Dune: Awakening has a message for would-be warlords: bring your spice, not your sledgehammer. Funcom's survival MMO is set on Arrakis, a planet so hostile that even the sunscreen has trust issues, but the studio's PvP philosophy is surprisingly civilised. In a genre where Rust, Ark, and DayZ have trained players to treat each other's bases like piñatas, Funcom wants fights to break out over resources in the open world—not over someone's carefully arranged collection of space rocks. In 2026, that design choice still feels like a breath of fresh, sandy air.
The first wrinkle? Land ownership comes with paperwork. To claim a piece of Arrakis, players must pay the emperor for it. Yes, even 20,000 years in the future, on an alien planet where giant worms rule the commute, you still have to pay taxes. 🧾 It is the least glamorous part of becoming a feudal space lord, but apparently the emperor did not conquer a galaxy just to hand out free real estate. Players can grumble, but the sub-fief console is the key to putting down roots.
At GDC in San Francisco, Funcom explained more about how player bases fit into the game's PvP. Base invasions are a staple of multiplayer survival games—Rust players have made an art form of offline raiding, Ark tribes have turned base wiping into a hobby, and DayZ survivors have long treated other people's camps as an all-you-can-loot buffet. Funcom, however, wants to pull players away from competing and fighting over bases and destroying each other's things. Instead, the action should centre on resources in the world at specific locations.
That mostly means spice, also known as melange, the most precious resource in the entire galaxy. In Dune: Awakening, spice blows will occur as world events, visible to players around the map as a huge geyser of spice erupts from the sand like a volcano. 🌋 The result is a galactic gold rush with better special effects. Players will race to harvest the spice, then race again to transport their haul home. That, according to Funcom, is where PvP works best: when people are vying over resources, trying to return resources to base, and fighting over something that is not as personal as a base.
Scott Junior, executive producer of Dune: Awakening, put it plainly: 'We think PvP works best when people are vying over resources, or trying to return resources to base, and fighting over something that's not as personal as your base.' The studio is not trying to attract the people that want to kick over your sandcastle. In other words, Arrakis is not a playground for griefers with a demolition fetish. It is a harsh, beautiful, spice-soaked battlefield where the best fights have a point beyond ruining someone's evening.
That does not mean bases are invulnerable forever. Players use a device called a sub-fief console to claim land and establish their base, and that console has a shield. If the shield is generated, other players cannot interact with the base. It is the sci-fi equivalent of a very expensive do-not-disturb sign. If the shield depletes or the owner turns it off, however, the base becomes vulnerable—not just to other players, but to damage from events like sandstorms. 🌪️ Yes, the weather on Arrakis is also a raider.
| System | What it does | The vibe |
|---|---|---|
| 🧾 Sub-fief console | Claims land and establishes a base | Bureaucracy with a force field |
| 🛡️ Base shield | Blocks player interaction while active | Do not disturb, unless invited |
| 🌶️ Spice blow | Erupts as a visible world event | A gold rush with teeth |
| 💥 Base raids | Possible in later, more PvP-focused stages | Opt-in chaos, not a surprise party |
As players advance and move deeper into the world, they may reach a point where they want to participate in base raids against other players. In the starting map, base raids will be pretty much non-existent. Later stages are more of a PvP type thing, and there will be scenarios where base raids can happen. Crucially, the player basically has to opt into it. That is a polite way of saying the sandcastle kickers will need to find a consenting sandcastle. It is a small design detail, but it changes the emotional weather of the whole game. Players can build, decorate, and stockpile without constantly wondering whether a stranger with too many explosives is eyeing their front door.
Is this a utopia? Not exactly. Arrakis is still a place where worms, sandstorms, and spice-crazed opportunists can ruin your day. But Funcom's approach gives PvP a purpose beyond property damage. The desert wants players to clash over the good stuff, to gamble on a spice blow, to escort a haul across hostile sand, and to earn their scars in the open. For players tired of logging in to find their base redecorated with explosives, that is a welcome change. For the sandcastle kickers, Arrakis has a message: go fight over a spice geyser, you absolute menace. 🌶️🏜️