Dune’s new survival MMO looks more like an MMORPG and could redefine the genre

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The Game Awards 2022 are over and showed unprecedented trailer fireworks. Dune: Awakening was included. For MeinMMO editor Maik Schneider the highlight, next to the giant Diablo 4. According to the latest information, the survival genre could open a whole new chapter with Dune.

What kind of game is Dune: Awakening? The new title from Funcom describes itself as an open-world survival MMO. Roughly speaking, here we get a Conan Exiles set in the world of Dune: The Desert Planet, one of the most successful sci-fi stories.

You start in the middle of the desert with few or no resources, collect and craft important items and food to survive and gradually gain wealth and fame as well as a much too large base that is built with your own hands. So far, so well known.

But Dune makes it clear that they want to go a few steps further. Thousands of players should romp around and interact in the desert world, NPCs rule the economy, which we can influence with our own guilds, and heavy war equipment such as tanks and planes fight for the most important resource in the universe: the spice.

I see nothing less than the next evolutionary step in the survival genre. Towards more interaction between players and their allies. Dune: Awakening feels more like an MMORPG to me and could change the genre forever.

I’m including the latest trailer with the first gameplay here:

Dune: Awakening – First gameplay trailer for the new survival MMO

More about the author Maik Schneider: Originally I was a pure PlayStation player and therefore came into contact with the survival genre comparatively late. But my first steps in Minecraft on the PS3 opened my eyes – what did I just miss there?

I caught up a lot and followed the development of the survival market. I’ve now sunk thousands of hours into the genre: 7 Days to Die, Terraria, Conan Exiles, ARK: Survival Evolved, Rust – all titles that I’ve enjoyed for hundreds of hours.

With Dune: Awakening there is now also a game where I find the background story very appealing. And if it can keep its promises, it could change the whole survival genre.

Dune: Awakening is a consequence of the survival hype

At the end of 2020 / beginning of 2021, a game that had been on the market for 7 years at that point was suddenly in the hype: Rust.

Due to the corona pandemic and game postponements, the supply situation on the gaming market was tense. On the demand side, however, many more people wanted to gamble. Rust became known through Twitch and attracted many players to the survival game.

Twitch streamer shroud also celebrated Rust at the time and said: “You go in, walk around, you can shoot things or talk to people”. As a result, role-playing servers and huge streamer projects emerged. Rust has been the pinnacle of gaming for months, largely due to its social component.

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How could Dune: Awakening change the genre? The new survival MMO makes social interaction a key feature. The new Steam page says:

“Dune: Awakening combines the rigor and creativity of survival games with the social interactivity of large-scale multiplayer titles in an open-world survival MMO that is as unique as it is ambitious. Survive and dominate on a huge and seamless Arrakis in battle with thousands of other players.

So it offers a huge open world in which thousands of players fight simultaneously for the favor of the great houses of Arrakis. The current information about the game outlines a huge world in which many groups of players fight for the most important resources.

Allies become just as important as a well-built fortress. Communicative players could be just as important a resource as the spice itself.

And Dune is all about Spice – a rare resource needed for space travel, which acts as a currency and is virtually only available on the desert planet of Arrakis. The developers at Funcom can draw on the stories of a large sci-fi universe.

A lot of details about the title are still missing. But the focus on the social could usher in a new era for the survival genre. An era in which survival games are almost becoming life simulations that offer a similar scope to MMORPGs.

What other features does Dune: Awakening offer? Finally, I will list some other features that Dune: Awakening has already announced:

  • Meet characters from the books and movies
  • Constantly fight against other players in PvP or join forces with them
  • Unravel mysteries behind the motives of the rulers
  • Skills improve with use
  • Many different points of interest in the open world
  • The desert world changes with constant storms
  • Hard survival due to the lack of water
  • Maintain and upgrade desert suits
  • 3rd person gameplay
  • Battles with tanks, infantry and planes
  • Specialization in melee or ranged combat
  • Complex economic system around the Spice
  • Guilds can merge with large (NPC) houses
  • Crafting of weapons, attachments, modifications, armor

    • I’m very excited about the title and will be keeping a close eye on developments around Dune: Awakening. I’m sure it can really shake up the survival genre if it lives up to its promises.

    I am also very interested in your opinion on the first information. Leave me a comment on the topic.

    If you would rather find out more about other survival titles, we have a suitable list for you here: The 25 best survival games for PlayStation, PC and Xbox

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