I have over 50 hours in Dune: Awakening. The soft-MMO, mostly survival-centric game became one of my favorite games of last year. However, as a parent—and generally busy guy—playing Dune: Awakening has become less fun and more chore-inducing. The eventual endgame of fighting other players also took away some of what made Funcom’s take on Arrakis so interesting. Over a year later, with plenty of updates under its belt and the massive new 1.5 update, Dune: Awakening isn’t just better than ever; it’s also more parent-friendly. If you’ve been waiting to give it a try, well, you can grab a Dune: Awakening Steam key at its lowest price right now.
One of the best survival games around, thanks to its brilliantly dangerous world, exciting mechanics, and the eventual death-by-sandworm we all experience, Dune: Awakening’s online-only nature was always one of its biggest weaknesses. Sure, I love Arrakis being filled with players, turning big cubes into makeshift bases scattered across the sandy surface, but sometimes, I want to have my own world. I want to be my own Lisan al Gaib—without the tyrannical territory that comes with that, of course.
At the beginning, you’re barely surviving on Arrakis. Running across to distant rocks, hoping the sun doesn’t turn you into roast desert hare, is stress-inducing yet engaging. Every drop of water is more valuable than gold itself, and the only sustenance you can find comes from flowers growing in shaded areas. Eventually, you gather enough resources and learn how to survive the treacherous planet, allowing you to do more than just scrape by. You can finally thrive on Arrakis.
While Dune: Awakening has remained a solid experience throughout, it hasn’t been without issues. Server problems made things challenging at launch, melee combat felt clunky, and the PvP portion has been criticized by many, including me. However, Update 1.5 doesn’t just bring performance and combat improvements; it also introduces a full single-player mode. No more dealing with enemy players, and best of all, Arrakis can be customized for your own experience. You can make it as easy or as hard as you want.
As a parent, a single-player mode was exactly what I was waiting for, and now I can finally finish Dune: Awakening’s story, which has just received the final part of Book One. The desert of Arrakis has never been more welcoming. Well, as welcoming as it can be.
If you want to join in on the fun, you can grab a Steam key for Dune: Awakening for just $23.49 / £19.73 at Fanatical, its lowest price ever. With the full story now available from beginning to end, there’s never been a better time to make your way across Arrakis.
Hopefully, I won’t see you in Dune: Awakening. Not because I don’t want to, but because I want to play single-player. Sorry.
Disclosure: GameSpot and Fanatical are both owned by Fandom. This story was created in collaboration with Fanatical’s deals team.