Today, just about 72 hours before the floodgates open, we can finally share with you that rentable private servers will be available from head start launch on June 5th!
We’ve previously communicated that private servers are for post-launch, but we’re happy to share that progress has been faster than expected.
We do, however, want to manage expectations about how private servers work in Dune: Awakening. As you know, this is not your typical survival game.
Why private servers work differently in Dune: Awakening
Dune: Awakening is powered by a unique server and world structure, something we went in-depth on in a recent blog post.
In short: each server belongs to a World consisting of several other servers, and each of those share the same social hubs and Deep Desert. This allows us to retain a neighborhood-like feel to the Hagga Basin and provide persistent, freeform building, and other server-demanding mechanics you typically see in survival games. We combine this with the large-scale multiplayer mechanics you would expect to find in MMOs where hundreds of players meet each other in social hubs and the Deep Desert to engage in social activities, trade, conflict, and more.
Naturally, transferring this setup to a private server model has not been trivial.
We decided early on that we did not want to remove the large-scale multiplayer aspects of the game as that is such a crucial part of the Dune: Awakening experience, and the game’s content and mechanics are deeply rooted in this setup.
It was simply never an option for us to release “half a game” for private servers.
We knew we had to come up with a solution that retained the fundamental MMO-like features that make Dune: Awakening so unique, while still giving players some control, perhaps most importantly over who has access to their server.
That meant we had to make some concessions in terms of how much control players have over their private servers. The result is a model where you have fewer settings available than you would in some other survival games such as Conan Exiles.
We want to be completely clear and upfront about that so you can make an informed decision as to whether it’s worth it for you and your friends to rent a private server.
How private servers work
When you rent a private server, you essentially rent a server containing one Hagga Basin, just like the official servers. Here you have the full Hagga Basin map, and you can do everything you would do on an official server.
Your private server will belong to a World consisting of other private servers, and you can choose a World for your private server when you rent yours from a provider.
That means that you will still be able to take full advantage of Dune: Awakening’s large-scale multiplayer content and mechanics, including visiting the social hubs and the Deep Desert, to meet and play with people from any private server in the same World.
Players do not rent or control social hubs nor the Deep Desert. These are provided by the server hosting company, who ensures each private server’s World has them.
Private server settings
So, what settings will be available for your private server?
Because your private server will belong to a World of other private servers, and you will be meeting and playing with other people in the social hubs and the Deep Desert, you won’t be able to control every aspect of how your private server works.
Which settings you can configure for your server is ultimately up to the third-party server provider, but these are the settings we are making available:
Security Zones: you can disable security zones entirely, making all parts of Hagga Basin PvP enabled, or you can choose to have pockets of PvP like on official servers
Taxation: you can disable taxation on your server
Sandstorms: you can disable sandstorms, making them not appear on your server
You will also be able to name your server and set a password for it.
Please note that private servers do not have an admin control panel nor character transfers presently. We will evaluate this functionality post-launch.
Visiting other private servers
Just like how you can visit another server in your World when playing on official servers, you can do the same with private servers.
All you need to do is select the other server in the server selection menu and put in the server’s password when prompted. You can take with you everything on your character, and you are free to do anything you would like on the server. You can even claim land, something you can’t do when visiting official servers.
When you arrive on the other server, you will appear at Griffin’s Reach trade post.
How to rent a private server
To rent a server, all you need to do is visit one of the server providers that offer private servers for Dune: Awakening (in alphabetical order):
Please note that this service is managed by the hosting companies themselves. If you need any technical support or other assistance, you will need to contact them directly.
Funcom does not set the prices for private server rental.
Closing words
We look forward to your feedback on private servers and going forward we will evaluate opportunities to expand their functionality and rulesets.
Enabling private servers for Dune: Awakening has not been trivial considering our unique large-scale multiplayer setup, and it was important to us to retain the fundamental MMO-like gameplay that makes Dune: Awakening so unique. That means it does come with some restrictions on how you can configure them compared to some other survival games such as Conan Exiles.
But we hope that this service will still be meaningful to those of you who prefer to play on servers you do not have to share with others, and we hope that the shared World structure will add an extra dimension without taking away from the unique content and mechanics that makes Dune: Awakening what it is.
And hey, if you want a PvP free-for-all Hagga Basin without those pesky taxes and sandstorms, while also being able to invite select other people or even open up completely for strangers to come visit and claim land on your home turf – now you can!
Whether you choose to play on official or private servers: see you on Arrakis soon, Sleepers!
