Dune Awakening Impressions : The Spice Must Flow

I have seemed to be on a crafting survival kick lately. I got deep into the ruins of Enshrouded, threw phantasmic axes at trees in RuneScape: Dragonwilds, and I spent an assortment of hours on the sandy planet of Arrakis in Dune: Awakening. While Dune: Awakening’s beta weekend had some issues, I found myself engrossed in the Funcom’s vision, staying out of the sun while the alternate universe story line hooked me in. In this universe there is no Paul Atreides, and that butterfly effect pushes a new narrative that draws me in. But the more things change, the more they stay the same. This new and exciting venture into the expanded sand sea filled to the brim with spice and giant worms has captured me, dragged me in, and the fact that we have just about three more weeks till launch hurts a little.

“He who controls the spice controls the universe.”

As mentioned, Dune: Awakening is a crafting survival game that puts the player front and center of an alternate universe where Paul Atreides doesn’t exist. As events unfold in ways we didn’t expect, leading the famous story to change certain aspects a bit, powers emerge, people who died survive, new characters come into the picture, and the Fremen are all gone. And while everything seems to have changed, there is one ever constant- the spice melange.

Spice melange is the single most important resource in the galaxy. It allows guild navigators to fold space and traverse through the cosmos, it extends life, gives people faint visions, and is even used in food and some drinks. It is so versatile that you’d swear it’s like a metaphor for oil or something. So, it is your job to harvest as much of it as possible, but getting to that point takes a ton of time and it is a very slow process.

Luckily enough, you start the game with some sense of direction, but first you have to create your character. You choose from various backgrounds that includes what planet you are from, selecting between Caladan, Ix, Giedi Prime, and others. Depending on which one you pick opens up new dialog choices and gives you an exclusive emote that you can use in the open world. Picking Caladan gives you the Atreides salute, for example. From there you choose a caste from which you originated from within that society. You choose between Bondsman, who are the educated caste, Na-Familia who are the nobles, or Pyons who are the peasant labor force.

From there, you choose who you trained under. You can choose a starting training in either Swordmaster, Bene Gesserit, Mentat, or Trooper. Depending on which one you pick, you unlock a core skill with the opportunity to explore three different talent trees using skill points you pick up through your adventure. There is also the Planetologist training which unlocks a few hours into the story through a side mission. Do not think of these as classes as you can unlock each of the trainings as you progress through the game.

“Beginnings are such delicate times.”

Waking on Dune to the voice of a mysterious man guiding you through the tutorial area is as basic as a setup goes. Your ship crashes and you are free to explore the world of Arrakis by your own free will. But the heat is blistering and it won’t take long before you succumb to heat stroke. So you must learn to drink water, craft a shelter, and harvest materials from your surroundings.

You start with the most basic gear and eventually build up through a progression system that is tied to some story elements. As you level up you gain research points which can be used to unlock blueprints for various stations and equipment. There are also blueprints found in the wild. What is most important is that you will construct and deconstruct fairly often.

You have the Cutteray which has a built-in scanner. When you scan a node, a blue line appears and guiding the laser along it, gives you materials quicker than just pointing the laser at the resource deposit. It makes gathering a bit more interesting and fun as the way you gather becomes more important as you get into later parts of the game. Eventually, you upgrade this device to cut more advanced materials.

There is also a construction tool that allows you to build your base and craft stations needed to progress through the game along with a handful of other tools, and this is kind of one drawback to how the game is organized. There is a single hotbar with numbers 1 to 8 and you can equip an item in each of these bars. The problem is that you have too many items that you are constantly in and out of your main inventory screen, swapping pieces and trying to make sense of what you have.

The tools you typically have on you are: the Cutteray, Solido Replicator, Binoculars, Handheld Resource Scanner, Healkits, Respawn Beacon, Blood Extractor, Dew Reaper, Literjon, Wielding Torch, Glowtubes, and so many more. We haven’t even hit weapons yet. This becomes a bit tough to manage, granted, you won’t be using all of these all of the time. It just becomes frustrating when you do. I don’t want all of these tools to be crammed into one, because that creates even more issues, but I would like to see them maybe put on a separate “resource gathering tools” section on the hotbar and you could freely use these abilities when applicable.

For example, after you take out a base of bandits, you will need to take some time to suck their blood using the Blood Extractor tool. You can only perform this action when you have the tool in your hands, but by associating the tool with a hotkey, I could easily stand over the body and take the blood to be transformed into water using the appropriate station at my base. I know it is all about risk/reward but this is a slight quality of life idea that would ultimately pay off in the long run for me and many others.

