The Dune: Awakening devs described a bunch of cool stuff that could theoretically happen to you in their MMO
Sounds potentially very good maybe
Frank Herbert's weirdo sci-fi epic is a great shout for a survival game and an MMO in many ways. You've got warring factions, you've got a hostile desert planet, you've got canonical giant monsters that can form regular events for players. You got yourself a video game, baybeeeee! Or at least, Funcom do, them being the devs what are making Dune Awakening. In a little spotlight feature at the PC Gaming Show they talked a bit more about the game, and boy, sure seems like a lot of cool stuff is possible in theory.
You start off with nothing, having awoken in the desert with no memory (ohhh, I get the title now), and only a makeshift knife to stab some guys and steal the water from their stillsuits. The pitch from Joel Bylos, the creative director, is that eventually you could be the leader of a whole guild of people, with a fleet of sand bikes and ornithopters, and you head over the desert to a spice blow in the distance - but then you see another guild coming, and "just as you clash, you hear the rumble of a sandworm coming. That's combat in Dune: Awakening." But like... it's probably not combat in Dune: Awakening most of the time, is it? We've all seen MMOs before. Theoretical fun is, as Alice0 said, the best type of fun, because it's unsullied by being real.
Elsewhere you'll find MMO game staples (guns, melee weapons, weather events) and defined areas for PvP and PvE - which Funcom appear to be pretending they've reinvented as a different thing by calling it a Dune-politics word. There are abilities to learn as well, but the biggest thrill is the potential to get the attention of a giant Sandworm, either by doing two much rhythmical vibration by doing wheelies on your sandbike, or using technology like shields.
I kind of think the coolest thing in the video is the area design - you get a glimpse of a huge canyon being developed, and every week the map will change after a big storm sweeps in and moves the sand around. But look, as is pointed out in the video, Funcom do know what they're doing developing MMOs, so I'm probably being a bit more sceptical than this deserves. But I'll be more impressed by practise than theory. Although the game is more inspired by the more recent films (boring; rubbish) rather than the 80s David Lynch one (Sting in a nappy). Soooooooo...
Judge for yourself by watching the full video above. It also goes a bit more into how Spice is an important part of the game, which is potentially an interesting bit too. So many potentials.
NotE3 and Summer Game Fest 2023 is over for another year. You can find out all the latest news by visiting our E3 2023 hub, or you can catch up with our round-up posts of everything that was announced at Summer Game Fest, the Xbox Games Showcase, the PC Gaming Show, Day Of The Devs, and our top highlights from the Wholesome Direct.