Dune: Awakening

"I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere." Wrong film series, but after playing many hours of Dune: Awakening, I'm quite sure that those who "live" on Arrakis agree with Anakin Skywalker. And I'm not sure people live there so much as they just try to survive. It's hardly a holiday enjoying the sun. No, here the sun is your biggest enemy. Except for sandworms, because nothing is scarier than Shai-Hulud.

Norwegian company Funcom has taken their experience from online role-playing games, or MMORPGs, such as Conan Exiles, Anarchy Online, and The Secret World to create something as interesting as an MMO/survival game based on Frank Herbert's Dune books. It's often that we see games from this series focus on the politics behind the Spice Wars, but here we get a more intimate look at what life on Arrakis is like. Dune: Awakening is set in an alternate timeline where Paul Atreides (the main character played by Timothée Chalamet in the new Dune trilogy if you're not too familiar with this world) was never born, and Javier Bardem never got to say "Lisan al Gaib" and then become a meme because of it. Thanks to, or because of, this, the story has unfolded a little differently to what we are used to and our goal in the game is to find the Fremen people that have disappeared from what was once their home planet. Without spoiling the story, we are given an explanation as to why there are no longer any Fremen, but it is up to our character to find out the truth.

The character creator is what we would expect from a game like this with looks and such. It is also possible to choose your home planet and where on the social ladder you were. This is to give the character a bit more background. It is then also possible to choose what type of combat style you start with. You are then stuck with that one, but it is possible to unlock traits from the other trait trees as well. The problem is that some class traits are unlocked much later than others. I chose to play as a soldier, which then turned out would be the first class to unlock. Had I chosen one of the others, like the Bene Gesserit (which only women can normally be members of, but here it works with a male character too) I would have had a class that unlocks very late plus the soldier trait. Now I was stuck with just my trait tree for effective mid-range combat. So if you are someone who likes to unlock a lot very early, you might want to do some reading before you choose.

Our ship is then shot down over Arrakis and now we have to survive. As I wrote earlier, this is a type of survival game, but unlike many other games in the genre, there are not many things to keep track of to keep us alive. The only thing needed is water. Which really isn't that easy to find on a planet full of sand. So where is this water found? In blood, sweat... but no tears. After killing someone, you suck out their blood until you have so many full blood bags that Dracula would be jealous. You can drink directly from the bag, which is not recommended. It may quench your thirst, but you also lose health. Instead, you build a blood-to-water machine in your base and enjoy no longer feeling like a leech. The other thing to keep an eye on is your general health, your well-being. Get shot or stabbed and your health meter won't be so happy. Same with falls from height. You know, just the sort of thing that would wear out our health metres in real life.

Just like in the rest of the survival genre, everything goes in a loop. Go out and collect materials, build stuff, kill some bad guys, recover, collect more materials, build more stuff. And of course, advance the main story from time to time. However, the game's entertainment is in this repetition as the story is not really something to hang on the sand-filled Christmas tree. It's fun trying to survive as the sun bakes me in what is surely hotter than a normal pizza oven. Sand as far as the eye can see in all directions. Bandits in small camps and bandits in big bases. It takes something special to keep a game interesting for tens to hundreds of hours when all the environments are exactly the same all the time. Sand and rock, rock and sand. I really feel how hard it is to survive. When the water runs out in the tanks, I'm far from my base, and the screen starts to blur from sunstroke, I don't feel good. Neither in the game nor in front of the screen.

Another thing that doesn't make me feel good is being eaten by a huge sandworm. If there is one thing Funcom has succeeded in doing, it is the feeling of sandworm danger all the time. As soon as I take a single step into the sand, and even before, panic sets in. The controls start to shake, the gauge to show how much noise I'm making and how close the worm is is bright red, the sound is terrifying. Fast as hell I drive my motorbike to the nearest safe place, the worms have no appetite when the ground is made of stone. Occasionally I see a worm emerge from the sand somewhere further away, perhaps it has just eaten another player. The soundscape is so good that I only need to hear it, not even see it, for fear to set in. Shai-Hulud is nearby!

Unfortunately, I don't get the same feeling when I have to fight any of the endless bandits on the planet. This is because the combat system is disappointing. It's not bad, but no more than mediocre. The biggest problem is the melee combat. When it's knife to knife. Aside from being able to get stunlocked for all eternity, this type of combat is not very fun. Block an attack that's more readable than the Dune books themselves and counter with an attack of your own. Boom, dead, take their blood. Most enemies that focus on melee use a type of energy-based shield that covers their entire body. Quick slashes won't bite, so you'll have to use a charged attack that goes through the shield. This is usually incredibly easy to do after dodging an attack. The trouble is with those who are more trigger-happy. The thing is, the computer-controlled enemies are never very smart. They either just rush straight at you or stand and shoot in plain sight, never crouching behind anything, and more visible than the sun in this damn hot sky. The only reason they cause any sort of problem is that they never stop shooting. They take a short break to reload, but then they stand there, like a worse version of Rambo.

This game is PvE. Or well, it's supposed to be, for the most part. According to the developers' description of the game, PvP is 'an option', but not a compulsion. The problem here is that it's a big lie. At the end of the game, what is called the endgame, there is forced PvP. The Deep Desert, as this huge area is called, is where the most coveted items are found. But as a solo player, it's very difficult to get there. It's possible, of course, but when large teams are formed to defend everything, it becomes very difficult. I have nothing against PvP in games, but when 99 per cent of the game is PvE and players who prefer to play this way are locked out of the final part of the game, it doesn't make for a good feeling. In addition, some static crash sites (sometimes ships crash randomly on the map), ones that are always there, are PvP in zones that are otherwise PvE. There are also contracts to take care of, like finding things or killing special enemies, to earn extra money, equipment or materials, that have to be completed in these ships. So I don't really understand how PvP is not a requirement.

Sure, if you don't want to complete the whole game, you don't have to dive in. Here's the biggest problem I see with this: the PvP players, which according to various surveys are by far the largest part of the player base, will reach the end zone, realise it's not for them, and put the game away forever. I would have liked to see this somehow split for both types of players, with the more dangerous zone perhaps providing more material. Funcom has promised updates with new content and I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that all players will have something to do. Because I think this could be the next big MMO experience, if the developers play their cards right.

Whether you are team Atreides or team Harkonnen, both of which there are opportunities to join for special furniture for the base, clothing, and more, you will find much to like in this game. It's an excellent survival game that unfortunately has major flaws in its combat system. The base building, where it eventually feels like having a big factory in your house, is very good and I've seen some incredible creations. Ride a motorbike across the sand with a worm biting your bum, fly your own ornithopter high in the sky, set down a combine harvester to collect spices. There's so much to do here even though it's all sand. Anakin Skywalker would hate it here.