50 Hours on Arrakis: Thirst, Sandworms, and a Survival Dream That Sometimes Runs Dry
I dove into Dune: Awakening with a mix of hype and healthy skepticism. I’ve played my share of survival MMOs (Rust, Conan Exiles, Valheim, you name it), but none set in a world as brutal – or as tantalizing – as Herbert’s Arrakis. Funcom, infamous for janky launches and surprising turnarounds (Conan Exiles, The Secret World), once again asks us to trust them with an iconic universe. The result? A game that’s equal parts mesmerizing journey and maddening slog, never quite letting me relax or fully lose hope.
Booting up on a beefy PC (RTX 3070, i5-12400, 32GB RAM), the first thing that hit me was how Dune: Awakening doesn’t care about retelling the familiar rise of House Atreides. Paul isn’t even here; you’re dropped into a wild, sprawling what-if where you sculpt your own nobody with a surprisingly deep character creator. Sure, there’s background choice and a mentor/class pick, but none of it felt as impactful as I’d hoped. They’re more flavor than function, at least in the early hours.
The lore drops are everywhere – and if you’ve read the books or rewatched the Villeneuve films like I have, you’ll catch a few sly nods and alternative takes on the known canon. Just don’t expect meaty dialog or moral conundrums here; the opening acts are more “here’s how not to die in the desert” than “should I betray my House?” Did it bug me? A bit, honestly, but the promise of freedom kept me chasing sand dunes.
Three hours in, my most-used keys were the map and inventory screens — Arrakis is not gentle. Managing thirst is a constant obsession. Forgetting how fast you dehydrate the first time you get caught in the open sun is a classic rookie move. After a couple of delirious respawns, I started hoarding jolitres (all-purpose water canteens) like gold, and learned the grim efficiency of extracting water from downed foes. Sound gross? It is — and that’s the savage charm.
The sandworm system deserves special mention. Step too far into open sand without clinging to shelter and a vibration meter ticks up. Ignore it, and the first time that hulking worm erupts beneath you is pure panic — I lost my entire loadout to one of these monstrous set pieces, prompting a, “well, I’ll never do THAT again” moment. The first death even comes with a cutscene and a bittersweet ‘consolation’ prize: a sand bike, which almost, but not quite, made up for the gear I just lost.
If you die to AI enemies, losses are smaller — think a handful of items, with a grace period to go recover your stuff. PvP deaths are harsher, especially in the so-called endgame ‘Deep Desert’. The way death stings (without feeling outrageously unfair) reminded me of the early days of Rust: punishing, but with just enough “your fault” baked in that I never threw my mouse. Well, maybe once…
After about 10 hours, base-building became my main obsession. Dune: Awakening’s construction tools aren’t as deep as Valheim’s, but getting a shielded, self-sufficient home up and running in the desert is deeply satisfying. The highlight? Installing solar shields and a blood purifier for water (yes, from blood again — Herbert would be proud) and realizing you can tune your base’s accessibility. You literally have to manage taxes to keep your land — and if you screw up, your shield goes down and storms or marauders can wipe out hard-won progress. That happened to me after I ignored the under-the-radar “pay taxes” alert for a day, and I logged in to find my base looted. Lesson learned: Arrakis always wins.
The houses system (Atreides vs Harkonnen — unfortunately, just two options for now) is another twist. You pick sides, get access to house-specific missions, but you can also betray your previous allegiance. Sometimes I felt like I was engaging in actual Dune-style politics; sometimes I just regretted missing out on extra loot because of an accidental allegiance switch. May the game eventually expand on this, because right now it feels like a taste of something bigger.
One of the game’s best traits is just how unscripted so much feels. There’s no fog-of-war reveal; you’re nudged (not forced) to explore. I probably spent 20 of my 50 hours just poking around ruins, chasing rumors of spice blooms, and dodging the odd patrolling ornithopter. Every now and then, a sandstorm would roll in unexpectedly, forcing me to scramble for shelter — the tension as my health bar ticked downward was real, and the sense of relief in making it to a cave at the last second never got old.
There are side activities, dungeon-like combat zones, and contract missions. Some days, I was just in the mood to farm resources and tune up my gear. Other sessions, I’d find myself spontaneously partied up with strangers to tackle an especially nasty group of AI defenders (or to take on other players in the Deep Desert, usually with less success). I appreciated how the game let me switch between hermit and warlord, depending on my mood.
Where Dune: Awakening shines is its survival loop — keeping thirst in check, scanning for sandworms, strategizing when to explore or hole up — all these combine into a uniquely addictive (and surprisingly intimate) take on MMO life.
But, the main story? It’s half-formed at best. Early on, you slog through tutorial-heavy fetch quests, and even when the plot tries to ramp up (especially during those surreal spice-induced dream sequences), things never really kick into overdrive. The philosophical undertones are here, but they don’t get the Villeneuve-level nuance the source material deserves.
The “endgame” is the Deep Desert, and it’s honestly a letdown right now. It’s mostly PvP fights, base optimization, and a race for better gear — rinse, repeat. I only scratched the surface there (blame my limited faction clout), but my experience was mostly stalking other players and logging out quickly to avoid being ambushed. With a stronger community, more structured events, or actual narrative beats, the Deep Desert could be amazing. Instead, I mostly just felt outnumbered and a little aimless.
On the technical side: glitches and occasional UI confusion are part of the package, though not game-breaking (at least for me). There were a couple of memory leaks, but my system handled the chaos. I did run into some toxic player behaviors, mostly in “gank squads” out in the open — always a risk in survival MMOs, but still draining when you just want to scavenge in peace.
If you’re a survival MMO veteran who loves systems over story, or if you live for emergent sandlot drama, this is pure catnip. Fans of Dune’s political or philosophical themes may leave hungry for more subtlety (though the dream sequences do scratch that itch briefly). If you just want to grind loot, explore, and have memorable PvP encounters, there’s enough meat here — just don’t expect the narrative brilliance of recent Dune movie adaptations.
Casual MMO players or folks who hate punishing resource management will be turned off fast — there’s far less hand-holding than in, say, New World, and the first dozen hours are ruthless if you don’t adapt quickly. But I have to respect a game that gives you so many moments to fail, fumble, and genuinely survive.
After 50 hours, Dune: Awakening left me ragged, a little parched, but honestly itching for more. When the game’s at its best — running from a storm, carving out a tiny oasis, outsmarting worms and rivals — it’s unmatched for raw tension and atmosphere. But the story fizzles, the endgame wobbles, and some of the systems feel like they’re one patch away from greatness. Right now, it’s not the perfect Dune game, but it is a hell of a Dune experience — sometimes dazzling, sometimes infuriating, and always just a little bit dangerous.
My Score: 8/10
If you can embrace the grind and crave a world that fights back, Dune: Awakening is worth braving the sands — flaws and all.
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