By Recently came the news of “Dune: Awakening,” a new open-world survival MMO game in the works that allows players to explore Arrakis and ultimately lead major factions.
The game’s design is also very much inspired by the look of the Denis Villeneuve films. However, one thing you won’t see, and one which is the central theme of the recently released “Dune: Part Two,” is any sort of messianic figures.
The film tackles some deep themes involving colonialism, eugenics, power, the dangers of faith, and religion as a form of political and social control. It is basically a blueprint for how holy wars get started – lending a sense of dread slowly building throughout the film.
Aware of the dangers of that subject matter combined with a game’s interactivity element, Funcom has issued a statement on social media making it clear that whilst the game has religion as an element, players won’t be able to become a superpowered holy figure demanding worship:
“We agree that religion is an integral part of the Dune universe. This is why in Dune: Awakening you will meet and interact with people of different religions along your journey. However, as opposed to the story presented in the books, the player is not a messiah and will not play a major role in any of them. Leading people on a holy war is not why you arrive on Arrakis.”
Fans are understanding, but the developer did respond to one fan who joked that they could give messianic powers to a random player every other week, to which they said back: “Didn’t the books warn us about that.”
In spite of this, the game is advertised as saying players can consume the Arrakis spice to “conquer your senses and acquire powerful abilities” suggesting there’s some form of low-key superpowers at play
“Dune: Awakening” has not set a release date as yet.
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