Materially, what this does to the world of Dune: Awakening, is give you an Arrakis that is in the middle of a full-blown war. The Fremen are nowhere to be seen (we’re told they’re currently “missing”), and the Atreides, who are now alive and well in this alternate universe, continue to battle against the Harkonnen and others over the resources on the planet. This gives you a land that is ripe for scavenging, full of wrecked structures, broken vehicles, and plenty of weapons to unearth.
With the stage set, and with a little imagination, you can envision how Funcom, who are no strangers to developing massive worlds, could create an incredible survival MMO gaming experience here. Recently, we got to see this world first-hand in a recent hands-off preview build during Summer Game Fest: Play Days. While the title is still in development, you could see the bones are firmly in place to give us a compelling adventure that will let us explore vast swathes of the deadly planet Arrakis.
One feature in particular, known as Shifting Sands, will adjust the landscape of the Deep Desert each week, hiding points of interest and uncovering new ones, encouraging players to explore these regions over and over again, giving the planet itself a sense of being alive. There’s also Combined Arms, which is the combination of ranged and melee abilities that will work tandem to create interesting options for players in how they approach PVP and PVE encounters in Dune: Awakening. And of course being able to drive vehicles — that includes the versatile Ornithopters, modelled after the ones seen in the recent films (and Microsoft Flight Simulator).
