Dune: Awakening Console Review

Slip, slop, slap!

Funcom has never been a stranger to an epic yarn in established and original IP. From its long-standing run with Conan to its wholly original conspiratorial-inspired MMO, The Secret World, and other titles in between, the studio loves telling stories. And it’s not afraid to hoist its writing teams alongside original creator works, either. Conan in particular felt like the best possible continuation of the Cimmerian Barbarian’s adventures which, to this day, have enjoyed storytelling across books, comics, TV, film and, obviously, games. And this site thinks it’s the Funcom spin on him that, outside of the OG Robert E. Howard tales and John Milius’ seminal big-screen adaptation with Oliver Stone, that stand tallest, for both continuity and expansion all in one.

Which brings us to its fresh take on Frank Herbert’s Dune.

Actually, it frankly borrows more from the recent Denis Villeneuve films than Herbert’s books, which winds up being a good thing because the story here is an alternate timeline of events that has allowed Funcom to keep things familiar but to craft its own spin on established relationships, factions and major plot points, and it works for two reasons -- one, the studio is relatively free to craft gameplay-specific scenarios without jarring established continuity or pissing off fans but two, it allows anyone unfamiliar with the densely-layered lore of Dune as a whole to start somewhere relatively fresh. When game makers say benign lines like “if you’ve never experienced X before, our game is the best place to start!”, we usually roll eyes, but not so here because outside of a pretty deep and rewarding survival setup in a brutal world, it’s that Funcom storytelling we spoke of earlier that we’ve fallen most in love with, with Awakening.

And that’s a good thing, because while ambitious and full of some surprisingly cool parts of its overall loop, the initial interactions with the game do not bode well for keeping players glued to their screens or controllers. Because awakening in Awakening is, well… janky.

Dune: Awakening (Console)

Genre: Survival MMO
Developer: Funcom
Publisher: Funcom
Release Date: September 22, 2026
Classification: M15+
Author: Stephen Farrelly
Date: September 26, 2026

Insane in the Membrane

As a spoiler-free site (to the best of our ability), we’ll forgo too much about the game’s plot save to say you’ve crashed on Arrakis and been spared by would-be assassins. After this, your first order of affairs is to discover what’s become of the Freman and eventually rise to power to help shape the politics of the world around you and its many factions and their respective machinations. And all of this takes place in an MMO setup with choice and consequence, alongside its deep survival gameplay loop, but what makes it even better is that, while being able to play with others, there is also a solo campaign option -- something sorely missing from the MMO space (and a reason we love Crimson Desert), which is incidentally what we played with our review time.

"It has some serious jank and the initial phases of combat aren’t that engaging..."

The PC version of the game has been out in the wild a while now, so note that this is also a console review and we played on Xbox Series X|S but had a blast.

It has some serious jank and the initial phases of combat aren’t that engaging (and feel almost tactics-based rather than fluid or dynamic), but as you escape the cave in which you awaken and the world unfurls before you, so too does the prospect of prospering in this unforgiving landscape that is full of opportunity and danger, but some dangers can be exploited while shaping the world to protect you also beckons -- you know, that survival tilt we all love so much. But what’s great is that, similarly to how Unknown Worlds delivers the Subnautica experience, the game’s story comes to you when you let it, not the other way around. Rather, the first immediate call to action is literal survival, because from the beating sun down, Arrakis wants you dead.

50+ SPF

The first sign of this is knowing that standing in the sun is going to kill you. There’s a genuine meter designed to let you know this, and alongside the weight and cadence of footsteps upon the dunes of Arrakis, which may or may not alert Sandwurms to your tasty presence, there’s a survival urgency at play. Thankfully, the barren world of Arrakis is also full of elements to harvest and use for crafting, from basic plant fibres to eventual spice, players will slowly build out their personal selves ahead of base-building and more.

"Thankfully, as you gain the ability to craft, loot or buy better weapons so too does the initially janky combat open up into a better sense of fluidity and control..."

The world is also full of friendly camps and those run by ne’er-do-wells who will actively deploy to mess up your shit, which does bring action heavily into the game. Thankfully, as you gain the ability to craft, loot or buy better weapons so too does the initially janky combat open up into a better sense of fluidity and control from the player perspective. You even get to fight in vehicles deeper into the game, which is actually really fun. Though the hand-to-hand stuff is still arguably the game’s weakest point in our opinion and could do with an entirely better and more robust animation system, to begin with, but it's serviceable overall.

From a base-building perspective, we found this relatively great on console too. The studio adopted a ‘snap-to’ setup that works, and there’s nothing quite like beating the world at its destructive best, than by battening down the so-called hatches of your own domicile. It’s easily our favourite part of Subnautica so it was a joy to do here, on an arid planet that is entirely set out to kill you. We also found item and resource management in Dune: Awakening actually better than even the most recent Subnautica 2, which is saying something.

One Loop to Rule them All

Which brings us to the game’s loop. Survival and MMO are concepts still learning to get along and find their collective groove to groove to, but with that baseline concept, the single-player experience actually shines. There’s no competitive nature to a shared world when it’s all yours (another reason Crimson Desert is so good), and we suspect this might be the emboldened future of endeavours like this.

"Quests dole out at a steady and conquerable pace and you genuinely feel like you’re impacting the world..."

We dabbled, quickly, in the MMO side of things but also feel that belongs more exclusively on PC than on console, at least with this outing. There’s just something enticing about conquering Tatooine 2.0 (sorry Dune die-hards) on your own. And the game’s makeup is actually very good. Quests dole out at a steady and conquerable pace and you genuinely feel like you’re impacting the world -- a concept any shared world still struggles to convey from a personal 1:1 experience. It’s also a brutal world, which equally gives it an important leg-up on our oft referred to Subnautica, which leans more into the ‘casual’ side of things and we’re here for it. Combat needs addressing, as well as the UI which initially wasn’t too well explained, tutorially, but like most games that walk their own path, once we got the cadence and navigation of aspects down, we were golden.

As a Conan Exiles-like, this review isn’t wholly definitive as games of this nature shift and change like so many dunes on a sand planet, but what’s initially here is more than enough to bite into and become addicted to, like so much Spice. Just be prepared for initial jank and know that Funcom intends to smoothen the experience as it runs its sandy course.

What’s Boss?

  • Nails the tone and writing of the most recent films
  • Presents an addictive survival loop with measured depth
  • Arrakis is an excellent playground for a videogame
  • Base-building is handled well on console
  • Single-player is a great option

Not Boss Enough?

  • Visually very janky
  • Combat needs more work
  • Some repetitive elements can grate on the player for being convoluted

A console-specific release of the PC survival MMO, Dune: Awakening featuring a single-player experience coupled with an addictive loop.

Learn about our reviews

About the Author

Written By Stephen Farrelly
Stephen Farrelly is a veteran journalist and editor with more than two decades experience in the worlds of gaming, entertainment, lifestyle and sport. He is a proud pug dad, loves art in all forms (particularly street and tattoo culture), and is the director of Swear Jar Editorial and Media Pty Ltd, this site's owner and publisher. When not dispensing words, he's also dispensing boutique beers as a taproom fixture at Bracket Brewing in Marrickville, NSW...
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