Recently, a short closed beta testing of the Dune multiplayer sandbox: AWAKENING, in which representatives of the press and creators of the content took part. Among the participants was a journalist of the Japanese portal 4gamer.comwho was not familiar with the Dun universe and went to the game from scratch, without reading books and despite the films. Based on his preliminary review, we prepared a summary with all interesting information in Russian.
Plot
- Dune: AWAKENING transfers more than 10,000 years to the future, to the deserted planet Arrakis, also known as the dune. This is a world where sand and rocks stretch to the horizon, and life seems almost impossible. However, it is here that a priceless resource is mined – spice. This substance is not just a product; It is critical of navigation in space, prolongs life and even gives psionic abilities, including foresight. The one who controls Arrakis and his spices actually holds the key to power over the entire famous universe.
- The player begins his path not by the hero, but to the former prisoners. The mysterious reverend from the Order of Bene Hesseite notes your character and sends to Arrakis with a secret mission – “awaken the sleeping man.” However, everything goes awry, and you are alone, abandoned to the mercy of fate in the middle of the endless and deadly desert.
- The plot of the game is an alternative story that exists parallel to books and films. In this world, Paul Atrades, the central hero of the original saga, was never born. This allows you to tell a new story in a familiar universe, offering a fresh look for fans and an independent adventure for beginners. Ignorance of the original does not interfere with perceiving the history of the whole, but the experts in Laura will be able to evaluate many interesting differences.
Creating a character
- Prologue Dune: AWAKENING, where the reverend mother interrogates the character, at the same time serves as a screen of the creation of your avatar. You set up your appearance (face, physique, race, voice), and then make key elections that affect the gameplay: the native world (affects the replicas and ratio of NPC), caste (social status, also affects the dialogs and, possibly, starting conditions) and, most importantly, the mentor (an archetype that determines the initial skills and style of the game).
- The mentor is your starting “class”. The journalist chose a soldier, which gave him access to the tactical hook-cat sigavir for quick rise in rocks, the ability to create gravity fields to mitigate falling and bonuses to small arms. Other mentors available in Bete – a master of a sword, a novice of Bene Gesserite and Mentat – offered completely different sets of skills oriented towards close combat, psionica or analytical abilities, respectively.
- Although the initial selection of the mentor is important, the game uses a level system with trifles of skills. In the future, through training with NPC mentors, it will be possible to unlock more advanced skills or even study the skills of other archetypes, creating unique builds. The ability to change appearance and probably redistributing skills later in the game was also implied, but was not available in Beta.
Survival
- This is not just MMO with survival elements, it is a harsh struggle for existence. Arrakis is an extremely inhospitable place. Forget about forests and rivers. There are no trees for cutting, there are no rains to collect water. Your main enemy at first is the planet itself.
- Dehydration is a constant threat. The hydration scale inexorably falls, especially under the scorching sun. In the center of the screen there is a special overheating indicator – as soon as it is filled, you get a sunny blow, dehydration accelerates, and if the supply of water runs out, health will begin to decrease.
- At the beginning of the game, the only source of moisture is a rare rosyanka plant growing in the shade of rocks. It replenishes only the small part of the scale (about a third) and it cannot be taken with you. Daily sorties in such conditions are a deadly enterprise.
- Later, a shocking, but effective way to extract water opens: blood extraction from bodies of defeated enemies-people using a special tool. The collected blood must be cleaned on the basis in a special device called the cleaner, and only then the resulting water can be poured into a flask and carried with you. As the journalist itted, he did not expect such a hardcore approach to water extraction, but noted that this logically fits into the world and gives additional motivation to fight enemies. Although the process of “milking” of corpses seemed a little tedious to him due to the need to constantly switch the equipment. You can buy water, but prices in settlements are bitten – they ask for a state for a glass.
- In the beta version of the mechanic, there was no need to sleep, which somewhat simplified survival, focusing on thirst and external threats.
Kraft and construction
- As in many survival simulators, craft and construction in Dune: AWAKENING play a central role. However, on Arrakis, everything is different due to the deficiency of resources. The stone is extracted from rocks, metal – from ore cores or by disassembling the fragments of ancient equipment.
