implemented some great quality of life items like a vehicle backup tool and solido replicator to copy base floorplans. This enables quick layouts of new bases or vehicles to get restored quickly so any new area is explored as easily as possible.

Power is plentiful as is the generic resources including water once you learn where and when to find it making getting up and running seem within reach even if the worst happens. In my case I have lost everything I had when eaten and a ton of money and resources when killed or dies without recovering my backpack while exploring.

Like real life all of these challenges can and are taken as lessons on how to get further, build up faster and more advanced weapons, armor and vehicles to keep the momentum going. The give and take of the systems is enhanced by many quests both given, found and obtained as part of story progression.

This is where Dune Awakening both shines and stumbles a bit. Like many other MMOs and Survival games there is a cadence of activities. Farm this, battle that, recover this, explore that, it is familiar and this game leverages all those tropes and mostly stays engaging thanks to the fun mechanics and unique world.

A great example is combat, I had a blast trying to figure out encounters, outsmart enemies, get through shields and just stay alive. Now that I have a shield as well I tend to enter every encounter the same, through up some special abilities, parry and kill the melee opponents, whittle down the remainder focusing on heavy’s first.

Every little encampment, base, cave, settlement generally has the same array of enemies, the same tactics, the same techniques to beat. Is it still fun? Yes, for now, but I could likely beat all of them with my eyes closed time after time.

The same goes for the more generic quests which end up being go here, explore, find a journal or item, go to the next place, find something or someone, complete quest. While the joy of exploring and getting new skills, crafting better gear and getting new schematics makes it worthwhile and enjoyable the cracks of the lack of true variety start appearing.

Again these are nitpicks on a fantastic game with mechanics and a world that are a joy to explore and experience. As a solo player I never feel overwhelmed or that I cannot complete a mission if planned and executed carefully.

While there are repetitive tasks the sheer aliveness of the world and the sheer cool factor of what you can do just makes it a game I come back to over and over again. The joy of floating down from a cliff with a suspensor belt, or deflecting darts with a Holtzman shield and especially flying an ornithopter just never gets old.

This is a survival game, it is hard, it can be brutal but just living in and exploring the world of Arrakis and the Dune Universe is exhilarating. It is not perfect and can be frustrating but it is damn addicting and just plain fun to explore, build, grow and battle through this amazingly crafted world.

We were provided Steam Keys of the game for review purposes. Dune Awakening is available right now for PC via Steam and it is planned for release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in the future.