If you’re a fan of previous Funcom titles, such as Conan Exiles, then you know the lore, while interesting in small doses, isn’t the focal point. It’s just the flavoring helping you immerse yourself in the sprawling landscape. In Dune Awakening, the story takes a high seat at the table, but it’s still not the center of attention. But don’t worry. If your ultimate goal is to contend with sandworms, fight the Harkonnen, and fly an Ornithopter while dive-bombing your buddy, you’re in for quite the adventure!
Rushing through the main story missions and beats in Dune Awakening shouldn’t take too long for an open-world survival game of this nature. But it varies depending on you. Some players will take approximately 50 hours, similar to Conan Exiles, to complete the main journey and prepare for the endgame. Others, such as those who genuinely don’t care about the tale, will complete it in much less time.
I have a few buddies who rented a server for the Advanced Access release, and they finished the main portion of the game in under 30 hours by rushing. But that means playing the game with no exploration, no additional ruins or combat encounters, just mainlining the story. Why? Because the endgame is where a title like Dune Awakening truly opens its expansive arms and allows for freedom!
For those who care about the story, expect multiple chapters that take you through your early survival days, scrimping for scraps and low-tier crafting materials, before inevitably dumping you into political intrigue and the spice wars.
How to extend your playtime in Dune Awakening
If you’re the type who wants to eke out every potential hour from a game like this, here’s how you can boost your hours played on Dune Awakening:
- Quests: Alongside the main story, Dune Awakening offers faction quests, mentor quests, contract missions, events, and exploration quests, all of which should keep you busy for hours on end.
- Base Building: I’m the type to spend way too long picking out a site for my first base, and then immediately hating said site and looking for another. Then, I despise the structure I construct. It’s too square, too plain. So, I build bigger, better. The game features tons of building options, from curved walls to windows to more for nearly infinite possibilities.
- Exploration: While it’s true that much of Dune Awakening revolves around vast expanses of untamed desert, every inch of which poses a hazard to your health due to heat exhaustion and sandworms, there’s a lot to explore in the rocky outcroppings. You’ll find pre-war ruins, bandit camps, Fremen moisture caverns, and more; all with loot, lore, and liabilities.
Dune Awakening launches on June 10th on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PCs.