With Dune: Part 2 coming to movie theaters later this year, excitement for this long-running franchise is pretty high. That’s especially true when you stack Funcom’s Dune Awakening on top of the pile. This massively multiplayer survival game is one of the most prominent MMOs on the horizon, and fans were treated to a new interview and gameplay footage this past week at the PC Gaming Show.
In the interview, Creative Director Joel Bylos walked viewers through the gameplay loop, starting as an amnesic survivor trying to make a way in this hostile desert world and rise to power as a possible baron or guild leader.
The game is built on five “pillars:” survival, politics and intrigue, infinite exploration (i.e., a changing world), combined arms, and expression and customization.
“It’s really all about play the way you want to play,” Bylos said. “You want to be a trader? You can do that. You want to be a fighter? Of course you can do that. You want to be a spy? Maybe that’s the kind of gameplay you’re looking for.”
Base building, surprise sandworms, and nasty storms are all facts of life in this world. Combat in Dune Awakening includes ground vehicles, air vehicles, melee, and ranged arms. Players can tinker with their loadouts to find the best approach for their style and situation. Funcom said that it’s dividing the world into different regions with their own combat rules (basically, how much PvE or PvP is allowed).