“Arrakis is a death trap.”

While you understand the crafting elements of Dune: Awakening, you are slowly understaning the world you’re in. As mentioned, there are many environmental hazards with the sun being one of them. Spend too much in it and you get heat stroke. There are three major elements that help you when it comes to survival: shade, night, and your stillsuit.

When it comes to moving around the sturdy rock areas, you have ample shade to keep you covered. Whether you are in the shade outside or within buildings and encampments, you are safe. If you traverse by night it’s even better because you have full access to move around when you need to. And finally, your stillsuit which is the Fremen outfit designed for surviving the outdoors.

I wasn’t necessarily a fan of RuneScape: Dragonwild’s method of eating and drinking, but I think Dune handles it quite well. You only have one main resource: hydration. Your hydration has a direct effect on various elements but what I like the most about it is how you don’t need to be completely on top of it at all times. You can take a couple of swigs from your canteen, top off your meter, and be fine for about an hour or so. The stillsuit has a unique pocket design that, very much like the source material, captures your sweat and filters it to be drinkable. This is represented by a secondary bar right next to your hydration bar, and pressing “F” will take water from that bar and refill your main hydration bar.

“Here I am. Here I remain.”

Building is really fun and tough to wrap my head around at first. You have many different options and the UI can be a bit confusing. Once you get the feeling for it, the easier it is to manage.

You start with a main pylon that claims the land you want to build upon. From there you can pick and choose various parts to lay the foundation to your new home. Like most crafting survival games, you’ll be collecting various materials and using them to build walls and ceilings, keeping you safe from the outside elements.

You can lay a projection of the thing you want to build with interior and exterior sides clearly labeled for your convenience. Everything snaps together well and once you get further and further into the game, the more and more you can build. You can build multiple bases either solo or with a friend, even a guild later on in the game. The building is a lot of fun but meant for a clear purpose: survival.

Vehicles in Dune haven’t really been seen in the franchise before, but it is a necessary part to exploring and surviving. So within the first few hours you’ll also learn how to build your very own sandbike. You construct it from a menagerie of parts that you’ll either construct or find at bandit encampments. You have a separate wielding tool that helps construct the sandbike, allowing you to pick between a passenger seat or a storage container, and this is incredibly important to note.

As the game goes on it makes you comfortable with letting go. At one point you have to leave your base behind. That means everything you gathered up to this point is in jeopardy. You have to consider which components are worth bringing with you and store them in your sandbike’s inventory. This was hard for me, but making tough decisions is the very essence of this game. Everything in Dune: Awakening is about planning.

“Hope clouds observation.”

While I want to go off on more mechanics of the game, such as how terrifying the Sandworms are, I want to take a step back because Dune: Awakening is unlike anything else I have played within this genre. From the beta period alone, I felt engrossed within the details. While I do not believe that you have to know anything about Dune to enjoy this game, it does help to watch the movies and understand them a bit because that plays into every aspect of the world.

The game will give you multiple directives and suggestions but ultimately lets you do whatever you want to do. If you want to walk out into the open sands then by all means do it, but while you’re running and getting eaten by the sandworm, I don’t want to hear any complaining. Not only does the game tell you how to avoid them, but the films and books told you too. There is a level of dichotomy here that actually comes together. You might have these two vast experience that are polar opposites, but by absorbing this supplementary material you already understand the brutality of the universe.

Countless times I have heard people say that a certain aspect is a bit too tough and it’s bad for “player retention” but these are caused by not paying attention to the world. This is a commonality with multiple games, but it is a direct reflection of how Dune: Awakening compares to anything else. It tells you to stick to the rocks, make short trips through the sands to avoid the worm, and when being chased, avoid at all costs. Because if you get eaten, all you carry is gone.

Dune: Awakening embraces a unique style of survival that ramps up the further and further you get into the game. It trains you on how you are supposed to play it, and the more you fight against it the more it punches back.

“The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.”

My 10-plus hours of playing around in Arrakis was short lived, but it was incredibly fun. From drifting around the dunes on the sandbike with my friend to exploring the top of rock formations, realizing my battery pack ran out and I had to jump down and die, to the slower more methodical moments, I really enjoyed my time. I’m actually sitting down at my computer eagerly awaiting to jump back in. I am looking at other titles and seeing what could possibly scratch this itch. And while the game isn’t fully perfect as the PvP melee combat is a bit broken, there are still many elements to thoroughly enjoy when the game launches in June.

If you want to know what I think about the final product, please stick around Seasoned Gaming!

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