Summary
- Desert settings are iconic in video games, from Dune to Kenshi, offering strategic challenges in a harsh environment.
- Homeworld: Deserts Of Kharak comes with intense desert warfare with a mobile base mechanic and tactical challenges.
- Dune: Imperium and Dune: Spice Wars offer immersive strategy experiences in the iconic Dune universe, each with unique gameplay loops.
The desert has made for an evocative setting across all kinds of media, from the expansive, mesmerizing desert environments of Lawrence Of Arabia, to the often-visited sands of Tatooine in Star Wars. However, it could be argued that no desert is quite as iconic - and as memorable - as that of Frank Herbert's Dune.
Every Dune Tabletop Game, Ranked
Dune has several tabletop games for fans of the IP to sink their teeth into. Here's how every game stacks up.
Deserts don't have to be based on pre-existing IPs to be successful, however, with indie developers such as Lo-Fi Games creating their own desert wasteland world with their game, Kenshi. From digital board games like Dune: Imperium to the desert planet of Kharak in the lesser-known Homeworld title, strategy fans are spoiled for choice when it comes to desert settings.
6 Desert Kingdoms
A Minimalist Indie RTS Set In The Desert
- Platform(s): PC
- Released: 2024
- Developer(s): Markus Fink
- Genre: RTS
This minimalist indie strategy game features charming pixel art and a desert setting that tasks players with skirmishing in procedurally generated maps. The game's mechanics are as minimal as the visuals, making its systems easy to learn and friendly to newcomers, though there is room to strategize throughout each match.
Desert Kingdoms is a low-budget affair and, despite its use of procedural generation, it features little in the way of replay value. However, it's a great low-effort strategy game for lunch breaks and short play sessions.
5 Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak
Immersive Desert Warfare With A Mobile Base
- Platform(s): PC
- Released: 2016
- Developer(s): Blackbird Interactive
- Genre: RTS
Although Homeworld: Deserts Of Kharak lacks the deep space combat that Homeworld is known for, its desert warfare is surprisingly intense and often strategic. The game's dusty environments and open-field combat encounters are frequently tactical and offer a solid challenge, with a mobile base that gives the gameplay a unique twist.
If the aforementioned mobile base is destroyed, the mission is lost, and this presents a unique challenge because the mobile base is also the player's main source of power. What's more, players also have to worry about the temperature of their base, as overheating can be dangerous and even lead to the base's destruction. It may not be as timeless as Relic Entertainment's flagship title, Homeworld, but Deserts Of Kharak offers immersive desert battles for fans of more grounded combat.
4 Kenshi
A Strategic Sandbox In A Desert Wasteland
Kenshi
- Released
- December 6, 2018
- Platform(s)
- PC
- Developer
- Lo-Fi Games
This strategic sandbox gives players complete freedom to explore its unique, utterly strange, and wholly unforgiving world. Kenshi is a brutal game that's unafraid to treat the player unfairly and, as a result, it's a relatively inaccessible experience. However, this also works in the game's favor, offering a deeply immersive world that feels genuine.
In the game, players control one or several adventurers attempting to make their way in a world that mostly comprises desert wastelands. Combat can be avoided, but players will often find themselves in fight-or-flight situations. Encounters make use of auto-attacks, but players are able to micromanage their squad members to increase their effectiveness, and the real-time-with-pause gameplay makes this relatively painless.
3 Starship Troopers: Terran Command
Fighting Alien Arachnids On A Desert Planet
- Platform(s): PC
- Released: 2022
- Developer(s): The Artistocrats
- Genre: RTS
Lacking the deep base-building mechanics and economic management that real-time strategy games are known for, Starship Troopers: Terran Command makes up for its simplicity with high-octane combat encounters that have players commanding large squads of zealous marines against hordes of alien arachnids. The game takes place in the iconic setting of Paul Verhoeven's film, Starship Troopers, and manages to stay relatively loyal to the source material.
For fans of action-orientated strategy games that enjoy fussing over the positioning of their units, Starship Troopers: Terran Command is likely to please. However, veteran RTS players may be somewhat disappointed by the game's lack of deeper systems.
2 Dune: Imperium
A Digital Board Game Set In The Dune Universe
- Platform(s): PC, Xbox
- Released: 2024
- Developer(s): Dire Wolf
- Genre: Strategy
This digital adaptation of the tabletop game of the same name is a turn-based strategy game with solid AI opponents and a great deal of variety. Dune: Imperium combines elements of popular board game mechanics such as worker placement and deck-building, offering a truly unique gameplay loop that tickles the brain in a number of ways.
Dune: Imperium - Best Leaders
Each leader in Dune: Imperium comes with powerful and useful boons. Here are the best ones from the Dune-themed digital board game on Steam.
Dune: Imperium is dense with strategic options, but its tutorial does an admirable job of easing players into the experience. The game's community may be relatively small, but players who can't find a game easily can always battle against competent AI opponents. Dune: Imperium also features a variety of leaders that encourage their own play-styles, and the game's recently released DLC, Dune: Imperium - Rise Of Ix, adds even more replay value to the game.
1 Dune: Spice Wars
A 4X RTS Set On The Dusty Dunes Of Arrakis
Dune: Spice Wars
- Released
- September 14, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Shiro Games
- Platform(s)
- PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Genre(s)
- Real-Time Strategy
Developed by Shiro Games, the very same team behind the Viking-themed RTS, Northgard, Dune: Spice Wars is a real-time 4X game set in Frank Herbert's iconic Dune universe. More specifically, Dune: Spice Wars takes place on Arrakis and features a slew of thematic mechanics and systems that take full advantage of the source material.
Dune: Spice Wars is an incredibly methodical and slow-burning strategy game that takes patience to learn and play, with a focus on tactical timing and positioning. The game also features a great deal of faction variety, allowing players to command everyone from the Fremen and the Atreides, all the way to a band of organized smugglers. Furthermore, Dune: Spice Wars features an array of victory conditions that allow for diverse play, offering plenty of opportunities for comebacks along the way.
6 Beginner Tips For Dune: Spice Wars
Players new to Dune: Spice Wars should check out these helpful tips to get a better understanding of the game.