Here is What You Missed From the Latest Dune: Awakening Stream:
The devs at Funcom hosted a massive 3-hour livestream yesterday, covering the current state of Dune: Awakening. It included a full look at the building system, upcoming beta access, the story setup, and the faction-based political system players will be creating. If you missed it, here is a quick breakdown of the most important stuff.
Closed Beta Runs May 9–12
The next round of beta testing starts on May 9 and runs through May 12. You can join by requesting access on Steam, signing up on the official website, or watching the May 10 global broadcast during PAX East and London – key giveaways will be happening there and via partnered streamers.
For more information on this, check out our previous post about Beta Weekend Details and Keys.
A Fully Customizable Building System
Building in Dune: Awakening starts with a land claim and grows from there. Players use a Sub-fief Console to secure land, and later unlock an advanced console that allows more claims, vertical construction, and full base management – including shields, respawn points, object caps, and even tax payments.
- Power comes from generators or wind turbines
- Shields protect from sandstorms, but must be maintained
- You can save full bases as blueprints to reuse, trade, or sell
- Building supports co-op, with permission tiers for other players
There are four full building sets at launch (Chrome Shelter, Chrome Facility, Atreides, and Harkonnen), plus extra cosmetics via Twitch drops and pre-order bonuses like the Kaladan Palace set. Compared to Conan Exiles, pieces are larger and more flexible for complex designs. The stream also showed off creative builds like cliffside bases, faction monuments, and even pizza-shaped layouts.
Alternate Timeline and Player-Driven Story
The game takes place in a reimagined version of the Dune universe, where Jessica gives birth to a daughter instead of Paul. Because of that, Duke Leto survives, and the ongoing war between Atreides and Harkonnen plays out very differently.
The story is designed to be easy to follow, even if you are new to Dune, with player choice at the center. You pick your background and mentor, which shapes how your character develops and unlocks skills. Every cinematic is fully voiced, and the devs teased some recognizable voice actors behind major roles, including talent from Mass Effect, Overwatch, and more.
Player Economy and Blueprint Trading
The in-game Exchange works like a central auction house and only exists in big hubs like Arakeen and Harko Village. Players can sell items, crafted resources, building blueprints, and even map survey data (called sync charts). Since the desert map changes weekly, exploring and selling charts becomes part of the game’s economy.
Rare schematics and limited-run blueprints also play into crafting and trade.
The Landsraad System: Weekly Faction Influence
Players who align with Atreides or Harkonnen and join a guild can take part in the Landsraad, which is a weekly political competition made up of 25 rotating houses.
Each house gives your guild tasks – like crafting, PvP, or exploration – and successful completions earn your faction influence on the Landsraad board. At the end of the week, the faction with the most completed tasks wins. Or, you can go for an early victory by creating a complete line across the board (“Cis-Lorad” style). Some houses can even be bribed – others require reputation or specific player backgrounds.
As you can already tell by now, this system is much more than ‘nice to have’, as it actually affects world events and which faction holds power.
You can watch the full stream replay here:
A Reddit AMA with the devs is also happening on May 6, with questions opening on May 5 – so if you have something to ask, this would be the time.