Skills & Schools of the Imperium - Swordmaster
Greetings Sleepers,
Only a very few earn the title of Swordmaster, specialists in hand-to-hand combat, and perhaps the only fighters ever to rival the Sardaukar. In Dune: Awakening, you can learn from this Great School of the Imperium, using specialized techniques to dispatch foes with unnatural speed and precision.
Witness the Swordmaster unsheathe their blade in our fourth Schools of the Imperium showcase.
Many of the Great Houses employ Swordmasters to command their armed forces. They are unparallelled fighters with a blade, closing the distance to enemies and cutting them apart.
Here are a few of the Swordmasters early skills:
Knee Charge: Leap forward and strike with the knee to damage and stagger your opponent.
Deflection: Using incredible reflexes, adopt a defensive stance to temporarily deflect all incoming ranged projectiles.
Eye of the Storm: Defy the odds against multiple opponents with whirling slashes, damaging all nearby enemies.
To start on the path of the Swordmaster if you didn’t do so at character creation, you must seek out Arno at the Pinnacle Station in Jabal Eifrit Al-gharb. He’s thought to be dead and he would like that to remain the case. In exchange for your help, he will offer you his teachings.
Unsheathe your blade on June 10 when Dune: Awakening launches. Pre-order now and get the Terrarium of Muad’dib in-game base decoration.
Exploring the Mid-to-Endgame in Dune: Awakening
Greetings Sleepers,
Dune: Awakening is just days away from its launch on June 10th! Remember that if you pre-order the Deluxe or Ultimate Edition you can also join the head start on June 5th.
The whole team is buzzing with anticipation and we simply cannot wait to see you all touch (or, rather, crash down on the sands of Arrakis soon.
Before the floodgates open, we wanted to provide you with a look into some of what awaits you beyond the early survival experience that many of you experienced in our recent large-scale Beta Weekend. So, we dedicated our final livestream before launch to exploring the mid-to-endgame.
Check it out:
Here are some of the topics we covered:
Exploring some of the areas of Hagga Basin not available in the Beta Weekend
Mid-game base with advanced production setup
Advanced vehicles, including ornithopter assembly
Social hubs and what they’re for
The overland map, traveling to different locations on Arrakis
Central to Dune: Awakening’s mid-to-endgame is the Landsraad, the council of Great Houses that makes decisions that impact all the servers in your World.
Your goal and that of your guild is to secure their votes so that your faction – the Harkonnen or Atreides – can take control of the Landsraad. You can work alone, with friends, or even attempt coordinating across multiple guilds to secure these votes by completing specific house requirements.
This opens up a whole new way to play later in the game. Alone or with others, your efforts can move the needle.
Whether you prefer PvE or PvP, there are a multitude of activities to participate in that will benefit not just your faction, but also you personally as fulfilling house requirements also unlocks special rewards.
For a deeper look at the Landsraad, check out this brand-new video:
Sandbox combat: from early beginner to advanced killing machine
Combat is a central part of Dune: Awakening, and we’ve gone to great lengths to try and raise the bar for combat in open world multiplayer survival games.
From early survivor to later game death bringer, your journey on Arrakis will see you progress in one or more Schools of the Imperium, each offering unique abilities that you can use in combat.
Whether you prefer melee or ranged combat, or a mix of both, there are multiple ways to shape your character as you advance from early game to endgame.
Check out this brand-new video diving deeper into Dune: Awakening’s sandbox combat:
Don’t forget to wishlist and pre-order Dune: Awakening. Get the Deluxe or Ultimate Edition to start playing on June 5th, a full five days ahead of launch on June 10th.
We’re less than two weeks away from launch of Dune: Awakening (and head start is even closer!). It’s time to grab your Fremkit, put on your stillsuit, and start getting ready.
The first thing you need to know is exactly when you can start playing.
Dune: Awakening will first be available in head start on June 5th for those who have pre-ordered either the Deluxe or Ultimate Edition. Pre-ordering either edition, or the base edition, will also unlock the Terrarium of Muad’Dib pre-order reward.
Official launch is June 10th, at which point pre-orders (and the Terrarium of Muad’Dib reward) will no longer be available for purchase. The base, Deluxe, and Ultimate Editions will be available for regular purchase from that point onwards.
The game will unlock for play on Steam at 16:00 CEST / 10am EDT, both on June 5th and June 10th. For other regions, we’ve included a map above with some select locations to help you figure out when it will be available in your area.
