The wish of many Dune fans has been answered: A new strategy game sends you into battle for Arrakis – including trade and diplomacy.
It’ll make the Harkonnen go crazy in the frying pan! At the Game Awards 2021, a new strategy game in the Dune universe was announced with a short teaser trailer. Spice Wars sends you into real-time battles and also allows you to get closer to victory through trade and diplomatic skills. We have all the current information for you.
If you haven’t already done so, you should first watch the short teaser trailer to get in the mood:
What to expect in Dune: Spice Wars
Developers: Who is developing Spice Wars?
The new Dune game is being developed by the French studio Shiro Games (Northgard) and distributed by Funcom as publisher. The new Dune survival MMO is also currently being developed under Funcom’s banner, but it is said to have nothing to do with Spice Wars.
Release: When will the game be released?
Spice Wars is scheduled to launch in Early Access in 2022 According to the developers, they decided to do this in order to be able to react even better and more directly to fan feedback. They already had great experiences with this during the development of Northgard. It is therefore still unclear when the finished game will be released.
Story: What is Spice Wars about?
Unfortunately, we can’t answer this question at the moment – because the developers don’t want to comment on the story of the campaign at the moment. However, one should not expect to strictly follow the plot of the books. Instead, you will be able to write your own story around the familiar characters and factions. You will be able to slip into the skin of personalities such as Duke Leto Atreides or Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.
Gameplay: What facets can strategists expect?
Spice Wars is based on the well-known 4X principle (explore, expand, exploit and exterminate) and offers you accordingly many possibilities to defeat your opponents and to carry off victory:
- Warfare: Classic real-time battles in which you recruit units and search the surroundings for settlements and spice deposits in order to expand your territory. You mine the spice with appropriate buildings and collectors (hopefully with clever wayfinding AI!)
- Diplomacy: If direct confrontation is too clumsy for you, you can try your hand at the high art of diplomacy. Cultivate your alliances and forge plots. A strategic overview map will help you keep track of everything.
- Spionage: Particularly cunning people can also try to sabotage the enemy simply by spying on them. You have a number of options at your disposal, but of course they cost resources.
- Trade: Last but not least, you can of course also trade with the other factions.
And what about sandworms? Of course, the legendary beast beneath the sandy surface of Arrakis is at it again. If you don’t carefully scan the environment for signs of wormy activity, expect a quick demise for your troops
Graphic: What can be said about technology?
Shiro Games emphasises that they use an engine specialised in strategy games for Spice Wars. You can find first impressions in the gallery above. The screenshots also show Arrakis at night. Whether the day-night change will be dynamic or predefined is not known at the moment.
If you can’t get enough of Dune and flowing Spice, we have good news for you. Director Denis Villeneuve’s feature film is set to continue: Dune 2 is scheduled to open in cinemas on 20 October 2023. No wonder, the first part of the novel adaptation by sci-fi author Frank Herbert was a hit not only with critics.
What do you think of the announcement of Dune: Spice Wars? And have you possibly had a look at the original novel before or after Denis Villeneuve’s feature film? Let us know in the comments
