With the sun beating off your skin, the relaxing sound of the wind blowing the sand around, and a bunch of giant sandworms looking to forward to eating you for lunch – Arrakis isn’t your typical holiday destination. Still, Dune Awakening is one of the best survival games of the year, delivering an experience worthy of Arrakis. If you haven’t played Funcom’s excellent take on the classic franchise, it’s got a huge discount over at Fanatical, and Dune Awakening is truly worth playing.
2025 has seen a lot of new additions to our list of the best PC games from Expedition 33 to Doom: The Dark Ages. We’ve been eating good. However, if I had to say which of this year’s top hits I spent the most time with, it would be Dune Awakening – perhaps it’s my love of the Arrakeen heat or the dangers that lie waiting in the sands, but it’s a truly immersive survival game.
Set in an alternative universe where Paul Atreides was never born, and his father, Leto, survives the attack on his life, you’ll play as an undercover agent of the Bene Gesserit who is sent to Arrakis to locate the Fremen. While there’s an engaging narrative, one that would certainly work as a Frank Herbert novel, it’s mainly just setting the stage so that you can let lose in the sandworm-infested deserts.
While the MMO aspect of the game has been heavily marketed, I think it is much more strongly defined by its survival elements. Starting without equipment, with the two suns boiling your blood unless you find shade, you’ll slowly learn more about the technology of the sci-fi world, allowing you to traverse the dangerous dunes and avoid being a Sandworm’s dinner. Even in those brief moments where you feel like you could put your feet up and relax, you’re never truly safe in Arrakis.
As a Dune fan, I really admire the extent to which it allows you to immerse yourself in the world of the iconic franchise, treading new ground on familiar territory while staying true to the source material. However, suppose you’re a newcomer looking for an exciting survival game to play – in that case, Dune Awakening is still suitable for you, as it does a great job at introducing you to the stakes without requiring too much exposition.
If you’ve been waiting for the right time to play one of my personal favorites of this year, Dune Awakening is just $33.49 / £28.13 at Fanatical, dropping the game to its lowest price ever, and giving you a first-class ticket to Arrakis at a fraction of the price. However, if you want more of the future content, the Ultimate Edition is just $67.49 / £56.24 during the sale. I’m really excited to see what happens in the upcoming The Water Wars expansion.
Considering Dune Awakening is partly MMO and needs to be online all the time, you may want to give the best sandbox games a look if you’re after options that you can play offline. Alternatively, you could always take a peek at our best single-player games list for some solo fun without the worry of someone killing you when you’re making a coffee.
Dune you want a great place to hang out with some like-minded players and chat about your adventures on Arrakis? Fortunately, we have the perfect home for you, with our PCGamesN Discord server, brimming with life, positive vibes, and no Sandworms.
