Dune: Awakening Review-in-Progress

We previously previewed Funcom's survival crafting game Dune: Awakening after spending some time playing the beta. You can read that preview here.

Our impressions haven't really changed much. What has changed, however, is that we are now on live servers, and this means more waiting than expected. In case you're in doubt, I'm writing this while waiting for a semi-unplanned two-hour maintenance to close all the servers for two hours, and then some. Yesterday, I spent most of my time waiting in line. The server system in this non-MMO is designed so that there are a large number of worlds, each with 25 smaller servers associated with it, and your character is tied to one of these, so you can't just jump to a new one if your own is full.

This is probably due to the semi-permanent dwellings you build on the planet. Based on the server I play on, it seems that Funcom underestimated how many people were actually interested. Every hillside in the starting area is filled with homemade dwellings, primarily built by people who clearly did not attend architecture school. This also puts pressure on the servers, and I experienced being kicked out several times during cutscenes and interludes, so it was good that I had played the beta and understood what had happened. I find it difficult to stomach having to pay an additional £11 a month for a private server that is more stable. This should be sorted out fairly quickly.

Oh, and if you're struggling with graphical glitches, forget about hot-patching. I put an FPS cap on - 120 FPS max - and bang, no more problems. The old tricks still work. It's a bit strange that these kinds of problems arise with a game engine, but at least the graphical errors that occasionally occurred in the beta are completely gone.

The large approach is fantastic for the game, but it also destroys any illusion that you are the only one who has crashed and is trying to carry out a secret mission because there are quite a few others like me, to put it plainly. However, it doesn't ruin the good atmosphere as much as the stiff animations of the many enemies and other players. The game physics often feel like something that has been around for a number of years, and I find the jumping animations and everything related to climbing particularly archaic. It's strange, because the heat, shadows, light, reflections, and surface textures are excellent and of high graphic quality, but the people who populate the planet could do with an upgrade. It's as if they forgot to buy an extra physics and animation package for the people who appear in the game.

It doesn't matter much in practice, because it's still the battle against the elements that takes up a lot of space - raw survival, especially the first 8-10 hours - so much so that players aren't in such a hurry with each other. And PvP isn't enabled anyway, unless you've rented a private server, that is, but honestly, that's not something I want to spend time or money on. And besides, it's shared with all of us in a lot of areas anyway.

Dune: Awakening is defined as "an open world survival crafting game... (with) many typical MMO features," and you still have to take that relatively literally. You're not going to plant trees and be constructive. You get life by taking it - quite literally - and at least in the beginning by harvesting the blood and resources of others.

This is admittedly a "review-in-progress" but certain things are unlikely to change. The music, for example, is far too inconspicuous, which is a shame. It's rich in atmosphere - the combination of church organs and cellos in particular are excellent - and it's clear that real symphonic compositional work has gone into it, rather than just some AI-generated nonsense.

Yet, it's still challenging to run around, especially during the daytime, and even though the distances can be relatively short - less than a kilometre - you still have to plan and take things into consideration: Where is the shortest distance between two areas with cliffs so that you don't get caught in the open sand? Where are the dew-covered flowers I can drink from, because water is always in short supply? And why is it so far to a place that has the parts I need for my automatic rifle? That said, I'm enjoying it, and Funcom deserves credit for its snappy patching response.

If the game were to be scored today - based on very little - it would be an eight. It's a mix of crafting, survival, and MMO elements, and even though I know that at some point I'll have to choose, right now I'm enjoying life as a free bird, taking on tasks from both small and large noble families, and knowing, perhaps, what lies ahead.