Climb Dune: Awakening’s Factions Ranks To Become “The Next Baron Harkonnen”
Dune: Awakening puts a major focus on surviving on the extremely hostile desert planet Arrakis from the Dune movies and books, but that’s not the only thing you’ll have to survive. In addition to fighting other players, you’ll also have the opportunity engage in the kinds of political machinations that are central to the classic sci-fi story.
In developer Funcom’s first Dune: Awakening Direct video, creative director Joel Bylos explains some of how you’ll deal with the different factions at war for control of Arrakis, and it’s incredibly valuable “spice.” Those factions include the movies’ protagonists, the Atreides, and antagonists, the Harkonnens, but other parties are trying to influence the flow of spice and the control of power on Arrakis, as well.
“You start the game kind of lost in the desert, and then by the end of the game, maybe you’re the next Baron Harkonnen,” Bylos said. “As you make your way through the game, you progress and you sort of meet these factions in the world. The Atreides and the Harkonnen are at war, there’s a War of Assassins going on, as it’s called. And as a player, you decide which side you want to help, which side you want to join, then you start to partake in missions for those factions. And eventually you work your way up through the ranks of the factions, and maybe you take on a position of power as well. So the politics are designed to actually encourage players to develop their own politics around the sandbox system.”