Funcom has unveiled Dune: Awakening, showcasing the beloved world and the gameplay players can expect in the survival MMO, which is expected to be released in 2025.

Fans of the Dune franchise can rejoice as more details about Dune: Awakening have been revealed in a new trailer. The release date is set for early 2025, with the console version to follow later. An exclusive five-minute gameplay trailer was showcased at gamescom 2024, featuring characters crash-landing in the desert and fighting to survive the harsh environment.

From the Dune: Awakening trailer, we learn three rules we must follow. The first rule is to survive, as the sun is scorching hot in the desert and avoid being attacked by colossal sandworms. The second rule is to expand your influence from combats, spice flow, building and upgrading bases, crafting vehicles, and trading as you develop your character as the Mentat, Trooper, Planetologist, Swordmaster, or Bene Gesserit. The final rule is to control the spice to hold the powers as guild intrigue and warfare rage, as you will need to join a guild to align with House Harkonnen or Atreides and clash against other guilds involving vehicles, tech, and specialized combatants. 

Funcom is working closely with Herbert Estate and Legendary. Awakening is set in an alternative history where Paul Atreides was never born. As it takes place in its own universe, the players will have the chance to put Arrakis’ future in their own hands. 

With the five-minute gameplay of Dune: Awakening being revealed at gamescom 2024, many content creators, including Sacriel, Alphacast, and Mowky, will livestream an extended 30-minute presentation over the next few days. Alongside the extended presentation, journalists and creators will have the chance to play the Dune: Awakening demo behind closed doors to share their impressions with the public. 

As the exclusive gameplay was showcased during gamescom 2024, the third Dune: Awakening Direct will air on August 29. Soe Gschwind returns as the host and will present more gameplay and details.

 As of now, Dune: Awakening will be launched on PC in early 2025 and will arrive on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S at a later date. In the meantime, be sure to wishlist the game on PC and console, with a chance to enter the closed Beta by signing up on the official website. 

Today during Gamescom, Bethesda announced that it was adding the previously-teased dune buggy to Starfield in a free update that is set to go live later tonight. Bethesda also provided another sneak peek at Shattered Space, the upcoming DLC for Starfield, and revealed that it’s launching September 30 on consoles and…

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The shifting sands of Arrakis are home to the most precious substance in the universe: spice. As the leader of one of the Great Houses in Dune Imperium: The Board Game, you’ll need to conquer the desert planet, win skirmishes, and expand your influence with factions like the Bene Gesserit and the Fremen if you hope to claim victory. In this article, we’ll be looking at the different editions and expansions of the game and answering some of the most common questions about this modern tabletop classic. Let’s start by looking at the two core versions of the game. 

Dune Imperium vs. Uprising: What’s the Difference?

The Dune Imperium board game essentially has two different versions of its core game: Dune Imperium and Dune Imperium Uprising. The gameplay in the two editions is largely the same, with each centering around deck building, agent placement, and desert combat. However, there are several key differences between the original Imperium release and Uprising. To start, Uprising features an all-new set of Dune Imperium leaders, with characters like Feyd-Rautha, Lady Margot Fenring, and Princess Irulan all entering the fray. In addition, many of the board spaces have new functions. To top it all off, there is also a new six-player mode in which the players will be divided into opposing teams.

Gameplay Changes in Dune Imperium Uprising

In terms of new game mechanics, Dune Imperium: Uprising has a lot to show for itself. It drops the Mentat token from Imperium, which originally allowed you to purchase an additional agent for a turn. It also drops the foldspace cards, which made it much easier to level up your standing on the game’s four influence tracks. In exchange, Uprising adds spy tokens that you can place between board spaces in order to draw cards or unlock adjacent locations that are already occupied by enemy players. 

