Dune: Spice Warsthe new strategy game based on Frank Herbert’s science fiction universe and its recent film adaptation will be released on Steam Early Access for PC on 26.
Publisher Funcom and developer Shiro Games – who made the respected one Northgard – also confirmed that the Fremen would be one of the four playable factions in the game at launch. (Houses Harkonnen and Atreides have already been announced, as well as a smuggler faction.) The game pits the four factions against each other on the desert planet of Arrakis, fighting for control of its immensely valuable resource, Spice.
The desert-dwelling Fremen naturally move through hostile landscapes faster than the other factions, withstand the conditions better, and attract less attention from sandworms. You can even use the sandworms as a fast travel mechanism. They excel at stealth and guerrilla tactics, and their goal is to gather all the sietches (fremen communities) across the planet and drive out the Imperial invaders. Their leader is Liet Kynes (the character played by Sharon Duncan-Brewster in the 2021 film), and their daughter Chani (Zendaya in the film) appears as one of their council members.
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Image: Shiro Games/Funcom
Dune: Spice Wars is a real-time strategy game with larger 4X elements, including an overworld map. Military power must be balanced with infiltration, resource production, and even political influence to be successful. Sounds a bit like Total War. The initial Early Access release will not feature any multiplayer or story-driven single-player campaigns.
Funcom is also developing an open world survival multiplayer game set in the Dune universe.
