The upcoming Dune: Spice Wars by Shiro Games and Funcom is going to introduce yet another way for fans to enjoy the classic sci-fi world. A recent FAQ reveals more details about the game such as the number of factions and rationale behind certain design choices.
Dune: Spice Wars is a hybrid between a real-time strategy (RTS) game, and a 4X game. It moves at a slower pace and plays at a larger scale, with more focus on economics, political intrigue, and espionage as compared to a more traditional RTS game such as Starcraft. However, it is also not fully turn-based, which is the norm for 4X games like Civilization. Notably, this is not the first rodeo for the Dune franchise as a RTS game.
There will be four playable factions on launch with more to come during the Early Access itself, and so far, only House Atreides and House Harkonnen are revealed. The developers also try to stay true to the books, which can be seen from their choice to use green to represent House Atreides rather than blue, which was used in the movie.
This hybrid, on paper, works in the favour of Dune‘s complex political landscape, one of the elements fans of the franchise are most taken with. It will also be interesting to see how the developers balance this blend of genres, as RTS games can last mere minutes, while 4X games can last over multiple days of gameplay.
According to the FAQ, the Early Access will launch this year, in 2022, but there won’t be a multiplayer mode or campaign mode initially. This suggests that only instanced PvE mode will be available on launch, though the other modes are going to be included over the course of the Early Access.
This is the game that fans of Dune, RTS, and 4X will want to keep a lookout for.
Brandon shapeshifts between being a nerd and a geek like Mystique, but with fewer options. He reads an unhealthy amount of comics and manga, while playing a healthy amount of board games and video games.
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