The newer edition of the game also adds sandworms to combat, which doubles the rewards you earn for winning a round’s conflict. This mechanic makes fighting more important than ever and might change up your favorite Dune Imperium strategy, though all of the combat cards have been edited appropriately to make the game less swingy. Uprising also adds contracts, which essentially function as single-use board spaces that give substantial rewards when you send an agent to them. The intrigue cards are also altered to match the new gameplay mechanics.

Should You Buy Dune Imperium or Dune Imperium Uprising?

If you’re just getting started with Dune Imperium, then Uprising is a great place to start. However, there are no bad options here. If you already own and enjoy Dune Imperium, Uprising can still be a great pickup if you’re a big fan of the game. However, you might want to prioritize expansion content first since it adds even more mechanics than the changes from Uprising.  

Dune Imperium Expansions

Each Dune Imperium expansion adds more cards and dramatic new gameplay elements, along with additional board space actions that open up new pathways towards conquering Arrakis and claiming victory. Below you’ll find details about each addition to the game, listed in our suggested purchasing order.

1. Dune Imperium: Rise of Ix

The Rise of Ix Expansion for Dune Imperium expands the game board with new game-changing board spaces that allow you to purchase technology, boost your shipping and smuggling efforts, and obtain the coveted dreadnought units. The dreadnoughts add three combat power to your side and can temporarily hold territory in your name, which ups the stakes in each conflict. There is also a new selection of powerful yet difficult to master house leaders that are perfect for more experienced players. If you’re going to get one of the expansions, Rise of Ix is definitely the best choice.

2. Dune Imperium: Immortality

The Dune Imperium: Immortality expansion adds an additional board to the play space that represents the players’ interactions with the Bene Tleilax and their genetic advancements. The expansion also adds graft cards, which allow you to combine the cards in your hand into a single action for more powerful effects. These cards are definitely fun to use, though not as much of a game-changer as the Bene Tleilax board or the components of the Rise of Ix expansion. Immortality also includes a family atomic token for each player, which is an underrated addition that allows you to clear out the cards available for purchase from the Imperium deck and draw new ones. 

3. Dune Imperium: Deluxe Upgrade Pack

If you love Dune Imperium and just can’t get enough, you can upgrade your game experience with a beautiful selection of miniatures that replace approximately sixty of the game’s more basic-looking tokens. Unlike the other two expansions, this pack is entirely cosmetic. However, the visual upgrade it provides is substantial, especially if you enjoy painting the miniatures. There’s also a Rise of Ix Dreadnought Upgrade Pack available through the Dire Wolf store that offers similar cosmetic benefits but for the expansion’s components.

Can You Play the Dune Imperium Expansions With Uprising?

Every Dune Imperium expansion is compatible with both the original release of the game and Dune Imperium: Uprising. However, when adding the expansions to Uprising, there are a few cards you might need to remove, such as the Rise of Ix conflict cards, in order to maintain a balanced game. Further directions on these changes are available at the back of the Uprising rulebook. 

The post The Complete Dune Imperium Board Game Buyer’s Guide (2024) appeared first on Destructoid.

Lucasfilm has had what can, charitably, be described as a rocky history with how it has handled Star Wars frequently finding itself the target of the ever-evolving reactionary culture war. In fits and starts, the studio has struggled in defending stars and crew from harassment and baseless accusations, from the…

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Frank Herbert's Dune series is a hefty one to get into, but one that's very much worth giving a go if you're at all into sci-fi. The books tell a very long and sprawling tale that goes beyond most other sci-fi series, but it pays to read it in order to have the best experience.

Regardless of whether you've been playing a Dune game, have watched the movies, or just know about the novels and want to give them a try, there's a reason Frank Herbert told this epic story in a specific order. However, Herbert's son, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson have also contributed to the series with prequels and expansions of the universe. Not all Dune fans enjoy these books, and they definitely impact the reading orders you could use. That's why I've offered a few of them below.

