‘Dune: Spice Wars’ is the next video game to be set in Frank Herbert’s classic Dune Universe, will release for early access on PC later this April.
Publisher Funcom and developer Shiro Games, which made the well-regarded Northgard, also confirmed that the Fremen would be one of the four playable factions in the game at launch. (Houses Harkonnen and Atreides, plus a faction of Smugglers, had already been announced)
This game is real-time strategy game with larger scale 4X elements including an overworld map. It’s war and desert at the same time. You’ll be building your military power, expanding your political influence, infiltrating your enemies, and overseeing resource production to take hold of the planet. ‘Dune: Spice Wars’ pits the four factions against each other for control of Arrakis and its coveted Spice Melange.
Each faction has particular strengths and weaknesses, with the Fremen pitched as a flexible army than can endure Arrakis’s harsh environment.
For fans who have seen Denis Villeneuve’s recent ‘Dune’ film adaptation, or read Frank Herbert’s majestic novel, you’ll also recognize a bunch of characters among its ranks, including Chani Kynes, Stilgar Ben Fifrawi, and Liet Kynes.
Sebastien Vidal, CEO of Shiro Games, said there are many massive ‘Dune’ fans and he’s very much excited working with this universe for real.
“With all this passion for the source material, and all the know-how we’ve gathered from making Northgard, we can’t wait to put this game into players’ hands.” Vidal added.
Exciting news is that, aside from the ‘Spice Wars’, publisher Funcom is also developing an open-world survival multiplayer game set in the Dune universe, though nothing’s known about that yet.