Dune: Awakening Single-Player Console Review – Slip, Slop, Slaps

After it was first brought to life on the page back in the 1960s, Frank Herbert’s sci-fi masterpiece Dune has captivated fans. It’s a bold yet ever-timely portrayal of a futuristic world dominated by political motive, prophecy and power. Yet with Denis Villeneuve’s recent film adaptation, we’ve seen a new generation find Arrakis and marvel at its secrets… or Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides leading that star-studded cast. So it feels like the only thing missing was a way for us to explore Arrakis ourselves, until the devs behind Conan Exiles made it possible just over a year ago.

Dune Awakening sees players telling their own tale in a new timeline where Jessica didn’t give birth to Paul Atreides. The Harkonnens and Atreides are still locked in a power struggle for Arrakis, while the Fremen have disappeared. You must learn to survive, gather resources, build a base, and uncover your true purpose among the sands. This is the world of Dune, only you’re the main character.

Funcom are no stranger to building worlds for players to explore, pillage and take over, so when I first clocked that they were doing more with the Dune IP after Dune: Spice Wars, I was very excited to see what that might look like. Dune Awakening started out as a primarily online survival game where players would have to not only fight back against the sands of Arrakis, but also contend with each other. Yet that MMO-like experience has undergone a pretty significant rework with the single-player experience in mind. Players can now truly forge their own path within the Dune universe.

Modelled off Villeneuve’s adaptation of Dune, the game sees players up against Arrakis as a new story takes shape around you. The game looks impressive, with the world feeling instantly immersive with its arid details and shadows stretching across the dunes as time passes. Truly, this world shows a level of expertise in it’s design, urging you forward to uncover what’s hidden among walls of sand and rock formations

For this review, we were given access to the single-player mode in Dune: Awakening, and for the most part I don’t think I could see myself going back to playing multiplayer now even if there are some caveats. After some reworks, the developers have sought to sand down the edges, allowing players to enjoy Arrakis on their own terms. Along with your usual difficulty settings, players are also able to adjust the survival elements. So even if you’re just here to smell the spice and don’t typically like survival games, you’ll still be taken care of.

You are also able to decide how you wish to unlock entire parts of the game, such as the Research Menu, which can either be unlocked gradually once you meet certain criteria, or all at the start. For the majority of my time with the game, I was using the gradual system. It’s good if you’re blasting through the story quests, but as someone prone to distraction, it can feel a bit rigid. It’s worth focusing till you’re at least established enough in-game.

Customisation is definitely a huge part of the experience here. Not only will you create your own custom character, but you’ll also get to decide their backstory, homeworld and what abilities they begin the game with. I went with a classic Atreides-coded character, mentored in the ways of the Bene Gesserit. It’s also worth noting that the character creator and backstory all take place with the Reverend Mother probing you for details. A neat touch that really pulls you into the world.

After the opening of the game and crash landing on Arrakis, this is when the world really opens up. Initially, it’s just you against the sun, a formidable opponent but as you explore and unlock things, you soon aren’t so alone, with a collection of tools and other helpful resources at your side. Much of the game feels like that loop of exploring, gathering resources and fabricating equipment so you’re better prepared.

It’s not long either before your first base is built, with sandstorms among the dangers you’ll encounter, having a safe place to wait it out becomes a necessity. While I opted for something fairly modest given the impending weather event, you will soon fill your base up, so it’s worth making something a little bit bigger if you have the resources. As you research more items, you’ll also find some new pieces to build with, taking advantage of different resources. My initial base started as a 2×2 room with a roof, and as I needed more space over time, it began to look like a tower built on that original structure. Your base really becomes a key part in how you function the game and thanks to the tools in-game, you can save it and move it if you’d like to change locations. It’s also even better when you unlock some more customisation and can make a larger structure.

As you venture around gathering resources and slowly chip away at the game’s quests, you’ll come across more of Arrakis’s other dangers. The usual enemies lurk around from various factions, these require some skilled blade combat if you’re trying to penetrate a shield or firearms. Fighting with knives and swords is a delicate dance with stamina. One wrong move can leave you undefended, but it rewards careful, measured strikes. I was also surprised just how early in the game you get a firearm but thankful nonetheless, as it allowed me a bit of variety in combat.

Dune: Awakening also knows you want to play with the Sandworms, and it rewards you with death if you dice with them. During my time with the game, I was adamant against risking it with them, and yet as you speed across the dunes on the bike, it’s easy to gain their attention. Sandworms aren’t something you can easily escape from either unless you’re close enough to the edge of the dunes. They make crossing larger dunes much harder, which adds that overall pressure on you to survive as the risk of them appearing rises. Summoning a Sandworm is quite the sight, with them towering out of the sand before they charge you. It’s quite an imposing sight to behold that really feels as Dune as it gets.

Really though, your main enemy in the game is the sun. The longer you spend in the sunlight, the more moisture your character loses, with water being a resource you need to carefully manage. You soon learn ways to supplement your water supply, the main way being to extract blood from any enemies you defeat, which can then be filtered or drunk if you’re really desperate.

Navigating the sun becomes a matter of either ducking between shady spots or waiting till nightfall to scavenge for resources and move about. Either way, though, it adds that extra weight to the experience and the choices you make in the world. While survival games can tend to be a bit methodical, in Dune: Awakening it feels like a controlled experience that doesn’t seek to overwhelm the player with a hunger system for instance. The hydration meter instead functions more as a consideration while you move about the world. Knowing where your next hit of H2O is coming from could just keep you going that little bit longer. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to mitigate this, chief among them being literally carrying a water bottle.

As you explore more of Dune: Awakening, you uncover a similar story of intrigue with the whereabouts of the Fremen unknown and the Imperium controlling the planet. This builds out into a story of survival and conspiracy, till we’re left wondering our own characters’ purpose in all this is. Really, this surprised me more than I was expecting for a survival game. There’s a pull towards the lore in the game that you only get from playing your way through this world and experiencing it up close.

Where Dune: Awakening could’ve just seen you retracing Paul Atreides’ storyline, I really enjoyed this alternative timeline. Seeing the planet from a new perspective feels like we have real agency on Arrakis as we piece together what’s going on.

Something I did find unnerving about the game is how sparse it feels, though. This is less a comment about the map design, as I feel for the most part it provides a very on-par experience for a game drifting out of a sci-fi read as you explore further. What I mean is I would’ve liked to see more of this world existing more around me. I wanted to see people moving through the dunes, bases made by NPCs – just any sign that makes me question whether I am the only person here. For all the game does to pull you into the world, it feels like there’s a missed opportunity here to go that step deeper into the RPG side.

Now, when I played the game in multiplayer on PC, it was surprisingly comforting seeing other players going about their business as I did mine. Though that immersion did also mean you’d be at the whims of other players, be it random base designs or just general trolling. If anything in single-player, maybe there’s an opportunity to fill out the world with some more NPCs moving around to add to the experience. If anything, as alone as you feel in single-player, it at least makes the world of Dune the entire focus, even if multiplayer might give that more lively feel.

All that aside, as a survival game built off the Dune universe for the most part, Dune Awakening rules in my book, and I can already tell I’ll be reaching for this one when I have those cravings to explore Arrakis. Despite moments when you notice the absence of others in the game, it’s still the experience of exploring and surviving on Arrakis that grounds the game. As you learn to manage your water, fight and even avoid Sandworms, it’s impossible not to feel caught up in the fantasy of it all. Ultimately, this is the closest you’ll ever get to setting foot on Arrakis.