Dune Is Officially Switching Genres

Published Sep 23, 2026, 2:00 AM EDT Nicholas Becher is a gaming journalist with an MFA in Creative Writing from FAU. With extensive experience playing video games, he covers all forms of gaming content at Screen Rant, from breaking news to the latest fan theories. Most-played games range from Clair Obscur to Civ to Elden Ring to Halo 2 and beyond. Dune is easily the most iconic and impactful science fiction work of the 20th century, with Frank Herbert's original 1965 novel helping redefine what the genre could accomplish. Its sprawling exploration of politics, religion, ecology, imperialism, etc., has influenced generations, while the deserts of Arrakis, the Fremen, and Shai-Hulud became engrained in every corner of pop culture, and that was all before the modern movies were even a thought. Denis Villeneuve's blockbuster films, however, introduced Herbert's universe to an enormous new audience, while HBO's Dune: Prophecy has expanded the story thousands of years into the past, with an eight-episode second season now in development following its successful debut. Dune has also entered a major new era in gaming recently as well, and after initially launching on PC, Funcom's Dune: Awakening officially arrived on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S yesterday, September 22, bringing its massive open-world take on Arrakis to console players alongside major new features. One such feature in particular takes things in a completely new direction and redefines the game entirely. Dune's Latest Release Introduces Major Changes To The Formula Dune: Awakening is undergoing what amounts to a massive genre shift with its console release, moving away from the multiplayer-first experience that originally defined the game. At launch, Awakening was built around a persistent online world, large-scale multiplayer interactions, faction competition, survival crafting, and PvE or PvP sections spread across Arrakis. Funcom even initially positioned the project close to the MMO space before ultimately describing it as an open-world multiplayer survival game instead. Now, however, players can experience virtually the entire adventure as a dedicated single-player game, one of the most-requested features since launch. The new mode removes other human players altogether while retaining NPCs, the Deep Desert, progression systems, and the complete Book One storyline. Multiplayer-oriented elements have been completely reworked, with the Landsraad simulating competing players and the Deep Desert no longer resetting or wiping the player's buildings in single-player mode. Players can also select difficulty presets or individually customize elements like progression and harvesting. Dune: Awakening, for all intents and purposes, has become a traditional single-player open-world survival RPG, a dramatic departure from the large-scale online experience around which it was originally designed, though the multiplayer game still exists and is fully playable in its original form (more or less). Dune: Awakening Is Available For Console Now Dune: Awakening officially launched for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on September 22, giving console players access to what Funcom is calling the game's most complete version yet. The Standard Edition is priced at $49.99 on both platforms, while the Deluxe Edition costs $69.99 and includes four DLC packs alongside the Sardaukar Bator Armor. The Ultimate Edition is listed at $89.99, adding extras including the Dune 2021 film stillsuit, Caladan Palace building set, vehicle color swatches, digital artbook, and soundtrack. Deluxe and Ultimate buyers also received five-day early access beginning September 17 (though it's a little late for that now). Xbox players also have another option, as Dune: Awakening is available with Xbox Game Pass and supports Xbox Play Anywhere, Cloud Gaming, shared progression, and cross-play between Xbox and the Microsoft Store PC version. The console release is arriving alongside much more than the new single-player mode as well. September 22 introduces the final chapter of the Book One storyline, expanded difficulty and gameplay customization, console-optimized controls and UI, and Performance and Quality graphics modes. Console players additionally receive the numerous content additions and gameplay improvements introduced since the original PC launch over a year ago, effectively making this a major relaunch and a brand-new start for Dune: Awakening. Dune: Awakening Systems 7/10 Released June 10, 2025 ESRB Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Users Interact Developer(s) Funcom Publisher(s) Funcom Engine Unreal Engine 5 Genre(s) Open-World, Survival, MMO