Dune: Awakening’s First 20 Hours Shine Despite Numerous Bugs – A Closed Beta Review

When I caught a glimpse of the Dune: Awakening demo over a year ago, I wasn’t completely sold on the idea of a survival game set in such a desolate world as Arrakis. However, after spending nearly 20 hours in its closed beta, experiencing the unforgiving desert climate and hostile wildlife, I have faith that Funcom is crafting a remarkable MMO. The game smartly leverages the immense potential of this iconic sci-fi universe. Gathering resources, building bases, enhancing your character, and using all these against raiders and competing houses was as thrilling as I’d hoped. However, it still feels like I’ve only scratched the surface, missing out on social areas, a good chunk of PvP, and the crucial endgame content, all hidden from my reach. The game’s release date got a nudge back by a month during my time in the beta, a move that isn’t shocking given the slew of bugs and performance hiccups in the build I played. But, despite these hurdles, I walked away mighty impressed with much of what I experienced and more hopeful they’ll hit the mark with this one.

For those who haven’t been following, Dune: Awakening is gearing up to be an expansive multiplayer survival game from the same team that brought us Conan Exiles, a gem not everyone has discovered yet. You find yourself on Arrakis with a simple goal: survive. If you’re familiar with the lore, you’ll appreciate the monumental task this is. Starting with bare essentials, you transform whatever scrap you find into tools, slowly building a haven to shield yourself from the brutal environment. Skeptical about having fun in endless sand dunes? Funcom cleverly populates the world with shipwrecks, secret caves, and fortress challenges. While there’s plenty of sand with not much else, these very expanses serve as obstacles you must navigate swiftly, lest you become dessert for a gigantic sandworm.

Initially, you’re trapped in a small starting zone, cut off from areas rich in loot and resources necessary for crafting superior gear. Trekking across vast deserts on foot is asking for trouble, especially with an angry sandworm likely in your tracks. Construct your first vehicle, a small motorbike, to make it across fast. Turning what seemed like a setting weakness into a clever gameplay strength, moments like evading a massive Shai Hulud became some of my favorite experiences.

The game raises the stakes further with the relentless sun turning any journey between shadowed areas into a tense contest, reminiscent of a game of “the floor is lava.” Ignoring the risk of sunburn will drain your water reserve, obliterate your health, and smite you before long. While mildly annoying at times, it transforms survival into a fun challenge, voicing the harsh reality of living on Arrakis.

Alongside these environmental hazards, you fend off marauding raiders, gun or sword at the ready. The third-person combat doesn’t revolutionize gaming, with mechanics like cover shooting and grenades being pretty standard. But in a game designed to accommodate lots of players, this snappy gunplay is respectable. With skill trees like the cunning Mentats or survival-savvy Planetologists, there’s plenty of space to craft a unique character within your group. I stuck with the soldier path, and it was surprisingly rewarding to leap around, using gadgets creatively.

Teaming up with friends elevates the fun. A co-op moment where my partner used her Bene Gesserit abilities to lure an enemy into my grenade range really highlighted the potential of the combat system. The beta showed a snippet of PvP with crash site skirmishes, but with fewer players in the closed beta, it’s hard to gauge the mode’s depth. Most PvP zones lie beyond the endgame areas I couldn’t access, so it’ll take the full game to truly evaluate this aspect.

Being a Dune aficionado, exploring this beloved universe is incredibly rewarding. Funcom hasn’t shied away from diving deep into worldbuilding and lore, despite crafting an alternate reality to the books and films. Every in-game detail feels meaningful, like water’s valuation as a precious commodity. Harvesting enemy fluids, utilizing a stillsuit, and raiding bases just for water adds a survival layer to the narrative. This attention to detail permeates factions and characters you’ll encounter, making it a delight for fans.

Not everything was perfect. The beta was plagued with bugs and performance issues, from crashes to framerate drops and bizarre graphical glitches. With the final release drawing near, the announced one-month delay came as a relief. While it’s common for betas to showcase these flaws for fixing, the amount I and my friends experienced had me slightly worried—yet hopeful that they’ll iron out the kinks by launch.