The first time I saw a sandworm erupt from the ground in Dune Awakening, I nearly jumped out of my chair. I was watching a behind-closed-doors demo from Funcom, and the player we were following was just minding their own business on Arrakis. Then the sand exploded. A colossal worm chased them down, and I realized this was not a fight you win. You run, you hide, or you become worm food. Welcome to Dune Awakening, folks. It is not here to play nice.

That demo was short, but it packed a punch. The team at Funcom made it clear they are swinging for the fences. They want a huge time investment from players, a compelling new take on the Dune story, and factions you can learn from to unlock new skills and abilities. The devs boasted that the desert section of the map alone is the size of all of Conan Exiles. Let that sink in. They imagine you will spend 30 to 50 hours leveling in just the starting area. And that is only scratching the surface.

🌪️ The Weekly Sandstorm That Erases Everything

Here is the hook that made my jaw drop: every single week, the sections of the world not protected by a shield get hit by a sandstorm. It wipes out all the buildings you and your opponents have constructed in the seven days leading up to this weekly event. Funcom calls them cataclysmic Coriolis storms. They regularly alter the landscape, uncover new valuable resources, and sweep away player-built outposts. When the dust settles, the race is on. Scout the fresh new land and uncover the secrets of the sands.

I watched a player journey into a radioactive crash site and showcase the ability to climb any geometry in the world. The demo also teased secrets waiting at the highest peaks. But the sandstorm is the real game-changer. It means you cannot just build a fortress and call it a day. Every week, the slate gets wiped clean. Every week, teams scramble to use their building templates to prop up new structures and claim zones as their own. Every week, you defend against combatants who want what you have. I am wondering what each new week will look like. Here is hoping it is absolute pandemonium.

🪱 Survival Is the Name of the Game

The one aspect Funcom kept going back to was survival. That became clear when a sandworm erupted from the ground and chased down the player we were following. Death is devastating. You cannot fight a Sandworm. You can only survive, or lose everything you have acquired to that point if you get eaten. The same is true if you lose in PVP and become a refreshing beverage for your opponent. Fail to take cover during a world-changing event, and you are toast. Even becoming dehydrated in the desert, if you do not pay attention to your heat meter and get heatstroke, will put you at a severe disadvantage. Surviving is a key part of your journey.

I have played a lot of survival games, but this one has teeth. You are not just managing hunger and thirst. You are managing the sun, the sand, the worms, and other players who would love to see you fail. It is a brutal cocktail, and I mean that in the best way.

🧠 Factions, Skills, and the Story Twist

Dune Awakening has a lot of ambitious gameplay elements the team is trying to tie together. For instance, a fictional story where the assassination of Paul Atreides does not take place because he was never born. His father survived. And because his mother had a daughter as she was instructed to, instead of a son. With these overarching story elements as a jumping-off point, the team gets to play with a unique future and a new outcome for the factions. Key players of the Dune universe interact in a way you would not see in the novels. There is a political system that pits players against each other in a battle for territory. Sandworms will eat you if you are caught in their path and take all of the gear you had with them. Sweeping sandstorms will obliterate any structure you have built on the map and create an entirely new landscape every week.

All of these systems are doing their best to craft a template that will keep the world of Dune Awakening fresh and interesting. During the demo, the team estimated that you would spend your first 30 to 50 hours of the game in the starting location alone. That was one of several on the map that we were shown as explorable. On one hand, I like the idea that the game world will be kept fresh via sandstorms that destroy all you have built up and unlock an entirely new overworld to explore. On the other hand, I am wondering what each new week will look like as teams scramble to utilize their building templates to prop up a new structure and claim a zone as their own to defend against combatants as each week begins. Here is hoping it is absolute pandemonium.

While there are story changes you should expect, the need for water and even more importantly alliances are intact. Eventually, you will be able to choose an NPC to train you. We were shown five skill trees that can be unlocked by doing said training. That will then allow you the option of three techniques you can mix and match as your main attacks. That is in addition to the three passive skills you can also equip. To unlock all of the options available will take a significant amount of time, but getting the right build using different attacks from each will give you access to interesting abilities. The main ability I have seen as an example would be a scanner that shows more information about a location you plan to explore, including enemy NPC locations.

Skill System	Details
Skill Trees	5 unlockable via NPC training
Active Techniques	3 mix-and-match main attacks
Passive Skills	3 equippable passives
Example Ability	Scanner revealing enemy NPCs and location info

Abilities can be unlocked by the Mentats and Bene Gesserit. There will be cool gear to collect like Holtzman gadgets and templates of interesting firearms to unlock. There is a heat system that will require you to stay hydrated by any means necessary. And giant sandworms that will eat entire convoys if you are not careful.

🗺️ Maps, Hubs, and the Road Ahead

In my demo, the team promised two maps to start with and more to come. We got to peek at the Deep Desert, where most of the conflict will happen and hundreds of players will focus on collecting resources and fighting over key locations each week. There is the Hagga Basin, which will have a 40-plus player cap. And two social hub locations: Arrakeen and Harko Village. There is, of course, a plan to add even more to the world as time goes by.

Location	Role
Deep Desert	High-conflict zone, hundreds of players, weekly resource wars
Hagga Basin	40+ player cap, more controlled survival
Arrakeen	Social hub
Harko Village	Social hub

So far, Dune Awakening seems incredibly ambitious. One speed-run demonstration from Funcom was not enough to scratch the surface of the various systems and how they will interplay with one another. But I am excited to see more. Now, in 2026, with survival MMOs fighting for attention, this one still has a grip on my imagination. It is not just another sandbox. It is a weekly reset of everything you know, a political knife fight, and a giant worm that will eat your convoy if you get cocky. What more could you want?

If you are the kind of player who loves a good scrap, a harsh world, and the constant threat of losing it all, Dune Awakening might be your cup of tea. Just remember: the desert takes no prisoners. Bring water. Bring friends. And for the love of all that is holy, do not try to fight the worm. 🪱💀