Geoff Keighley presented new gameplay footage for the upcoming new game, Dune: Awakening, during Gamescom 2022. Awakening is described as an open-world survival MMO, and Dune fans can head to the official website to find out more about the game. Though a Dune MMO has long been in the public consciousness, the Gamescom footage is the first look at the game. After all this time, does Awakening finally have a release window?
Related: Which faction should you choose in Dune: Spice Wars?
Does Dune: Awakening have a release date?
The Dune game website shows that players can sign-up for the game’s beta, and on Steam, they can put the game on their wishlist. However, a firm release date for the game was not revealed during the Gamescom presentation, and the planned release date given on Steam reads “TBA.” The game is developed by Funcom and is planned to release on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
The footage shown at Gamescom 2022 was a CGI cinematic, showing off a man standing in the middle of the desolated deserts of Arrakis. He’s wearing a stillsuit as seen in the Dune movies, and he may potentially be Paul Atreides, or maybe a customizable player avatar. There is a narrator speaking in the cinematic and it’s talking about fear being a mind killer, with the footage ending when the unnamed man confronts a giant sandworm.
The official website goes into more detail on what players can expect with Awakening when it releases. Players will get to explore the world of Arrakis, trekking across the desert dunes of the planet, and scavaging for supplies in abandoned stations and fallen spaceships. The goal of the game is to hunt for spice blooms and create your own harvests that you need to protect from rival factions. Players will create their own character avatar, and your avatar needs to consume spice to hone their senses and gain powerful new abilities. In the films and books, the spice from Arrakis gives people supernatural powers, such as visions.
