At the Summer Game Fest, the promising survival game Dune: Awakening was given a fresh trailer – and it now also reveals what the approach to the story will be.
The Dune franchise has been on everyone’s lips ever since Denis Villeneuve’s successful sci-fi films – and now Dune: Awakening, a very promising open-world survival MMO, is coming onto the market. But what is the game’s approach to the story?
This question was now answered at the Summer Game Fest, including in a new trailer. Dune fans know that protagonist Paul Atreides has the ability to see all possible futures – and that is also the basis for Funcom’s new implementation.
The developers are focusing on an alternative timeline in the game that puts the future of the desert planet Arrak is in your hands. The trailer is narrated by Paul Atreides, who looks at a Spice vision of the world in which he was never born – and this is the scenario in which you find yourself in Dune: Awakening.
Although the visuals are based on Denis Villeneuve’s films, thematically this alternative storyline is very different from the films and books. While the world of Dune is largely kept true, the fate of Arrakis depends on key decisions you make. In this version, Jessica Atreides never gave birth to Paul and instead decided to obey the orders of the Bene Gesserit and have a daughter. She calls her Ariste Atreides, a character you will get to know as the game progresses.
This decision, in turn, triggers a chain reaction that fundamentally changes the situation on Arrakis and ultimately leads to the survival of Duke Leto Atreides and a war of assassins between the Harkonnens and the Atreides. Arrakis is torn apart by the war between the two great houses, the Fremen have disappeared after being hunted down and, of course, the focus remains: the Spice.
Further details on the alternate timeline will be available on June 20th during a livestream, when episode 2 of Dune: Awakening Direct will be broadcast.
Dune Awakening – Story Cinematic (The Vision of Paul Atreides)
