The Unwritten Rules of Dune: Awakening Explained

Summary

Prioritize the Fremen quest line for necessary tools and features.
Utilize the status UI for environmental risks and optimal dew collection.
Fast-travel via Ornithopter pilots for easy access to main hub areas.

Funcom's survival MMO Dune: Awakening is finally here with one of the most immersive survival experiences in recent memory. Set in an alternate reality where Paul Atreides never existed, Dune: Awakening takes players to its version of Arrakis, where the expansive, desolate, unforgiving, and breathtaking-to-behold desert teeming with possibilities awaits them.

Dune: Awakening does a fairly good job early on of telling players everything they need to know, but things eventually open up in more of a sandbox way and the game stops holding their hand. From there, Dune: Awakening becomes a game of trial and error (mostly error), where players are forced to learn from their mistakes. That's ultimately why knowing some of the game's unwritten rules beforehand can only benefit them in the long run.

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.

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By Josh Cotts

What Dune: Awakening Players Need to Know

Prioritize the Fremen Quest Line

Since Dune: Awakening isn't just a survival game and is instead also an MMO, that means progression behaves quite a bit differently than survival enthusiasts might expect. Whereas most survival games hinge their progression on survival itself, Dune: Awakening is mostly driven forward by the "Find the Fremen" quest line. This doesn't mean players can't gain some ground by ignoring the story completely, only that not prioritizing the Fremen trial quest line will ultimately lock them out of thumpers, advanced harvest tools, base-building features, and even Dune: Awakening's Ornithopter.

Dune: Awakening does a fairly good job early on of telling players everything they need to know, but things eventually open up in more of a sandbox way and the game stops holding their hand.

Dune: Awakening is filled with quests for players to complete, so the "Find the Fremen" quest line can sometimes get lost in the mix. However, players can ensure they are tracking the quest line by heading to the "Journey" tab in Dune: Awakening's in-game menu, navigating to the "Find the Freme" section of the "Story" tab, then selecting the quest and pressing T to track it.

Utilize the Status UI

The status UI in Dune: Awakening might be one of its most underrated and therefore underused features, but it can really come in handy in a game that's this demanding. Pressing T will bring up the status UI in Dune: Awakening, which shows players' environmental risks — heat, radiation, PvP zones — and has a day-night meter. That meter tells players exactly when dawn arrives, and in turn, the prime time for dew collection. Just as the light turns blue on the UI's day-night meter, players should fill their dew collectors for optimal output.

Fast-Travel Via Ornithopter Pilots

One of the most beneficial pieces of info players should know about Dune: Awakening is that they can fast-travel via Ornithopter pilots fairly early on. This is one of the easiest things in the game to miss, but it's also one of the game's most useful features. At tradeposts in Dune: Awakening, players can find Ornithopter pilots standing near a blue hologram of an Ornithopter, generally in a corner somewhere. By paying them 2500 solaris, players can fast-travel to the game's main hub areas, Arrakeen and Harko Village. These areas have a variety of services available to players, including the bank, plenty of vendors, and advanced class trainers.

Ornithopter pilots can also take players to other tradeposts free of charge.

Don't Spend Intel Carelessly

Something that is very easy to do in Dune: Awakening, especially for those who are attempting to complete everything in the game, is carelessly spend Intel in the Research menu. It doesn't take long to realize just how easy it is to rack up a bunch of Intel in Dune: Awakening, and because of that, players might be tempted to spend it on schematics that look enticing.

However, there are multiple quests in Dune: Awakening that depend on players researching specific things, and if they should come to that quest and not have the Intel to unlock what it calls for, they'll be stuck until they do. As such, it's better just to wait until a quest calls for something to be unlocked or if there's an absolute need for an upgrade — like a more powerful Power Pack, for instance.

Always Plan for Loss

Finally, perhaps the most important unwritten rule of Dune: Awakening is that players should always plan for loss, regardless of what they are doing. Dune: Awakening's Arrakis is harsh and unforgiving, and the smallest misstep can result in entire inventories and even bases being wiped. In light of that, one of the best things players can do to ensure they are safeguarding their future is to visit one of the banks in either Arrakeen or Harko Village to store solaris and precious items.

Also, players should always make sure their taxes are paid if they want to keep their base in Dune: Awakening, as neglecting to pay them will cause their base to decay. If players are planning to take an extended break from the game, they should at least make a blueprint of their base using a Solido Replicator and then store all of their valuables in the bank before logging off.

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