Pre-load will be available to all pre-order owners 24 hours before head start on June 4th, but please be aware that pre-ordering the base edition does not grant head start access.
What else do you need to know?
Multiple Worlds/servers will be available at head start, but the majority will go live with launch on June 10th as more players come in.
So, if you’re not joining us at head start, you will find plenty of fresh, new Worlds/servers to join on June 10th. You can still choose a head start World/server at launch if you prefer, e.g., if you want to join friends playing there.
Also remember to check out the system requirements we shared a while back, to make sure your hardware is good and ready for Arrakis.
Last, but not least, don’t miss out on the livestream we’re hosting on May 28th where we will show and talk about our mid-to-endgame, giving you a glimpse of what lies beyond what many of you played in our recent large-scale Beta Weekend.
The wait is almost over, we can’t wait to see you on Arrakis, Sleepers!
Skills and Schools of the Imperium – The Mentat
Schools of the Imperium - Mentat
Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind. - Orange Catholic Bible commandment following the Butlerian Jihad
Greetings Sleepers,
The Butlerian Jihad outlawed all thinking computers, leaving a vacuum in the universe which was eventually filled by the Order of Mentats.
See the Mentat in action in our third Schools of the Imperium showcase.
A secretive and insular organization, the Order of Mentats conditions their adherents to store and analyze vast amounts of data at superhuman speeds. In Dune: Awakening, you can learn to condition your mind in this fashion to analyze the battlefield and become a master tactician and assassin.
Here are some of the Mentat’s early skills:
The Sentinel: Deploy a suspensor buoyed dart projector that uses motion detection to cover a field of fire. Trigger a second time to activate.
Poison Capsule: You have a hidden dart dispenser that fires off a specially prepared capsule filled with poisonous spores. On impact, a cloud of poison appears, building poison on all who remain within.
Shield Wall: You deploy a half-height Holtzman shield that provides cover during combat for you and your allies. It will also slow enemies who attempt to pass through it – giving you time to take them down.
The first Mentat trainer is Samin Moro, who you will find at Riftwatch, a Harkonnen base. Show her you have what it takes to create and administer poisons and she may teach you the ways of the Mentat.
On June 10, you will gain true understanding. Move with the flow of the process.
Mid-to-Endgame Livestream on May 28!
The recent Beta revealed a part of Dune: Awakening’s early game in detail. On May 28, we’re diving into details on everything you’ll experience in the mid-to-late game, such as the Landsraad, spice harvesting, Deep Desert, control points, and much more.
Tune in to our Twitch, YouTube, and Steam Page at 12pm EDT/6pm CEST on May 28.
Beyond the Beta: Get a Glimpse of the Mid-to-Endgame Livestream
Greetings Sleepers,
Once again, thank you to everyone who joined us for the large-scale Beta Weekend earlier this month. It’s been a thrill reading your feedback, watching your videos, and diving into the many lively discussions that followed.
The Beta Weekend was a critical milestone for us – we stress-tested core systems to ensure we’re ready for launch, and you got hands-on experience with the first 20–25 hours of early survival gameplay.
But Dune: Awakening is much more than those early hours. You’ve only just scratched the surface.
The Beta Weekend featured just 25% of the Hagga Basin. Beyond it lies a vast world full of content, challenges, and gameplay systems waiting to be uncovered.
Tune into our Mid-to-Endgame Livestream on May 28th
We’re now excited to give you a glimpse of what lies beyond the Beta Weekend – into Dune: Awakening’s mid-to-endgame.
On May 28th at 18:00 CEST / 12pm EDT / 9am PDT join us live on Twitch.tv/Funcom or YouTube.com/Funcom. Our host Natascha Röösli will once again welcome several developers who will both show and talk about what players can expect to see as they reach further into Hagga Basin and beyond, into the Deep Desert.
We’ll head further into Hagga Basin, showing you what you can expect to see, build, and experience in the midgame. We’ll also cover advanced gameplay mechanics such as The Landsraad, and we’ll dive deep into the Deep Desert to show you how Dune: Awakening’s endgame game offers plenty to do whether you prefer PvE or PvP.
Dune: Awakening is multiplayer survival on a massive scale. You’ve seen the surface – now it’s time to show you how deep the desert truly goes.
Don’t miss it:
Twitch.tv/Funcom | YouTube.com/Funcom
May 28th
18:00 CEST / 12pm EDT / 9am PDT
See you in the Deep Desert, Sleepers.
