Despite still being a new release, Dune: Awakening has often been referred to as an "MMO pretending to be a survival game." As harsh as that might sound, to be fair, it is somewhat true. Dune: Awakening was never only meant to be a survival game with a Dune skin, but a game that accurately represents Frank Herbert's 60-year-old legacy. With that comes a portrayal of Arrakis that feels true to the source material, and that would naturally include the survival elements necessary to make it feel authentic. However, this design philosophy also results in Dune: Awakening being less of a traditional survival game, which reinforces why some might question whether it truly belongs to the survival genre.
Historically, progression in survival games hinges on the survival elements themselves. Rather than progressing while surviving, players progress by surviving in these games, but that's not what Dune: Awakening does. Instead, Funcom's latest ties its progression to classic MMO elements like exploration, quests, and leveling, and while it doesn't necessarily hold survival at arm's length, it is largely kept underground with the ferocious sandworms. It doesn't do so thoughtlessly either, but intentionally, and it all comes down to what it means to bring a beloved universe like Dune into the gaming space without letting genre define it.
Dune: Awakening Review
Dune: Awakening thrives in atmosphere, worldbuilding, and survival depth, even if its combat and grind somewhat drag behind its setting and systems.
Dune: Awakening Subverts the Survival Genre on Purpose
Survival Mechanics as Narrative Devices
In most survival games, resource scarcity and environmental hazards are the main progression hurdles. To move forward in these games, players perform menial tasks like chopping wood, crafting gear, building a shelter, and then rinse and repeat. In Dune: Awakening, on the other hand, those mechanics exist in their own way in order to serve something greater.
Survival systems like Sunstroke, dehydration, and the constant push to move aren't just there to increase the game's grind for longevity's sake. Rather, these are all instruments that serve the narrative and therefore the immersion of Dune: Awakening's Arrakis. When the game forces players to uproot and rebuild in a new biome, it ultimately reveals the transience of life on Arrakis and its indifference toward its inhabitants.
As players fight to stay hydrated or travel across open sands where Dune: Awakening's sandworms lurk below, Arrakis reveals itself to be a living, fully-functioning, well-oiled machine that constantly works against the player as they attempt their next move. These survival elements aren't necessarily pushed into the background, but they also refrain from taking the wheel. More than anything else, Dune: Awakening's survival mechanics are there to try and undo progress rather than fuel it, and that's what makes it such a unique addition to the survival genre.
A World Built to Serve Lore, Not Systems
This distinctive approach to survival gameplay isn't just a challenging set of gimmicks either, but the fruit of Funcom's design philosophy for the game. In an interview with PCGamesN, director Joel Bylos stated, "The first design principle of the project is 'Make your designs fit Dune, do not make Dune fit your designs.'" That’s why Dune: Awakening doesn't rely on sandbox freedom or mechanical progression loops. Instead, systems like crafting, base-building, and survival all exist to support Dune's lore. Faction alignment, spice politics, and the harshness of the desert come first. Everything else bends to that.
More than anything else, Dune: Awakening's survival mechanics are there to try and undo progress rather than fuel it, and that's what makes it such a unique addition to the survival genre.
By placing the world of Dune ahead of traditional survival systems, Dune: Awakening pulls players into a space where the mechanics have much more meaning. Its survival elements aren't just there to make the game more challenging but to reinforce the setting and give it more weight. In doing so, Dune: Awakening repositions the genre's expectations around a deeper narrative experience that respects its source. It may not check every box for a typical survival title, but that's exactly the point.
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Survival, MMO
