For lovers of Frank Herbert’s Dune novel, the Dune: Awakening massively multiplayer on-line sport has a tantalizing premise.
What if Paul Atreides, the anti-hero who’s destined to steer a jihad throughout the galaxy, was by no means born? In Herbert’s story, the younger Atreides is born as a male as a result of his mom, out of affection, bore a son to her Duke Leto Atreides. The Bene Gesserit cult was relying on a daughter as a part of a messiah breeding program. This determination led to a collection of betrayals and plots and set Paul on the trail of revenge.
However as you possibly can see from the trailer, the story of the MMO is one in every of an alternate universe that performs out a special future — one the place the gamers of the sport don’t need to play via the main points of a plot that they already know. In Funcom’s sport, Dune’s future is unwritten.
As I mentioned, it is a tantalizing plot, and it’s a smart one contemplating the developer desires to visitors on the recognition of the Dune motion pictures from Denis Villeneuve (Legendary Leisure) in addition to the Herbert novels — which due to the additions from his son Brian Herbert and sci-fi author Kevin Anderson now quantity round 25 novels. I’ve learn a lot of them, however not all, and I’ve re-read the unique Dune a number of occasions, which is a fancy multi-layered story with a lot political intrigue.
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I really like the universe that Herbert constructed, however I don’t wish to play a sport for dozens of hours the place I already know the ending. I feel loads of sci-fi followers who’re additionally avid gamers may really feel the identical method.
Dune: Awakening Direct
At present, Oslo, Norway-based Funcom, which is owned by Tencent, is revealing loads of the main points of the MMO within the Dune: Awakening Direct occasion. However I caught a demo of Dune: Awakening, an open world survival MMO set on Arrakis, on the Summer time Recreation Fest Play Days occasion. I had my first demo of the sport from Jean-François Gagné, world director, and Matt Woodward, social and financial director, each from Funcom.
The showcase gives half-hour of in-depth interviews and sport footage displaying character creation, the MMO-like server construction, the narrative ramifications of a world the place Paul Atreides was by no means born, and the non secular journey the participant will endure within the sport, following within the footsteps of the Fremen.
There’s lots at stake right here. MMOs take eternally to make, however they are often goldmines. World of Warcraft has been out for 18 years and it has generated practically $10 billion for Blizzard Leisure, now part of Activision Blizzard which is part of Microsoft. Now think about that Dune has bought tens of thousands and thousands of books.
Dune: Awakening, which not too long ago shot previous 1,000,000 wishlists on Steam, attracts on the visible and aural identification created by Denis Villeneuve and Legendary’s latest blockbuster motion pictures, and is deeply rooted within the authentic masterpiece by Herbert.
The sport unleashes you on an unlimited and open Arrakis torn by battle, the place it’s essential to survive and attempt for management of the spice alongside a whole lot of different gamers. The absence of Paul Atreides has created an enormous energy vacuum into which gamers will enterprise, creating their very own story.
Expression and customization is without doubt one of the core pillars of Dune: Awakening. To showcase part of that, the devs confirmed off the strong in-game character creation device. You possibly can select each element of your look, then your house planet, and even your mentor’s specialization, similar to Mentat, Swordmaster, or Bene Gesserit, which determines your beginning skills.
Inventive director Joel Bylos additionally dived into the server construction and the Overland Map, which connects numerous huge sandbox maps, permitting for a bigger variety of gamers in every, each of which set Dune: Awakening aside from many different survival video games.
“Making the world feel seamless and connected has always been one of our goals on Dune: Awakening,” mentioned Bylos. “We built this structure with the idea of making the game expandable, which is difficult with a single map. The idea with the overland map is that it allows us to just keep building the world and giving players new spaces to explore. Who knows what it will look like 5 years from now?”
Dune: Awakening has not too long ago entered its persistent closed beta, giving entry to the total breadth of the sport, from the Hagga Basin beginning space to the Deep Desert endgame. You possibly can join an opportunity to affix on the official web site, and wishlist the sport on Steam. Extra is coming at Gamescom in August.
The demo
In my demo, we began out at a spot on Arrakis known as Ecological Testing Website Quantity 197. It was maybe 40 hours into the sport. Because the Girl Jessica had a daughter, the occasions of the novel didn’t occur. The traitor Physician Yueh was uncovered, the Atreides protect held, and the Harkonnen invaders had been pushed again. Conflict got here to Dune, however the factions are nonetheless in place.
The sand animations are good, and that’s vital on a desert planet. The Freman are scavengers on the planet, and you may get across the planet within the dragonfly-like ornithopters or zip across the sands in a buggy. However whever you go, it’s a must to be careful for the large sandworms.
Town of Arrakeen is within the sport, however the desert has extra character than simply limitless sand and the occasional rock formations. There are constructions and buildings and wrecks aplenty. The goal was to keep away from a boring panorama, and that’s one of many artistic liberties that is smart. There are treacherous traps within the desert like drum sand, which may begin shifting and trigger an avalanche that may appeal to a worm. You may also see the spice on the sand which you could harvest for infinite riches.
There are all kinds of weapons of the capturing variety that you should utilize within the sport. Once more, that’s a departure from the novels, in all probability within the title of enjoyable.
The constructions have loads of vertical areas which you could scale, utilizing issues like a grappling hook. You will discover crystals to reap. The area of the sport scene we noticed was sizable, round 450 sq. kilometers, and it’s regular for the dimensions of a survival sport, Funcom mentioned. We had been in an space close to the Defend Wall. It was fairly, just like the film, however we didn’t get a lot of a way for the entire world.
Total, it’s not a foul place to construct sand castles. Trying ahead to seeing extra.