How to read Frank Herbert's Dune series in order

Frank Herbert carefully crafted the first six books in the Dune series, though many fans know he had a seventh planned based on notes found for it, the conclusion of the sixth, and hints throughout each book. These are the books that started it all, and they're what I recommend everyone reads if they want to get into the series and read the story that sparked so many people's imaginations.

• Dune - Frank Herbert (1965)
• Dune Messiah - Frank Herbert (1969)
• Children of Dune - Frank Herbert (1976)
• God Emperor of Dune - Frank Herbert (1981)
• Heretics of Dune - Frank Herbert (1984)
• Chapterhouse: Dune - Frank Herbert (1985)

If you enjoy these books and want to dip into the other novels that have been added to the universe over time, the next two reading lists allow you to do so and show where they fit with these original six.

The entire Dune series in order of publication

This reading order features every Dune book, including those written by authors other than Frank Herbert, in order of publication. Outside of the original six, this is the order in which I'd recommend reading the books because it's going to be the best way to digest every extra bit of information about the universe.

• Dune - Frank Herbert (1965)
• Dune Messiah - Frank Herbert (1969)
• Children of Dune - Frank Herbert (1976)
• God Emperor of Dune - Frank Herbert (1981)
• Heretics of Dune - Frank Herbert (1984)
• Chapterhouse: Dune - Frank Herbert (1985)
• House Atreides - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (1999)
• House Harkonnen - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2000)
• House Corrino - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2001)
• The Butlerian Jihad - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2002)
• The Machine Crusade - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2003)
• The Battle of Corrin - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2004)
• Hunters of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2006)
• Sandworms of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2007)
• Paul of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2008)
• The Winds of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2009)
• Sisterhood of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2012)
• Mentats of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2014)
• Navigators of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2016)
• The Duke of Caladan - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2020)
• The Lady of Caladan - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2021)
• The Heir of Caladan - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2022)
• Princess of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2023)
• Sands of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2024)

The way I see it, every book released in the Dune series uses the knowledge of what was available before it. So, even if a book is a prequel, it's based on every book that's been released so far at the time of publication. I'd say that means you need to know everything the authors did at the time so you don't miss out on the more subtle elements of the storytelling.

The entire Dune series in chronological order

This last order is a controversial one. Some Dune fans don't see the books outside of Frank Herbert's original six as canonical. I don't think you should let that influence you, though. Instead, you should read them and then decide for yourself. The list below is the chronological order of every Dune book.

• The Butlerian Jihad - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2002)
• The Machine Crusade - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2003)
• The Battle of Corrin - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2004)
• Sisterhood of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2012)
• Mentats of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2014)
• Navigators of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2016)
• House Atreides - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (1999)
• House Harkonnen - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2000)
• House Corrino - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2001)
• Princess of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2023)
• The Duke of Caladan - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2020)
• The Lady of Caladan - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2021)
• The Heir of Caladan - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2022)
• Dune - Frank Herbert (1965)
• Paul of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2008)
• Dune Messiah - Frank Herbert (1969)
• The Winds of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2009)
• Children of Dune - Frank Herbert (1976)
• God Emperor of Dune - Frank Herbert (1981)
• Heretics of Dune - Frank Herbert (1984)
• Chapterhouse: Dune - Frank Herbert (1985)
• Hunters of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2006)
• Sandworms of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2007)
• Sands of Dune - Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (2024)

The strongest argument I've seen against reading in this order is that the writing is much less complex in the prequel novels, making the jump to Frank Herbert's work feel jarring.

A note on Sands of Dune: I've included it at the bottom of this list because it's a novella and collection of three stories set in underexplored parts of this universe. I think you should read it if you're trying to read every book, but it's hard to say exactly where it should fit in the chronological order.

The post How to read Frank Herbert’s Dune series in order appeared first on Destructoid.

Good news for Starfieldplayers who have wanted a faster and better way to travel across the game’s hundreds of planets: Bethesda is planning to add a drivable dune buggy to its massive open-world sci-fi RPG.

