It’s a tough genre, the survival game. Ever since The Forest and Rust exploded in popularity, dozens of would-be rivals have come along, and Steam is now full of games where you can scavenge, craft, and hunt. The Long Dark is getting a sequel. Project Zomboid has been surging lately. But if there’s one upcoming survival sim with the pedigree to outshine its competitors then it’s Dune Awakening. A kind of alternate-history take on Frank Herbert’s sci-fi odyssey, we still don’t know precisely when Dune Awakening is coming out – but it’s already got thousands of players on PC.
Paul Atreides was never born. The Fremen have all but vanished. Duke Leto is battling with the Harkonnens over Arrakis and the Spice. Dune Awakening takes the tone and visuals of the films and books, but imagines a different narrative. Part MMO and part survival game, while you can build and craft solo, you can also team up with other players, and pick up quests from huge social hubs which also contain guilds, markets, and opportunities for large-scale PvP battles. The Dune Awakening release date is due in 2025, but apart from that, the game’s launch is shrouded in mystery. Nevertheless, a new playtest is underway.
It’s not mentioned on the Dune Awakening Steam page, but developer Funcom is apparently hosting a big playtest for the upcoming PC game. According to data from the Steam backend, 2,882 people have played this test simultaneously during the last 24 hours. That’s a big number, and could be a sign that Funcom is preparing to share the game with an even bigger audience – or even getting ready for launch.
The last major test appears to have been in October 2024, when just over 1,000 people were online to play Dune Awakening together. A persistent world where you can use melee weapons, magic, and even vehicles, including the iconic ornithopter, hopefully the full launch of Dune Awakening will arrive in the imminent future.
In the meantime, you might want to try some of the best open-world games, or maybe the best multiplayer games on PC.
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