Dune: Awakening, an upcoming open world survival MMO (massively multiplayer online game,) was officially announced last night during the Gamescom 2022 Opening Night Live broadcast.
The game appears to be based on the incredibly popular Dune book series, as opposed to the recently released (and brilliant) Dune film featuring Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya, and will task players with surviving in the wilds of the desert planet of Arrakis while gathering resources, powering up abilities, and rising above other real-world players in rank and reputation.
A brief teaser for Dune: Awakening has been released and it offers some genuinely impressive visuals in addition to offer hints at some of the situations players may find themselves in. Whether this trailer reflects what the actual game looks like though will remain to be seen.
An official website for Dune: Awakening has also gone live and offers some more clues at game locations, environments, missions, and gameplay mechanics.
Here’s the official description currently given for Dune: Awakening on the site:
Dune: Awakening will release on Microsoft’s Xbox Series S and X consoles, Windows PC, and Sony’s PS5 console. No date or release window has been confirmed yet though interested gamers are encouraged to sign up for the upcoming Beta which will take place at some unspecified time in the future.
Funcom, Dune: Awakening’s developer, first attained the rights for a Dune video game back in 2019. Various statements had been made by Funcom employees that same year about the open world nature of their planned Dune video game though few other details had been made publically available until now.
Dune video games are a surprisingly rare thing given the franchise’s Sci-Fi settings and lore. The latest notable Dune-related content was the recent Fortnite collaboration which added Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya’s characters from the Dune movie to the game alongside an emote, Glider, and some Back Blings.