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Just out in front of all of this I am going to say if Peter Dinklage doesn’t get cast as Bijaz I am going to be extremely disappointed.  I mean, he can’t get ALL the dwarf roles, I know.  But I also think his body of work shows him to be well suited for this particular part.

So yeah, it has been confirmed that Denis Villeneuve will be bringing us a third film in the Dune saga based off of the second book in the original series (or the 14th book in the expanded Dune-verse if you’re into that) Dune Messiah.  I mentioned that in my look at Dune Part 2, and that set me on a path.

The thought of Dune Messiah being made into a film prompted me go back and re-read it to see just how strange it was going to have to be.  I hadn’t looked at it since the late 80s, so it was clearly time for a refresh.

But before I did that I went and skimmed Dune first.  I couldn’t bring myself to read it fully through… I’ve read it a few of times and both films and the mini-series were so true to so much of the start of the book that I felt like I had just read it even though it has been a few years.

Still, I jumped through enough to get a good refresher, remind myself of the timeline from the books, which as I noted in my post about Dune Part 2, were considerably different than the latest film, and a few other key items.  I had forgotten how early on in the tale Paul knows who his grandfather really is, how Paul brings a fighting technique… the “weirding way” so-called… which is what gives the Fremen mastery over the emperor’s Sardaukar, and the fact that Paul has been trained as a mentat, a human computer.

That last omitted from the film kind of annoys me if only because it is set up by a scene that could have been played for a laugh.  It could have gone something like this:

Leto: Oh, and we’re going to start training you as a mentat.

Paul: I thought you couldn’t tell somebody they were being trained until they reached the right age as they needed to be conditioned for it without their knowledge.

Leto: …

Paul: …

Leto: …

Paul: Oh, right… I guess I am that age now…

Also, the fact that Paul is a mentat… and mentats in general… make kind of a critical plot point going into the next book.  But they can probably gloss over that a bit.

Anyway, I was grounded enough to dig into Dune Messiah, which takes place years later with Paul as emperor, Princess Irulan, the old emperor’s daughter as his wife, Chani as his lover, and Alia, Paul’s sister, now the teenage high priestess of the cult of Paul.

Oh, and the Fremen jihad has cleansed the life from dozens of planets, brought hundreds under the rule of Paul, and have caused the death of something like 60 billion people along the way.  Paul isn’t all that happy about his lot or being used as the justification for such mass slaughter.  But he wasn’t happy with the old order either and he can see the future in a vague way and is trying to thread the needle to find the best path forward.

Meanwhile, the old order isn’t too happy with him either.  The Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild, and the Tleilaxu have teamed up to try and, if not overthrow Paul, to at least gain control of him to make him do their bidding.

And here we’ll get into some deep water with the next film.

We got a bit about the Bene Gesserit in the first film, though not as much foundation as they deserve.  They have been working to shape humanity for centuries, Paul as the Kwisatz Haderach being their ultimate goal, and they are more than a bit salty that they can’t control him after all the effort they put in to bring him into being.  (Yes, technically he wasn’t supposed to be the chosen one, but his mom decided to throw the dice and came up double six.)

But I guess we can get away with what we’ve learned about them so far.  Shady female organization, referred to as “witches” by resentful men, and wearing sinister costumes… though again, I think there was some comedy missed in not going somewhere with strange women with boxes administering painful tests being no basis for a system of government or something.

Then there is the Spacing Guild, which figures at least somewhat in the conspiracy against Paul.  I will say again, I want to see this sort of thing.

Image from Screen Rant

And the story pretty much demands it.  The Spacing Guild ambassador, in his zero-grav mobile spice huffing tank, is the conduit of the conspiracy, at least initially.  But I guess we could pass them over yet again, not get bound up in their weirdness, if the script is getting out of hand.  But if you want to know where David Lynch got his vision of the guild navigators as in the image above, Dune Messiah was the place. (He was also sizing up a second film based on the second book.)

