Dune: Awakening, the survival game with RPG elements by Funcom released first on PC last year, is now available on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. A physical release of the PS5 version is also available.
Initially pitched as an MMO game, Dune: Awakening is now completely playable solo, with PVP and any multiplayer interaction completely optional. Players can create their solo character and begin their awakening in Arrakis in solace, though solo characters can’t be brought into multiplayer servers. This is a free base game update on PC that is launching alongside the console release.
We’ve played quite a bit of the new solo mode ahead of its launch, which you can find what we think of here.
The same free base game update, which the console version comes with, also includes customisable difficulty settings (includes harvest rates, experience gains) for those playing solo, to make the survival game easier or harder in very particular ways. This is likely the reason you can’t bring solo characters to official multiplayer servers.
The update also comes with the conclusion of Book One of Dune: Awakening’s cinematic narrative. The game is inspired by the influential sci-fi novel by Frank Herbert as well as the film franchise directed by Denis Villeneuve. It’s a new story set in an alternate timeline where Paul Atreides, the central figure in the novel and films, doesn’t exist, and you’re sent to the planet in search of the Fremen.
While Dune: Awakening isn’t adapting the narrative beats exactly to the source material, the world itself, filled with jargons that sound like Arabic but may mean something else in the context in this world. So fans of the setting should have a lot of things to point on the screen.
Speaking of fanservice, there’s new paid DLC for Dune: Awakening launching alongside the free update and console version. The Filmic Archive DLC adds new attire, building pieces, weapons and emotes based on the film series. Specifically, you can dress your character in the Caldan Stormcoat as worn by Duke Leto and Paul in Dune: Part One, and the Aegis Of An Unwalked Path armour as seen in Paul Atreides’ visions of the Fremen holy warriors in Dune: Part Two.
This isn’t the end of Dune: Awakening’s post-launch support. Cross-play between all platforms will be added post-launch.
Dune: Awakening is available now on PS5, PC (Steam) and Xbox Series X|S.