Dune: Awakening Release Date Revealed

Dune: Awakening is an exciting prospect for both fans of the mega-popular science-fiction franchise and fans of the multiplayer survival genre. Originally announced at Gamescom’s Opening Night Live in 2022, Funcom has now announced a PC release date for the upcoming MMO: May 20.

In addition to this announcement, the studio also announced the immediate release of a benchmark and full character creator on Steam. The attached trailer is essentially a sizzle reel of what to respect from Dune: Awakening, and features flying, vehicles, base construction, resource harvesting, combat and… of course – our good friends Shai-Hulud.

Dune: Awakening Releases May 20

Dune: Awakening takes place in an alternate timeline from Frank Herbert’s novels and Dennis Villeneuve’s film adaptations. In Awakening, the Fremen have disappeared from the planet’s surface. Paul Atreides was never born, and Lady Jessica instead birthed a daughter. Leto Atreides survived his assassination attempt and now wars against the Harkonnens over control of Arrakis. Your character in Awakening is a prisoner drafted in to help investigate the disappearance of the Fremen, and will eventually side with one of the warring noble houses.

The above trailer shows off some examples of the characters you can mould in Dune: Awakening’s character creator. Releasing the character creator before a game’s final release is becoming an increasingly popular trend, as it gives players a system to explore while they wait for the full release.

Dune: Awakening features an online persistent world wherein you can engage in co-op building, player-versus-player combat (which is optional) or player-versus-environment raids. We likely won’t know the full extent of these features until Dune: Awakening releases, but Funcom has certainly promised all the bells and whistles you’d expect from this type of MMO.

Dune: Awakening releases May 20 for PC, with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S ports to follow at an unspecified time.