Materially speaking, what impact does this have on the world of Dune: The Awakeningis to give you an Arrakis that is in the midst of a full-blown war. The Fremen are nowhere to be seen (we are told they are currently “missing”), and the Atreides, now alive and well in this alternate universe, continue to battle the Harkonnen and others for the planet’s resources. This gives you a land that begs for looting, full of destroyed buildings, broken vehicles, and plenty of weapons to dig up.
With the set design and a little imagination, you can see how Funcom, who are no strangers to developing massive worlds, could create an incredible survival MMO gaming experience here. We recently got to see this world first hand in a recent hands-off preview during Summer Game Fest: Play Days. Although the title is still in development, you could see that the basic structure is in place for a gripping adventure that lets us explore vast swathes of the deadly planet Arrakis.
A special feature known as Shifting Sands will adjust the landscape of the Deep Desert every week, hiding points of interest and revealing new ones, encouraging players to explore these regions again and again, giving the planet itself a sense of life. There is also Combined Arms, a combination of ranged and melee abilities that work together to give players interesting options for approaching PVP and PVE encounters in Dune: The Awakening