Which leaves us with the Tleilaxu, or the Bene Tleilax, to contend with. (I didn’t casually know those two names for the same thing, I had to look that up even after reading Dune Messiah.)  They and their abilities and their skill with genetic manipulation and their ability to bring people back from the dead… kind of a big effing plot point in Dune Messiah.  You don’t dig into that, you might as well just admit you’re throwing Frank Herbert overboard and just doing your own thing.

Unlike the Spacing Guild, it is okay that they didn’t get a mention in the first two films.  In the books they get a passing mention in Dune, being the provider of specially horrible mentats.  Baron Harkonnen’s mentat, Piter De Vries, was a Tleilaxu special, and the baron mentioned that he needed to put in an order for a fresh on as De Vries seemed to be about done.

But with Dune Messiah they are out front and demand attention.  I will be very interested to see how they translate the aspects of the Tleilaxu onto the big screen.  Some of it will lend itself to a visual medium.  The metal Tleilaxu eyes and the face dancers should make for interesting sights.  But how to get across what the Tleilaxu do without having it all intoned by some character telling you what is up will be an issue.

And, like I said, Peter Dinklage better get the Bijaz role.

We have a couple of years before it will be released.

Meanwhile, now that I have wrapped up Dune Messiah, do I carry on into Children of Dune?  Again, I haven’t touched any of the Frank Herbert work besides the first book since the late 80s.  As I recall, this is where things start getting really strange.  Dune Messiah though, it was short and wrapped up the main story line pretty well.  Not the worst title you could pick up and read.

Just out in front of all of this I am going to say if Peter Dinklage doesn’t get cast as Bijaz I am going to be extremely disappointed.  I mean, he can’t get ALL the dwarf roles, I know.  But I also think his body of work shows him to be well suited for this particular part.

So yeah, it has been confirmed that Denis Villeneuve will be bringing us a third film in the Dune saga based off of the second book in the original series (or the 14th book in the expanded Dune-verse if you’re into that) Dune Messiah.  I mentioned that in my look at Dune Part 2, and that set me on a path.

The thought of Dune Messiah being made into a film prompted me go back and re-read it to see just how strange it was going to have to be.  I hadn’t looked at it since the late 80s, so it was clearly time for a refresh.

But before I did that I went and skimmed Dune first.  I couldn’t bring myself to read it fully through… I’ve read it a few of times and both films and the mini-series were so true to so much of the start of the book that I felt like I had just read it even though it has been a few years.

Still, I jumped through enough to get a good refresher, remind myself of the timeline from the books, which as I noted in my post about Dune Part 2, were considerably different than the latest film, and a few other key items.  I had forgotten how early on in the tale Paul knows who his grandfather really is, how Paul brings a fighting technique… the “weirding way” so-called… which is what gives the Fremen mastery over the emperor’s Sardaukar, and the fact that Paul has been trained as a mentat, a human computer.

That last omitted from the film kind of annoys me if only because it is set up by a scene that could have been played for a laugh.  It could have gone something like this:

Leto: Oh, and we’re going to start training you as a mentat.

Paul: I thought you couldn’t tell somebody they were being trained until they reached the right age as they needed to be conditioned for it without their knowledge.

Leto: …

Paul: …

Leto: …

Paul: Oh, right… I guess I am that age now…

Also, the fact that Paul is a mentat… and mentats in general… make kind of a critical plot point going into the next book.  But they can probably gloss over that a bit.

Anyway, I was grounded enough to dig into Dune Messiah, which takes place years later with Paul as emperor, Princess Irulan, the old emperor’s daughter as his wife, Chani as his lover, and Alia, Paul’s sister, now the teenage high priestess of the cult of Paul.

Oh, and the Fremen jihad has cleansed the life from dozens of planets, brought hundreds under the rule of Paul, and have caused the death of something like 60 billion people along the way.  Paul isn’t all that happy about his lot or being used as the justification for such mass slaughter.  But he wasn’t happy with the old order either and he can see the future in a vague way and is trying to thread the needle to find the best path forward.

