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When I looked at what Dune: Awakening was trying to do, I got a bit skeptical, albeit in a good way. It’s a game that brings an open-world survival experience in Herbert’s beloved universe with MMO elements and an entirely player-driven endgame. Anyone would think these things would be too good to be true. Yet, after many hands-off and hands-on previews and finally being able to play it, it is all I was waiting for and more. Dune: Awakening is a perfectly composed medley that elevates the genre by bridging so many systems together almost seamlessly. While there are just a few missing notes here and there, it is the most addictive survival game I’ve experienced and one I don’t see myself abandoning anytime soon.
Following The Fremen’s Footsteps
Usually, I don’t delve much into a survival game’s story because they have more environmental storytelling elements, which isn’t bad. However, these stories are never groundbreaking or worth pursuing. They are there to provide a context. But most of the time, you’re on your own trying to build your base and then find a few notes in the wild that tell you what happened. However, Dune: Awakening takes a more RPG-like approach in terms of its narrative.
You start the game with a cutscene explaining this new timeline. Paul is not around, Leto doesn’t kick the bucket, and Jessica has a girl. Yet, the Fremen are long gone. You are a prisoner sent to Arrakis who, after having their ship blown by a rocket launcher, are left to survive in this arid landscape while also trying to uncover why the Fremen aren’t around anymore.
The storytelling aspect is superb, with cohesive quests and top-notch cutscenes leading you across Arrakis. The plot becomes even better thanks to the worldbuilding behind it. There are NPCs everywhere to give you quests and populate each of the two capital cities belonging to the well-known Atreides and Harkonnen factions, and smaller trade hubs.
For once, it is great to see how a survival game feels alive and not just full of enemies. Yes, there are players around, with whom you’re going to create a neighborhood eventually, but the fact that there are NPCs, quest-givers, and even skill trainers makes Dune: Awakening one of the most unique games in the genre.
A Challenging and Gorgeous Desert
Before delving into the crafting and combat parts, allow me to gush over the exploration aspects. Dune: Awakening is an atmospheric journey at every turn and does a terrific job of raising the bar with every area you unlock. Everything is there to immerse you in one of gaming’s most gorgeous and intricate maps, from the newbie sands of Hagga Basin to the red and treacherous rocky formations of the Vermillion Gap.
One thing that elevates Arrakis is the amount of content you can find to do, which is tightly tied to the crafting/survival loop. As soon as you spawn, you’ll encounter caves full of old Fremen tech, enemy bases hiding intel, and even shipwrecks full of items for you to craft weapons and armor.
Reaching these locations is the highlight, however. Dune: Awakening has a way of making danger feel gorgeous. You’ll be riding your sandbike on open sand while watching the sunset, and suddenly see the iconic sandworm pop out of the ground to announce your impending doom. It is eerily enthralling and another immersive aspect of Funcom’s latest endeavor.
Dune: Awakening delivers an exceptional world brimming with things to do that encourage exploration. On top of that, exploring it is pretty smooth. We’ve all seen many recent game launches crash and burn on day one. It becomes even worse when they are multiplayer experiences. Dune: Awakening had one of the best launches ever, both during the advanced access period and the official launch. Also, as someone who’s barely hitting the recommended specs, I can run it at a steady 100fps and on high settings. This was quite surprising, especially after looking at all the pieces moving in the background.
From Scrapper to Master
Another key aspect of Dune: Awakening is its flexibility in building your character. You get to pick one of four starting classes. There’s the Mentat, Trooper, Swordmaster, and Bene Gesserit. Each one focuses on a different playstyle with unique passive and active skills. For instance, the Bene Gesserit, my starting pick, focuses on a more stealth-focused approach. It uses skills that let you use the voice to bend the wills of your enemies, and a few others that favor short blades. On the other hand, Troopers have abilities that favor exploration and ranged weapons.
