Throughout a particularly brief behind-closed-doors demo for Dune Awakening, I used to be given my first glimpse at what the workforce at Funcom is anticipating from this open-world survival MMO: An enormous time funding from gamers, a compelling tackle the Dune story, and several other factions you’ll be able to select to study new abilities and skills from in your journeys into Arrakis. It’s clear that the builders who gave the demo are excited concerning the ideas at play, boasting that the desert part of the map alone is the scale of all of Conan Exiles, and that they think about you’ll spend 30-50 hours of the sport leveling there. However that simply appears to scratch the floor of what you’ll have the option to do.
What makes Dune Awakening completely different and attention-grabbing is the truth that each single week, the sections of this world not protected by a defend will probably be hit by a sandstorm, wiping out all of the buildings you and your opponents have constructed within the seven days main up to this weekly occasion. The official web site describes them as “cataclysmic Coriolis storms [that] usually alter the panorama, uncovering new helpful assets and sweeping away player-built outposts. When the mud settles, the race is on. Scout the recent new land and uncover the secrets and techniques of the sands.” This was demonstrated to us as a participant journeyed right into a radioactive crash web site and showcased the flexibility to climb any geometry on the planet whereas teasing secrets and techniques that may be discovered on the highest peaks.
However the one facet they stored going again to was Survival. This facet of Dune Awakening turned clear throughout our hands-off demonstration when a Sandworm erupted from the bottom and chased down the participant we have been following. Demise is devastating, and you can’t combat a Sandworm. You’ll be able to solely survive or lose the whole lot you’ve acquired to that time in the event you get eaten. The identical will probably be true must you lose in PVP and turn out to be a refreshing beverage in your opponent, or fail to take cowl throughout a world-changing occasion. Even turning into dehydrated within the desert in the event you don’t listen to your warmth meter and get heatstroke will put you at a extreme drawback. Surviving will probably be a key a part of your journey.
It’s additionally clear that Dune Awakening has a whole lot of formidable gameplay components the workforce is making an attempt to tie collectively. For example, a fictional story the place the assassination of Paul Atreides doesn’t happen as a result of he was by no means born – as a result of his father survived. And since his mom had a daughter as she was instructed to, as an alternative of a son. With these overarching story components used as a jumping-off level, the workforce will get to play with a singular future and a brand new consequence for the factions, and key gamers of the Dune Universe work together in a manner you wouldn’t see within the novels. There’s a political system that pits gamers in opposition to one another in a battle for territory. Sandworms will eat you in the event you’re caught of their path and take the entire gear you had with them. And sweeping sandstorms that may obliterate any construction you’ve constructed on the map and create a completely new panorama each week.
All of those methods are doing their finest to craft a template that may maintain the world of Dune Awakening recent and attention-grabbing for gamers. Throughout our demonstration, the workforce estimated that you’d spend your first 30-50 hours of the sport within the beginning location alone, and that was one in every of a number of on the map that we have been proven as explorable. On the one hand, I do like the concept that the sport world will probably be stored recent by way of sandstorms that destroy all you’ve constructed up and unlock a completely new overworld to discover. However, I’m questioning what every new week will appear to be as groups scramble to make the most of their constructing templates to prop up a brand new construction and declare a zone as their very own to defend in opposition to combatants as every week begins. Right here’s hoping it’s absolute pandemonium.
Whereas there are story modifications it is best to count on, the necessity for water and much more importantly alliances are intact. Ultimately, you’ll have the option to select an NPC to practice you. We have been proven 5 ability bushes that may be unlocked by doing mentioned coaching, which can then permit you the choice of three strategies you’ll be able to combine and match as your principal assaults. That’s as well as to the three passive abilities you too can equip. To unlock the entire choices obtainable will take a big period of time, however getting the fitting construct utilizing completely different assaults from every offers you entry to attention-grabbing skills. The primary capacity I’ve seen for instance can be a scanner that reveals extra details about a location you propose to discover, together with enemy NPC places.
In my demo, the workforce promised two maps to begin with and extra to come. We received to peek on the Deep Desert, the place a lot of the battle will occur and a whole lot of gamers will give attention to amassing assets and combating over key places every week. There’s the Hagga Basin which could have a 40-plus participant cap. And two social hub places Arrakeen and the Harko Village. There’s, in fact, a plan to add much more to the world as time goes by.
To this point Dune Awakening appears extremely formidable. Skills will be unlocked by the Mentats and Bene Gesserit. There will probably be cool gear to gather like Holtzman devices and templates of attention-grabbing firearms to unlock. There’s a warmth system that may require you to keep hydrated by any means vital. And large sandworms that may eat total convoys in the event you’re not cautious. One speed-run demonstration from Funcom wasn’t sufficient to scratch the floor of the varied methods and the way they’ll interaction with each other, however I’m excited to see extra.