I’m going to lay out my cards on the table because I think that honesty is germane to what we’ll be talking about today: I’m not really a fan of Dune. I’ve bounced off the first book a few times, I wasn’t that impressed with the ’80s movie or the 2000s miniseries, and I’ve been trying to work up enthusiasm to sit through like six hours of the two new movies that I’ve heard great things about.
It’s simply not my jam, the way that maybe Star Trek or Star Wars or Marvel isn’t yours. Yet I am a huge sci-fi nut, a Funcom fanboy (despite the studio abusing my trust), and an MMO gamer with an emotional stake in this genre’s future. So yes, I’m incredibly excited about Dune Awakening. In fact, I think it has a shot to become the game of the year for me.
Oh that feeling of putting to print a statement that could be easily flung back in my face. That’s the risk we take as journalists and commentators sometime! Yet if this column is all about getting hyped for upcoming projects, why shouldn’t I indulge in what looks to be one of the most promising titles to come our way in years?
So much of Dune Awakening seems to be poised to break in its favor. Let’s start with the studio itself. Back in the day, Funcom jumped on the MMORPG bandwagon with adorable enthusiasm, cranking out beloved but buggy sci-fi adventures (Anarchy Online), brutal barbarian escapades (Age of Conan), and cult conspiracy capers (The Secret World). The studio got deeply invested in both the Conan and Dune franchises over the past decade, leveraging both in various projects.
While Funcom’s spent much of the past decade drifting away from pure MMOs, the studio’s still well-acquainted with the genre and has talent that’s experienced in it. It’s almost a reunion of sorts to see Joel Bylos popping up again to talk about another ambitious online game, and I have some faith that he’s assembled a team that can get the job done.
Dune Awakening also feels poised to benefit from the lessons learned in developing Conan Exiles, as Dune will contain open world survival elements and base building as well.
Then there’s the fact that Dune is a hot commodity right now. It’s always been fairly well-known within certain geeky circles, but ever since the 2021 and 2024 films, it’s broken into the mainstream to widespread approval. More people than ever are familiar with the franchise and perhaps even looking to indulge in it more. There are the novels, yes, but now at the crest of this wave there’s going to be this huge online game.
While I’m not much of a desert guy in MMOs, I do concur that this is a great setting if you want to present an extreme biome with a lot of innate dangers to characters. I don’t know how hostile the environment will end up being for us players, but it’ll be interesting if it does kick our butts somewhat. Too often, “survival” games plop you in the middle of a quaint temperate forest where you simply have to roll your fat torso in the direction of the nearest plant that will both feed and heal you, and you’ll be good.
Dune Awakening doesn’t seem to be like that. Having to worry about sandstorms, water depletion, and those pesky giant underground worms feels like hazards more suited to the term “survival.”
There are a lot of other features to raise my excitement level. The classes sound quite exotic and creative, the drug pros-and-cons of Spice could be a wild card, changing map features could keep things fresh, and being able to pilot ground and air vehicles seems right up any sci-fi game’s alley.
This isn’t to say that I don’t have reservations. Currently, the persistent beta is under NDA, so we haven’t gotten a wealth of first-hand experiences from testers who can tell us whether or not Funcom is delivering the goods here. The studio says that it wants to get this out into early access relatively soon, and there’s always going to be a part of me that hears that phrase and wonders just how broken or incomplete the game will be when it rolls out to the world for global first impressions.
But as I’ve said, there’s a whole lot going for Dune Awakening. It’s not hard to envision a strong early access that begins a snowball of enthusiasm and word-of-mouth for this game. Right now, there are no other 2025 titles that are higher on my most-wanted list, and I would love to end this year having spent months truly enjoying my first engaging Dune experience.
As always, we wait. We’ll see. But don’t fear… for fear is the mind-killer.
Do you love spectating and speculating about upcoming MMOs? We do too! Every week, Justin tackles another upcoming title on the MMO Hype Train with opinions, analysis, and blind fervent hope. Choo choo all aboard!
