Dune: Awakening Devs 'Sort of Sidestep Religion'

Larian Studios head Swen Vincke has revealed that the team wanted to have multiple dungeon masters in Baldur's Gate 3, with Matthew Mercer even considered at one point.

Striking Distance Studios, the developer behind 2022's The Callisto Protocol, has revealed what is internally called Project Birdeye, a top-down spin-off set in the same universe. A small team will continue to develop the fast-paced roguelike while the rest of the studio works on another full-scale game, and we got a brief trailer showing off some stylised action.

Developer Funcom has stated that Dune: Awakening will not feature sandworm riding at launch, but it will be added as part of a future update. Although Dune: Awakening is still without a release date, its recent showcase generated plenty of excitement among fans.

Dune: Awakening won't let players ride sandworms from launch. Like other parts of Fremen culture, it will be relegated to a post-launch update, as the devs say they were told to leave certain aspects of the Dune universe out of the game at launch.

A developer at Avalanche Software has taken to X/Twitter to "set expectation" for the incoming Hogwarts Legacy update.

According to Funcom, the upcoming open-world survival MMO Dune Awakening won’t let engaging gameplay overshadow the title’s deep lore. With previews of the game starting to hit the web, longtime fans of the Dune universe and prospective players have cast doubt on everything the title promises—but its creative director Joel Bylos recently sat down with PCGamesN to set the record straight.

Funcom, developer of the upcoming Dune: Awakening, has issued a statement regarding the role of religion in the game after fan concerns erupted on the internet this week.

Hot on the heels of yesterday's gameplay reveal, we've learned more about Funcom's upcoming MMO, Dune: Awakening, which remains shrouded in mystery. Crucially, we knew the story would take place in an alternate universe set a few years before the events of the Frank Herbert books or Dennis Villeneuve films and would ignore one of the most critical aspects of its universe, religion, for undisclosed spoiler reasons. Now you've got our attention!

Visually, looks like it's set in the world of Denis Villeneuve's movie adaptations, with the studio behind these films, Legendary, having shared assets with the development team at Funcom, as well as inviting them on set. Despite this, the game's story has made at least one massive change from the book and the movies that could have major consequences going forward.

Joel Bylos, chief creative officer at Funcom and creative director of Dune: Awakening,has stated that the game will focus on a «topical» war «between humans and artificial intelligence.» 

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two film wormed its way through theaters over the weekend, and if you’ve still got sand in the brain, there’s plenty more where that came from. Namely, Funcom shared a closer look at the upcoming Dune: Awakening survival game, which is in the works for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

A new developer update video from the Tarisland team dives into how cross-platform play will work in the upcoming MMORPG. Importantly, they show examples of how they've created a fully cross-platform experience, without sacrificing quality.