Skills & Schools of the Imperium – Trooper
Greetings Sleepers,
In a universe of inhuman abilities and enigmatic powers, the Trooper places his trust in the weight of his weapon and the enduring reliability of explosives.
Learn more about the Trooper in our second Schools of the Imperium showcase. First, see the veteran soldier in action in the new video.
Every Great House of the Landsraad fields its own standing army or House Guard, and the backbone of these formations are career soldiers known as Troopers. Wield an arsenal of ranged weaponry with expert precision, and deploy powerful tech with explosives and Holzman suspensor fields.
Here are some of the Troopers early skills:
· Shigawire Claw: You use a wrist-mounted launcher to fire off a claw attached to a cable of shigawire. The extreme tensile strength of shigawire launches you in the direction of the cable. It can also be used to stagger opponents during combat.
· Anti-gravity Field: This device, when thrown, uses a modified secondary phase Holtzman field to negate the effect of gravity in a spherical area. You can use the sphere to lift enemies or prevent fall damage during traversal.
· Disruptor Damage: Using steady hands you are able to guide the disruptor’s rapid fire darts more effectively to their target, thus increasing your damage.
To start on the path of the Trooper, you must either pick it in character creation, or visit the first mentor. Find Ghavouri, a grizzled veteran of many battles, at the Griffin’s Reach Tradepost.
Pick up your arms on June 10, and start earning your next scars.
How Many Beta Players the Sandworm Consumed - And a Thank You Message!
Greetings Sleepers,
A great journey on Arrakis is soon upon us, but for now, we’d like to briefly reflect on the Beta Weekend, which was extremely valuable for us ahead of launch. What we’ve learned has already led to various improvements and tweaks.
As we’ve been digging into all your comments (thank you!) and the data, we wanted to share some of the things you got up to on Arrakis. We can confirm spice was consumed, and not in moderation.
Take a look:
In the wake of the Beta, our Creative Director, Joel Bylos, has a message for everyone:
Before we let you go, take a look at a few of our favorite reactions, opinions, and moments from the Beta.
The warmth of Summer is slowly creeping up on many of us and envisioning yourself on Arrakis gets easier and easier with the rising temperatures. Though, hopefully not as hot as Arrakis.
First things first, let’s address the sandworm in the room. As you may have seen, we’ve pushed Dune: Awakening’s release day to June 10th, with the headstart beginning on the 5th. With these additional weeks, we’ll be able to address more of the feedback we received in our Closed Beta to make sure you get the best experience at launch. You can read more about this in our official statement here.
We also have a whole lot of announcements and gameplay we showed off including live streams, trailers, and more. You’ll want to keep reading too, as we have more incredible fan art and Q&A so kick the sand from your boots and let’s get into it.
Live Streams
Catching our live streams is the best way to see gameplay and our developers in action; none of the gameplay was pre-recorded and all the developers were very much real humans (except Joel).
Our second Dune: Awakening live stream focused primarily on combat. Senior Game Designer, Viljar, and Expert Designer, Alex, showed off what you can expect when playing through an Imperial Testing Station, as well as PvP. They also touched on skills you can equip and use as well as melee and ranged combat.
Towards the end of this stream, we also highlighted server structure and details, as well as how guilds will work. This segment was lead by Chief Creative Officer, Joel Bylos, and Lead Game Designer, Leo.
Going into our third stream, our next topic centered around the building system, the Landsraad system and the Exchange. Leo joined us once again for this segment, as well as Tor Egil, our Senior Content Manager. Tor Egil is well known at Funcom to be a master at building in our games and showing off what you can do with the building pieces you are given.
For those more interested in the overall lore and story of the game, you’ll want to make sure to watch this segment of the stream guided by our Associate Lead Narrative Designer, Lea, and Producer, Nils. Lastly, we detailed more about the economy and Exchange in the game with Joel.
Content Creator Demos
Speaking of streaming, there were a select few who had the opportunity to play and stream a preview of Dune: Awakening. You might have seen new videos and streams of this gameplay in the last week, and we hope you had fun watching along with your favorite streamers. Here are just a handful!
New Trailers
For those of you who love the story and lore of Dune: Awakening, you won’t want to miss our new story trailer.
Walk in the footsteps of the Fremen as you learn to survive the desert and uncover a past that the sands have buried. In the deadly crucible of Arrakis, each of you must eventually answer: who are you?
And for those who are more interested in the building aspect, we also released a trailer focused on your in-game base. Besides providing shelter against heatstroke and sandstorms, it’s a place to rest up and plan for your next journey. Find out more about what your base can offer.
