Dune: Awakening is a survival MMO set on the sandy world of Arrakis

An open-world survival MMO on the lovely beach planet of Dune is exactly what we need in this ever-heating world, right? It’s intriguing then to see Dune: Awakening announced at tonight’s Gamescom Opening Night Live. Walk without rhythm and you’ll get to watch the trailer below.

Dune: Awakening – Announcement Trailer

The trailer’s narrated by someone running themselves through the Bene Gesserit litany against fear, what with that being the mindkiller and everything. There’s a blue-eyed bloke in a Fremen stillsuit who’s prepping himself to jump aboard one of Arrakis’ gigantic sandworms. They’re Dune’s version of trains, y’see. The game’s coming from Funcom, purveyors of licensed Dune games since 2019. They’re known for other licensed MMOs such as Conan Exiles.

I enjoyed the first half of that there Denis Villeneuve Dune movie that came out last year. Dune: Awakening is definitely going for that vibe judging by the look of today’s trailer. I'm hoping that you'll get the chance to pilot an ornithopter and ride a sandworm. Calling it now that there'll be at least the three factions of Atriedes, Harkonnen and Fremen to choose from too. Funcom have said there’s a beta coming, and you can sign up for that on the official Dune: Awakening site over here.

There’s no release date for Dune: Awakening yet, but hopefully it won’t be out 20,000 years from now. It’ll be on Steam when it does arrive.