Meanwhile, the old order isn’t too happy with him either.  The Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild, and the Tleilaxu have teamed up to try and, if not overthrow Paul, to at least gain control of him to make him do their bidding.

And here we’ll get into some deep water with the next film.

We got a bit about the Bene Gesserit in the first film, though not as much foundation as they deserve.  They have been working to shape humanity for centuries, Paul as the Kwisatz Haderach being their ultimate goal, and they are more than a bit salty that they can’t control him after all the effort they put in to bring him into being.  (Yes, technically he wasn’t supposed to be the chosen one, but his mom decided to throw the dice and came up double six.)

But I guess we can get away with what we’ve learned about them so far.  Shady female organization, referred to as “witches” by resentful men, and wearing sinister costumes… though again, I think there was some comedy missed in not going somewhere with strange women with boxes administering painful tests being no basis for a system of government or something.

Then there is the Spacing Guild, which figures at least somewhat in the conspiracy against Paul.  I will say again, I want to see this sort of thing.

Image from Screen Rant

And the story pretty much demands it.  The Spacing Guild ambassador, in his zero-grav mobile spice huffing tank, is the conduit of the conspiracy, at least initially.  But I guess we could pass them over yet again, not get bound up in their weirdness, if the script is getting out of hand.  But if you want to know where David Lynch got his vision of the guild navigators as in the image above, Dune Messiah was the place. (He was also sizing up a second film based on the second book.)

Which leaves us with the Tleilaxu, or the Bene Tleilax, to contend with. (I didn’t casually know those two names for the same thing, I had to look that up even after reading Dune Messiah.)  They and their abilities and their skill with genetic manipulation and their ability to bring people back from the dead… kind of a big effing plot point in Dune Messiah.  You don’t dig into that, you might as well just admit you’re throwing Frank Herbert overboard and just doing your own thing.

Unlike the Spacing Guild, it is okay that they didn’t get a mention in the first two films.  In the books they get a passing mention in Dune, being the provider of specially horrible mentats.  Baron Harkonnen’s mentat, Piter De Vries, was a Tleilaxu special, and the baron mentioned that he needed to put in an order for a fresh on as De Vries seemed to be about done.

But with Dune Messiah they are out front and demand attention.  I will be very interested to see how they translate the aspects of the Tleilaxu onto the big screen.  Some of it will lend itself to a visual medium.  The metal Tleilaxu eyes and the face dancers should make for interesting sights.  But how to get across what the Tleilaxu do without having it all intoned by some character telling you what is up will be an issue.

And, like I said, Peter Dinklage better get the Bijaz role.

We have a couple of years before it will be released.

Meanwhile, now that I have wrapped up Dune Messiah, do I carry on into Children of Dune?  Again, I haven’t touched any of the Frank Herbert work besides the first book since the late 80s.  As I recall, this is where things start getting really strange.  Dune Messiah though, it was short and wrapped up the main story line pretty well.  Not the worst title you could pick up and read.

Dune: Part Two is more than a mere sequel. It’s a continuation, culmination, and ultimately a fantastic elevation of everything you already loved about director Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 film Dune: Part One. That film ended with Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) embracing a new way of life after almost everyone he loved…

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Dune: Part 2, the long-awaited follow-up to January’s erotic popcorn bucket, is less than two weeks from release. Among the most anticipated films of the year, Dune missed its original October bow because studios were trying to bankrupt writers and actors, forcing the film to compete in the shadow of Madame Web. But…

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Dune: Part Two, the upcoming sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 sci-fi epic based on the Frank Herbert novels, is releasing in just two weeks, but somehow the team behind it kept one major star’s involvement a total secret. During the February 15 world premiere in London, The Queen’s Gambit actor Anya Taylor-Joy…

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