Reddit AMA
If you are looking for even more answers to your questions, we hosted an AMA on Reddit! Check out the comments to see what the developers have to say, directly from their mouths and fingers to you.
We are spoiled with creations in this issue! And don’t forget, those that are featured here will be invited to participate in the closed beta. If you would like to join before launch, make sure to share them with us using the #CommuninetSignal tag on social media, or share in the fanart channel of the official Discord server.
The next episode of the wonderful community podcast, Sandwalking, is now out! Join DeadWoman Walking and FlamingMojo with special guest Kiah as they talk all things Dune: Awakening.
Fight - By ArrakisPilgrim
By omamonster
Another piece by ArrakisPilgrim of their character in an Imperial Testing Station.
A sketch of malakia’s character.
A depiction of what Yojimbe imagines the “Dune Radio Guy” looks like.
And here are some fanart profile pictures you can use, also created by Yojimbe. Just contact him if you’d like a certain one!
Yojimbe made even more fanart, so here is a collage of some of his other works.
We'll keep a close eye on queues during both the head-start and the main release date, monitoring and adjusting capacity as needed. There is always going to be the risk of some queuing, but we're planning as best we can in terms of capacity and we'll keep a close watch on how it develops and make continuous adjustments to server scaling. (For the large beta weekend we ran with a 60 player cap)
We'll put a limit on any invited visiting player on a Hagga Basin, to ensure that the ones who live there as their "home" Hagga Basin is less likely to be exposed to queues.
Story is pretty important! This is something that you will follow through all of Hagga Basin (and beyond). You will be introduced to a variety of characters that will push you along the path.
After all, this is Dune and the universe is core to the experience - not just a backdrop.
Keeping players informed about the state of the game and future development is very important to us, and we will be sharing information on future updates when ready. We do have a list of planned content, but we will be keeping eyes and ears out for input from the community at launch as well. So along with this planned content, we want to also incorporate your ideas and feedback into those updates as well.
After you unlock the making of a sinkchart (planetologist skill) you can craft a sinkchart and give/sell it to other players, whether they’re guild mates or not. When it is consumed, it will give any information that would have been obtained through the initial survey (+ the current states of spice fields within that area).
There shouldn’t be any problems! But even so, there is a streamer mode that you can use to mute all the music.
You will have to change each one on your hotbar whenever you want to swap out skills or techniques.
When you die, you have a couple options of where to respawn. Firstly, you can craft and place a respawn beacon; you can only have one of these though, and placing another will prevent spawning at another.
Another place to respawn could be at your subfief. Your subfief is where your home base is, so spawning here will place you in the base.
As you explore, you’ll run into points of interest. You will have the option to spawn at the last point of interest you passed by.
And lastly, your vehicles also work as a respawn point. So long as they aren’t stored in your vehicle backup tool, you can choose to spawn at one of them. Just remember that wherever you parked it may not always be safe.
You can own up to 10 vehicles (land and air) at a time. As you progress, you’ll be able to craft a vehicle backup tool (VBT). This lets you store either one sandbike or a light ornithopter to place somewhere else. You can only ever carry one VBT at a time.
Phew! That was a lot to go through, and we hope the streams, gameplay, and reveals have fueled your excitement for launch. There isn’t much time between now and June 10th, but we have more coming your way including showcases of the Schools of the Imperium. We also have even more trailers that focus on what to expect in the endgame as well as combat. Stay hydrated and see you in the next Communinet Signal!
The Beta Weekend is Over!
Greetings Sleepers,
Our large-scale Beta weekend has come to a close! For now, the sandworms are sated, but working up an appetite for launch on June 10.
It was a thrill to see so many of you take your first steps on Arrakis, and the response has been incredible. Thank you all! We expect launch to run even smoother, thanks to everything learned.
If you didn’t catch the Beta or the Global LAN Party Broadcast, you can watch it here, for developer talks, gameplay, and more. Witness a showdown between Atreides and Harkonnen as two teams of content creators tackle a set of unique challenges on Arrakis.
In case you missed it, here’s what was in the Beta, and what you can expect to see in the full launch. As you can see, the Beta was just a fraction of what you will encounter at launch on June 10.
Glimpse into the Future
Launch is almost upon us, but before then, we have a lot more to share. More Schools of the Imperium introductions, new blogs, showcases, and trailers.
Pre-order now to get the Terrarium of Muad’dib in-game base decoration, and get the Deluxe or Ultimate Edition for a five-day head start and a trove of exclusive in-game items.
