Now that Funcom has drawn back the curtain on the key premise behind the upcoming survival MMO Dune: Awakening, a new interview with Creative Director Joel Bylos dives into this alternate ‘what if?’ timeline and the creative freedom it provides in making a Dune game.
The new interview comes courtesy of the Xbox Wire. When they first started working on concepts, Bylos says they spent time trying to figure out where to set the game, running into a lot of issues due to the massive scope of the events that happened within the Dune IP. Then, they hit on what would become the centerpiece of the puzzle:“What if Jessica had done as she was ordered (giving birth to a girl instead of a boy) by the Bene Gesserit? This simple change would allow us to retain the most familiar elements and time frame of the Dune universe, while giving our players freedom to have agency in the universe we were creating,” Bylos says. He also says they send their lore questions to the Herbert estate to make sure everything is true to the vision of the novels, But they have a lot of creative freedom just by using this alternate timeline.
The developers were pretty cagey until last month when they revealed this central plot point, which they’re undoubtedly glad is out now since they can talk about the game. The Arrakis of Dune: Awakening is in the middle of a war, the Fremen are “missing”, and the Atreides are still alive, fighting against the Harkonnen and more. With the planet involved in a large-scale war, there's also room to have things to scavenge, resources, broken vehicles, weapons to discover, and more that enables the survival MMO gameplay.
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The freedom of this game also means, with few exceptions, that you don't have to follow the main storyline. The narrative and the lore will influence everything, however, from the designs of the environments, the equipment you'll find, and of course, the Sandworms, one “ natural tension mechanic throughout the game”.
In the full interview, Bylos talks about adaptation, contributions from the Legendary crew from the Dune film series, and more features on the way. Shifting Sands is sort of a world event that will change the landscape of the Deep Desert every week, hiding some points of interest and uncovering others to make the planet, with all of its dangers, feel more alive and with a greater sense of history.
