There’s a famous quote in the Dune franchise: “Who controls the spice, controls the universe.” Baron Harkonnen uttered this quote, which is very true for Funcom’s Dune Awakening game. That’s part of what got my friends and me hooked on Dune Awakening.
Dune Awakening magnificently encapsulates life in Arrakis, perfectly mixing both survival-crafting and RPG features to immerse the player in the middle of a spice-fueled war among several houses.
With specific mechanics encouraging us to play more, my friends and I were hooked on returning and keeping everything in line.
Dune Awakening’s Treacherous Survival Mechanics Brought New Life into the Survival-Crafting Genre
While I’ll admit that the game being set in the Dune universe played a massive role in its success, its survival mechanics really immersive.
Learning the ropes about building your base, keeping your hydration, and simple research and crafting mechanics ballooned into finishing contract chains, sustaining your base, keeping your vehicles in check, avoiding PvP areas and sandworms, finding secrets, and most of all –Taxes.
At first, we were focused on extracting blood and keeping the Blood Purifier running with water at all times. With more players, we needed more Blood Purifiers to sustain ourselves. That means making more blood sacks, going through more scavenger camps, and always extracting blood to keep things flowing.
Then, you’re introduced to vehicles, building every part one by one using different materials and repairing them individually. To top it all off, you’ll have to refuel them constantly, which eats up more resources. If you leave that exact vehicle outside and there’s a sandstorm, say goodbye to your hard work. The world just keeps throwing stuff at you.
We went through stockpiling materials and ventured deeper into Arrakis, forcing us to abandon our first base. It was time for the next tier of resources, which meant picking a new base in a more treacherous area and braving PvP areas.
The game becomes taxing, worrying about having enough fuel to sustain the base, getting more currency and resources to pay off taxes, and the fear of Sandworms eating you up, causing all your farmed items to disappear.
The deeper you go into the game, the harder it gets. You’ll get better tools and even vehicles like the Ornithopter, but it becomes grueling.
At this point, you may wonder why I’m still playing this torturous game. It’s simple: I’m loving it. It’s rare that an MMORPG-type game takes the risk of being challenging, and thankfully, Funcom took that risk.
While the Dune Awakening Can Be Enjoyed Alone, It Still Favors Playing as a Group
My experience would’ve been more hectic if I hadn’t had friends who played and helped manage the base. While I barely had time to play one specific game, I still enjoyed exploring Arrakis and discovering new tools, buildings, weapons, and many more. But, there’s also a downside to it.
I rarely get to contribute to sustain the base; I manage to keep myself hydrated at all times, and most resources are already there, thanks to friends, especially one who already has 45+ hours into the game, and it hasn’t even been a week since its launch.
You’ll need to be able to invest plenty of time to not feel left behind. I don’t like relying solely on the group, but without tons of time to play, that’s exactly what’s happened here.
This is one of the main reasons I separated from my group a bit, just so I can experience the trails myself, craft my first vehicle, and more. By the time I got my first Sandbike, my friends were already running Scout Ornithopters. And that’s not the game’s fault, exactly. It’s just part of the MMO experience. But there is one more thing.
Honestly, I feel like the game is too punishing. Being taxed for your base, managing materials and fuel for travelling, and everything else makes the game feel extremely grindy. Leaving your game for a few days is detrimental, as you don’t want to go through farming all over again on your first day back.
However, that’s part of the experience, and some people prefer it this way, too. Maybe that’s what decides who is worthy of being the Lisan al-Gaib of this universe.
Enzo Zalamea
Enzo is a staff writer at Prima Games. He began writing news, guides, and listicles related to games back in 2019. In 2024, he started writing at Prima Games covering the best new games and updates regardless of the genre. You can find him playing the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Path of Exile, Teamfight Tactics, and popular competitive shooters like Valorant, Apex Legends, and CS2. Enzo received his Bachelor’s degree in Marketing Management in De La Salle University and multiple SEO certifications from the University of California, Davis.
