Survival games are all the rage right now, and there aren’t many IP more popular than Dune at present. Naturally, a Dune survival game sounds like a pretty good bet. Dune Awakening is the benefactor of that killer combo, and it’s recently unveiled loads of new gameplay footage and details at Gamescom. Down on the show floor, we caught up with the game’s creative director Joel Bylos to learn more about a small but intriguing feature that briefly appeared in its new gameplay trailer – GTA style radio stations.
One of the core experiences that prospective players are hyped for in Dune Awakening is the ability to craft and pilot your own ornithopter. Taking to the skies in the vast open-world survival game is going to be crucial for exploration, but it also looks like a blast as well. As it turns out you’ll have ample entertainment on long flights across the sands.
“I think the thing that I’m kind of excited about, that we haven’t really talked about that much, is we have these radio stations like GTA or Fallout 3,” Bylos tells us. “It’s like the Harkonnen propaganda station, or the Atreides propaganda station, or the Harvester guild radio.”
This seems like an interesting thing to have in a survival game, but then again not all survival games are based on an IP with such vast amounts of lore and source material to draw from. Bylos says that these stations can not only entertain Dune enthusiasts, but that they’re an important tool for helping newer players understand the world around them.
“You listen to them, and they have speeches and information and they talk about the world. So if you’re new to Dune and you don’t know any of this stuff, you kind of pick it up like it’s osmosis, right? You sort of suck it into the skin. If you already know Dune, you’re also hopefully interested, because we’re doing this alternate timeline, so you’re also like: ‘Oh, here are all the things that are different in this world from the core Dune.’”
The radio isn’t the only way to get lore’d up and find out more about this interpretation of Arrakis.
“There’s not a whole lot of stuff being thrown at you straight up, but then as you get a little deeper into the game, you start getting access to different things,” Bylos explains. “Like, you find Shigawire Reels in the world, which have information recorded [on them]. We also have this thing we call the Dunepedia. It’s a feature where you pick up lore bits along the way and it fills out a codex, like you’ve seen in Mass Effect or something.”
It’s good to see that, despite the style of game Dune Awakening is, there is still a smorgasbord of lore (loregasbord?) to find and enjoy.
Dune Awakening is set to release in early 2025. You can find out more about it and wishlist over on its Steam page here.
If you just can’t wait that long for the Dune Awakening release date, here are some of the best building games that will scratch the crafting and base building itch. Alternatively, our best open world games list is full of amazing environments you can explore (though few are as sandy as Arrakis).
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Interview conducted at Gamescom by Sam Comrie.