The story in Dune: Awakening deviates from the original Dune timeline and the movies (Dune and Dune: Part Two), and it even tells you in the intro that everything feels like a dream — not quite reality. This gives the developers a kind of creative license to implement their own stories and quests, which I think is a good thing. It adds diversity and replayability to the game.
You start off in the desert, and from there, it's all about building, upgrading, and occasionally relocating your base to progress. I really enjoyed exploring the desert — it’s massive, and there’s always a constant fear of crossing certain sections because of that big-ass worm. Yes, it will eat you and all your stuff.
Later on, you can build better vehicles, and the ornithopter is an absolute must for faster travel and mining resources. Plus, flying one is just plain cool.
The game is split into two large maps:
Hagga Basin: Mostly PvE and where you’ll spend most of your time progressing through the story.
The Deep Desert: Partially PvE, but 75% PvP. And let me tell you — players will hunt you down. It's brutal.
Be advised! Don’t go into the Deep Desert thinking you’ll dominate — it’s a spice war out there, and solo players need to be especially cautious.
Story rating: 8/10
From your first sandbike to flying a carrier ornithopter, you have a lot of options for traveling. Base building is in-depth, and you can really go wild with creativity.
The game features a broad questline, including choosing allegiance with either House Atreides or House Harkonnen. You can also join guilds, take part in the Landsraad, and complete quests to earn voting points. Each week, the house with the most points earns a special faction-wide bonus.
I was hooked all the way through the questline. But once you hit endgame and reach the Deep Desert, it’s mostly about farming — and maybe picking on some tribes trying to be punks out there (haha).
You can upgrade your gear and stats however you like. Bases need constant upkeep, and you’ll have to scavenge materials to fuel generators and keep everything running.
Like most games, this one has its share of bugs (most of which will probably get patched). Initially, the visuals were amazing. But after an update, the area where I built my base got stuck in a constant light sandstorm, which kind of ruined the view.
Still, to quote the movie: "Arrakis is so beautiful when the sun comes up." That’s true. Whether from a mountain peak or while cruising in an ornithopter, I was genuinely stunned by the scenery more than a few times.
Graphics score: 8/10
Once you get used to your environment, you can thrive. But be warned — at some point, the worm will get you.
Enemies scale by region, so don’t rush. Take your time, and you’ll have a good experience.
Difficulty rating: 6/10
The storyline is solid. For me, it took over 100 hours to feel confident enough to enter the Deep Desert — and that confidence quickly shattered once I met PvP players.
I didn’t put much time into base building, but I’ve seen some incredible builds from other players and YouTubers. You could easily sink dozens more hours into that alone.
An addictive game where you can get creative and really invest in building something that’s your own. It demands time and effort — gathering supplies, learning from your mistakes, and pushing toward that next milestone.
For solo players, there’s plenty to do. And if you get bored, you can always expand your base to massive proportions or join a guild to help tame the Deep Desert.
Overall score: 8/10
