I have over 50 hours in Dune: Awakening. The soft-MMO, mostly survival-centric game became one of my favorite games of last year. However, as a parent—and generally busy guy—playing Dune: Awakening has become less fun and more chore-inducing. The eventual endgame of fighting other players also took away some of what made Funcom’s take on Arrakis so interesting. Over a year later, with plenty of updates under its belt and the massive new 1.5 update, Dune: Awakening isn’t just better than ever; it’s also more parent-friendly. If you’ve been waiting to give it a try, well, you can grab a Dune: Awakening Steam key at its lowest price right now.
One of the best survival games around, thanks to its brilliantly dangerous world, exciting mechanics, and the eventual death-by-sandworm we all experience, Dune: Awakening’s online-only nature was always one of its biggest weaknesses. Sure, I love Arrakis being filled with players, turning big cubes into makeshift bases scattered across the sandy surface, but sometimes, I want to have my own world. I want to be my own Lisan al Gaib—without the tyrannical territory that comes with that, of course.
At the beginning, you’re barely surviving on Arrakis. Running across to distant rocks, hoping the sun doesn’t turn you into roast desert hare, is stress-inducing yet engaging. Every drop of water is more valuable than gold itself, and the only sustenance you can find comes from flowers growing in shaded areas. Eventually, you gather enough resources and learn how to survive the treacherous planet, allowing you to do more than just scrape by. You can finally thrive on Arrakis.