- To build a base, you must first establish a console, “saying” the right to a section of the territory. Then, using the obtained resources, you can build a foundation, walls, roof. The construction process seems intuitively understandable: first, the “ghost” of the construction is placed, and then it is materialized if there are resources, without the need to break and rebuild if something went wrong.
- Your base is not just a house, it is a security island. Inside you are protected from the scorching sun and sand storms. Craft machines are also located here, first of all, the “Factory” is a universal device that resembles a 3D printer that can create a wide range of objects, from tools and weapons to the components for transport. The creation of high -quality equipment (for example, costumes with protection from the sun and built -in water tanks) is critical of survival and study of the world.
Threats of the world
- Fights in Dune: AWAKENING-dynamic action-sabotage from a third person. Enemies with energy shields deserve special attention. Such opponents are invulnerable to most attacks. To break through their defense, it is necessary to accurately fend off the blow, and then conduct a strong attack of near -fight at the time of their vulnerability.
- The desert is not empty. In the shadow of the rocks, in caves and abandoned structures, hostile groups of people, fries live. They will not hesitate to attack you. The battles with them are not only a risk, but also a necessity, because they are your main source of blood for processing into water.
- Sandworms are not just bosses for Endheim, as you might think initially. They are a constant threat and part of the Arrakis ecosystem. If you carelessly go to the open area of the sand, moving on foot, like the earth trembles, and a giant mouth may appear from the depths. Meeting with the worm of the fatal. This forces to move with an eye on the cliffs as shelters and safe “islands” in the sandy “ocean”.
- In the afternoon, moving through the open sand is doubly dangerous: you can incinerate the sun or gobble up the worm. But the rocks do not have complete safety, because bandits can wait for. Survival on Arrakis requires constant vigilance.
Study
- Moving along Arrakis is slow and deadly. A real salvation in Dune: AWAKENING is a sandy motorcycle. It is noted that the receipt of this vehicle (which can be scraped independently or finding its parts) causes a real delight.
- The motorcycle allows you to rapidly cross sand dunes, significantly accelerating the study and reducing risks (although it does not completely protect from worms, but allows you to quickly leave the danger zone). It can be equipped with modules for transporting goods. It is possible to instantly call and remove a motorcycle that turns into an item in an inventory.
Quests system
- The quests system in Dune: AWAKENing seemed standard and convenient. There is a main storyline that opens gradually, and side tasks that can be taken from terminals in a few settlements. The tasks are diverse: find and bring an object, scrap something, explore the location. A magazine of tasks and markers on the map help not to get lost, which is especially important for beginners.
- Despite the convenient quests system, immersion in the plot and the world of the game turned out to be difficult for a beginner. The Universe of the Dunes is rich in unique , names and concepts (spice, Gesserite Bene, at home, empire, etc.), which are not always explained in the game in detail. The author of the review had to periodically look for information on the Internet in order to better understand what was happening.
- The journalist came to the conclusion that for a deep understanding of the plot and the world, it is desirable to have at least basic knowledge about the original universe. However, in his opinion, even without it you can play and enjoy the gameplay, since the misunderstanding of Laura does not interfere with the age. It is enough to understand the basic things: there is a super-existence spice, and there is a struggle between the great houses of Atrades and Harkonnen.
Conclusion
Dune: Awakening leaves a pleasant sensation from gameplay: the control is responsive, and the development of the base mechanic is easily due to the intuitive quest system. At the same time, the aspect of survival is implemented very hardcore – the constant pressure of the environment in the form of thirst, the scorching sun and parasites creates a tangible tension, especially at the start. The atmosphere of a dangerous but bewitching desert planet is conveyed convincingly, but the complexity and abundance of Laura can be an obstacle to beginners due to the high density of terminology.
The journalist notes that he saw only the initial stages of the game and did not manage to evaluate advanced mechanics like high -level content, transport, social systems and large -scale events, and also mentions the presence of technical roughnesses, which, in his opinion, should be eliminated. Despite these restrictions, the project made a strong impression thanks to his uncompromising survival system, and the author with optimism awaits the final version of the game.
