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PayPalGood news for MMO fans on Linux platforms, Dune: Awakening is clearly here to stay as it's Funcom's fastest selling game to date. Really nice to see it doing well since the developer actually enabled the anti-cheat for Linux platforms including SteamOS and Steam Deck.
ICYMI: see my initial review of the game.
In a press release they noted over one million players have joined in making it "Funcom’s fastest-selling game ever", to put some perspective on it their other game Conan Exiles took a whole year to hit that. In this case though, they're backed up by the modern Dune movies.
The game has repeatedly smashed player counts too. It hit a peak of 189,333 online 3 days ago, putting it repeatedly in the top 10 most played games on Steam.
With the news they shared an infographic showing off that over 60,000 players died to a sandstorm and over 800,000 deaths were to the great worm (quite a few of those being mine). Over 120,000 guilds have been formed too.
It hasn't been without issues though, some of which the developer has been quick to patch, like players stomping on others in their Ornithopter which became quite a problem. Funcom have now disabled vehicle damage to prevent such issues happening.
A recent message from the Creative Director of Dune: Awakening also touches on PvE and PvP, noting they never want to "force PvE players to interact with a PvP system that they may have no interest in". The problem is that the current Deep Desert end-game is firmly PvP focused, so solo players and small teams just get obliterated constantly by bigger guilds and teams waiting for them to cross their path. So with that, their new plan is to adjust it to add some areas of the Deep Desert as PvE but a lot of it is still firmly PvP focused.
Since the Deep Desert gets reset weekly they said it will allow them to "iterate and experiment with different layouts and setups". If something doesn't work, they can change it for the next week, without touching the other parts of the game.
On top of that more end-game activities and more PvE content are planned for both free updates and paid DLC.
I'm still pumping hours into it, mostly solo, and I'm still thoroughly enjoying it. I appreciate that I can do a quick few minutes to pick up batteries to protect my base for multiple weeks at a time. It's an MMO, so there is a definite grind to it, but it's far less punishing than others.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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minidou 3 days ago
scaine a day ago
Too bad it's so PvP focused. Doubt the changes will make me try it.Depends on what you want from a game. I'm 60 hours in, closing in on an Ornithopter now, but never had to worry about PvP. Until the end game, the PvP content is like 1% of the game and optional (wreckage of ships). Even then, I've geared up for 3 wrecks, expecting chaos, and never saw another player. Seeing other players in this game generally is quite rare. You see their bases, but rarely the other players - the map is just too vast, and the servers are well instanced.
So if you're buying for end-game content only and expect to pour thousands of hours in - sure, you should probably stay away, I guess. But if you're like me and just wanted a few hundred hours of PvE gaming - so far, I'm absolutely loving the combination of exploration, combat, grind/mining, base-building and crafting.
And the worms are terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. Great game.
Edit to add: if you go on the Steam forums, there are many, many threads complaining about how PvP is "forced" on you, and there's no PvE content. I have absolutely no idea where these come from, unless ALL players care about is the Deep Desert (which is the end-game content). I suspect there's a vocal minority at play here - the kind of player who absolutely expects that this game will become their life and they'll play nothing else for the next 3-5 years.
There's a weird dissonance here for me though. The only real reason to risk PvP in the Deep Desert is for bulk materials to make the absolutely top-tier vehicles, armour and weapons in the game over and over (in case you lose in a PvP battle). But if you're PvE-only... you don't need so many materials. You'll make the fancy stuff once, and you're golden. No need to constantly grind the Deep Desert. So which is it? Do you want the PvP grind, or the PvE grind? The complainers seem to want both.
Last edited by scaine on 25 Jun 2025 at 8:59 am UTC
minidou a day ago
I don't feel like pouring dozens of hours in a game where I will be stuck in a dead end situation.
Last edited by minidou on 25 Jun 2025 at 11:22 am UTC
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