In the dry, worm-infested future of 2026, Dune Awakening still refuses to hold anyone by the hand. The Aql trials are no exception. A player gets one free pass, then the game basically points toward a doodle and says good luck. These eight sacred tests unlock research blueprints, push the journey forward, and occasionally force a hasty retreat from quicksand.

The first Aql trial appears after a spice dream cutscene, and it is ridiculously easy to find. Hagga Basin South gets a pink map marker, and players simply follow it to the cave. After that, the training wheels fall off, and the real scavenger hunt begins.

For every later trial, the Journey tab is the only reliable friend. Pressing J opens the menu, and under the Find The Fremen section there is usually a cryptic riddle plus a button labeled View Trial Location. That button reveals a sketch of the region, which players must match against the actual map. Sometimes the sketch is helpful. Sometimes it looks like a very confident drawing of nothing. Either way, once a player gets close enough to the cave entrance, the location shows up as a named pink icon, which is a genuine relief.

🧭 Quick Reference Table

Trial	Cave or Area	Region	Survival Tip
1	Hagga Basin South marker	Hagga Basin South	Auto-marked after the spice dream
2	Deep Struggle cave	Eastern Vermilius Gap	Look para-southeast of the great hammer of Mirzabah
3	Cave of the Lost Pilgrim	West Vermilius Gap	Avoid quicksand and drum sand
4	Hollow Hammer cave	Vermilius	Bring Trooper Shigawire Claw
5	The Hidden Test	Hagga Rift	Descend deep and bring a suspensor
6	Devil's Eye Cavern	Jabal Eifrit Al-sharq	Northeast corner near a Slaver camp
7	The Red Maw	Hagga Rift	Use a suspensor for the descent
8	Eastern Shield Wall entrance	Mysa Tarill and Jabal Eifrit Al-gharb border	Not marked on the map

🥇 The First Trial: A Freebie in Hagga Basin South

Following the spice dream cutscene, the first trial is marked in Hagga Basin South. There is no need for advanced detective work here. The game practically puts a glowing arrow on the spot, which is nice because Arrakis does not usually do favors.

🥈 The Second Trial: Deep Struggle

The second trial hides in the Deep Struggle cave in Eastern Vermilius Gap. The riddle mentions something para-southeast of the great hammer of Mirzabah. That sounds deeply poetic, but it is really just an instruction to look at the map, find the hammer-shaped rock, and check the southeast side. Once a player does that, the cave icon pops up and the poetry becomes less annoying.

🥉 The Third Trial: Cave of the Lost Pilgrim

The third location is in the Cave of the Lost Pilgrim in West Vermilius Gap. The name suggests a tragic backstory, but the real tragedy is getting swallowed by quicksand on the way there. Areas of quicksand and drum sand sit nearby, so players should keep their eyes on the ground instead of admiring the scenery.

🔨 The Fourth Trial: Hollow Hammer

The fourth trial is inside the Hollow Hammer cave in Vermilius. This one sits on the large hammer-shaped rock formation, which is visible from roughly the next planet. The hard part is not seeing it. The hard part is climbing to it. A Trooper with the Shigawire Claw skill will have a much easier time, so anyone who ignored that skill might suddenly regret it.

🕳️ The Fifth Trial: The Hidden Test

The fifth trial is called The Hidden Test, and it is buried deep inside Hagga Rift. The name is accurate. Players need to travel into the rift, stay close enough for the icon to appear, and avoid walking off a cliff. A suspensor and the Trooper Shigawire Claw both come in handy here.

👁️ The Sixth Trial: Devil's Eye Cavern

The sixth trial is found in the Devil's Eye Cavern in Jabal Eifrit Al-sharq, northeast of the rift. Players should head to the northeasternmost corner of the region and look near the ground, opposite a Slaver camp. This is one of those moments where the cave name sounds sinister, but the biggest actual threat is just wandering the wrong way and getting sand in every armor seam.

🩸 The Seventh Trial: The Red Maw

The seventh trial returns players to Hagga Rift, this time to a cave called The Red Maw. The trial description says to descend into the very depths of the rift. That is not a metaphor. Suspensors are strongly recommended because the descent is long, dark, and very easy to mess up.

🏁 The Eighth Trial: The Unmarked Finale

The final trial is a clever little test of patience. It is not marked on the map at all. Players must follow the directions and image to the border between Mysa Tarill and Jabal Eifrit Al-gharb, then head up the border to the Eastern Shield Wall. The entrance waits there. Anyone coming directly from the seventh trial can follow the rift to the northwest, find a path out, and blink in the daylight before continuing.

Most of the Aql trials are not too brutal once the location is known. The real challenge is surviving the trip between them without becoming a worm snack, a quicksand statue, or a very lost tourist. By 2026, the desert still does not care. But with the right equipment, a bit of map reading, and one of the best survival games of 2025 finally understood, every player can complete the full spice-dream journey.