He came to present part of his story during the Summer Game Fest. Today, Dune: Awakening focuses on several new elements to reveal part of its gameplay and its narrative framework. Herbert’s universe thus offers itself an alternative version where Paul Atreides is a woman and the player will be linked to a faction. Because this is what still governs this game and which will determine who your enemies are.
A world without a protagonist
Without Paul Atreides to be the center of the story, the goal is to allow players to have a real impact in this universe. He will then be able to defend the colors of the faction he wishes, without knowing in advance how it will all end. To achieve their goals, the developers therefore chose to highlight factional conflicts. Which is rather logical since it’s what makes the universe go round. Dune since its creation.
When creating a character, in addition to the various rather advanced customization options, the past and origin of the avatar can be defined. Depending on the planet chosen, the character will gain different bonuses that will help him survive. This will also influence the answers you can give to other people present in this universe. Then, you can choose your mentor from the Mentat, Master of Arms or Bene Gesserit. This choice will determine the skills with which you begin the adventure.
Remake the world every week
Funcom’s ambition is not really seen in their dedicated live stream. However, a few people have had the opportunity to try the game. And the fact is that what emerges is immensity both in terms of size and complexity. The studio wants to offer several different game regions to players. However, the very first one used to learn the mechanics would already take 30 to 50 hours to master. Not to mention the frequent changes that will occur to recreate the map.
Because this is where Funcom is ambitious with Dune: Awakening. More than a survival game or an MMO, the developers want to make it a constantly evolving world. And the universe lends itself well to this since sandworms are the perfect pretext for large-scale destruction. Every 7 days, a new area will be designated as the target of these storms. At the end of the countdown, all creations present will be destroyed. But above all, the region will no longer have anything to see.
The objective is therefore to offer constant discovery by redrawing the map regularly and offering new places to visit and secrets to discover. The world of Dune: Awakening will never be fully known or mastered. It will always present a new interest that will push players to go further. In any case, this is what the studio wants with this perpetual evolution.