When building your character, you can pick between two active skills, with a third unlocking later. There are also different techniques that provide different passive bonuses. The great thing about Dune: Awakening is that it doesn’t limit your character to just one skill tree. If you have the time, you can unlock every skill tree and make some of the wildest builds. If you want to become a Swordmaster who uses voice skills to lure enemies in, that’s possible. Do you want to focus on exploring only abilities that launch you into the air? That’s fine as well.
The best thing about building your perfect desert survivor is that progress is tied to the story and exploration. If you start as a Swordmaster but want Mentat abilities, you must scour the world until you find a trainer. The same happens to your initial skill tree. If you want better abilities or to upgrade existing ones, you need to find specific NPCs willing to share their expertise.
Even if I love the character-building aspect, it often sounds better on paper than when playing it. While combat has been improved since the beta days, it still feels a bit janky in some areas. Melee combat is clunky at times, with the camera going bonkers during some animations. Speaking of animations, a few feel a bit floaty. Yet, these are minor issues that I see Funcom ironing out in the future. Other than that, I’d say that fighting in Arrakis is enjoyable once you get past those small bumps. Everything becomes highly satisfying once you get the hang of the intricacies of the game’s combat mechanics.
Building Your Life in Arrakis
If combat isn’t your cup of spice, the building and crafting mechanics are some of the best in the genre. When trying to craft something, you’ll have to unlock it first in your research tab. You can unlock new recipes by finding Intel in the world or by completing quests. You can also unlock higher crafting tiers by spending said currency.
Many will say that Dune: Awakening is on the “too grindy” scale. I beg to differ. Dune: Awakening, like any other survival game, requires you to get the same material repeatedly. However, the process becomes much better as you progress. When I died in the sandworm for the first time, I was devastated. I thought I would need a lot of time to return to where I was, but that was not the case. The game is so approachable when it comes to grinding that it rarely feels like a chore. The only thing that really stressed me was my water management, but that is part of the survival experience. The gathering part of it was not an issue, even when you reach some of the game’s highest tiers.
Building anything is just as easy and intuitive. The building mechanics are quite snappy. I’m forever thankful that I can place projections to visualize my building first before having to demolish something I didn’t like. On top of that, everything is done through automation and rarely requires player input. If you want some copper ingots, just deposit the raw material into the refiner and watch everything come together. I enjoyed this as it let me head out to explore while I waited for my base to produce everything I needed.
On top of that, I’m glad the UI is as friendly as it is. Often, survival games make the most unnecessarily complicated user interfaces to craft, making the mechanic a herculean task. Dune: Awakening makes things highly approachable yet intricate enough to keep you hooked to its crafting and building aspects.
A Gold Standard
As I watched the sunrise in the last area of the map, I realized that Dune: Awakening is the survival game I am willing to call home. I’ve jumped from zombie-infested cities with no NPCs to lands riddled with vampire hunters, and not one of them has given me the sense of immersion that Dune: Awakening has. It is a desert journey that pulls you just as hard as quicksand and refuses to let you go, all thanks to its top-notch storytelling, gorgeous visuals, and superb atmosphere.
Even if a few things need tinkering, Dune: Awakening is undoubtedly one of the best games of this year. It has raised the bar for the whole genre and given us one of this decade’s smoothest launches. But beyond that, we should see this as a new standard for every MMO-like game. We all know that genre has been on life support for a while, with only a few vying for the crown. Yet, Dune: Awakening proved that it is possible to deliver a polished massive multiplayer experience with varied gameplay systems in 2025, and one of the best at that.
Dune: Awakening (PC Reviewed)
Dune: Awakening is a new staple for the survival genre and a new standard for all MMO-like games. It features one of the most intricate and addictive gameplay loops while bringing top-notch exploration to one of gaming's most atmospheric journeys.
Pros
- Top-notch atmosphere and immersion
- Addictive gameplay loop accompanied by excellent storytelling
- Gorgeous visuals
Cons
- Combat, especially melee, can feel janky
