Dune: Awakening Review (Heenicks)
TLDR: Game is reasonably priced and fun if you like PvP, but if you prefer playing solo or with friends or with mods then wait to see if the devs release the server files, or just buy Conan Exiles instead. And don't be fooled by the Season Pass which is actually just three skin packs, one small quest, and one new map next year.
Warning: in order to play this game you are forced to agree to an arbitration clause in their EULA, which is only shown to you after buying the game but before playing. can be previewed on the store page under the tags section.
I prefer playing games solo and I spent many hours in their previous game, Conan Exiles, which allowed players to play solo or co-op within the game itself and change a lot of intricate settings to customize the game how you like, and they also released server files before the launch of the game so that anyone could set up their own private server. That's why I was disappointed to see that the devs are currently refusing to release the server files, likely because they consider this game as an MMO, despite it being almost identical to Conan Exiles or ARK which are survival crafting games and not MMOs, same as Dune.
Dune Awakening has three maps to travel between, sure, but Conan Exiles players and ARK players know that it's not that hard to set up a private clustered server that allows travel between maps. Conan Exiles has 70 players per server while Dune Awakening only has 40 players per server until the endgame desert area which only has 100 players maximum per instance, while real MMO games usually have their player limit in the thousands. I've also heard that when travelling between the maps you will be placed in a queue, and since you need to visit the city often for quests, you will often be put back in a long queue every time you want to hand in a quest, completing certain main quests will cause you to travel between an instance and your main server, and each time you need to wait in queue again, which sounds like a nightmare for players during release.
I wasn't planning on buying this game at launch due to the lack of private servers and mods, but a few days ago they announced that they are partnering with three server hosting websites to allow players to rent a private server. However these servers still need to be arbitrarily connected in two of the three maps, justified by the devs by saying they didn't want players to be missing part of the whole experience of playing the game. We are the customers, please let us play the game how we want. Besides, as an Australian, only one of the three available server rental websites has Australian servers, so I don't even get a choice of which website to rent from. It's already crazy that I'm being forced to rent a server despite having the capacity to self-host, but the restrictions make it feel even worse. Besides, I guess you're also coerced into paying for the server for many months because once you stop playing you would likely lose your character and all of their progress.
The rented private servers also are missing a lot of the settings that made playing Conan Exiles so customizable and fun, instead there are only three settings that can be changed. In their last game it felt good to increase the amount of resources gathered so you could skip the grind if you wanted, and I had a lot of fun flying around and making bases in god mode, but it won't be possible to play the game the way you want anymore unless the devs take private servers more seriously. Apart from custom settings, mods were also a great part of making Conan Exiles fun, but if the devs never release the server files then it's likely that we'll never see any mods made for Dune Awakening, which would be a huge shame because mods significantly extend the lifespan of a game like this.
Devs, if you see this, please genuinely reconsider your choice to disallow self-hosted private servers. We don't mind how difficult it is to set up a clustered server, and we don't mind missing out on part of the experience of players in the city or PvP in the desert. We love your games and prefer when we can tinker with the settings to change reource rates and other things, and your dedicated community loves making mods and sharing them with everyone online. Please release the server files someday, hopefully sooner than later. Until then, I will begrudgingly rent a server from the only provider available just to enjoy your wonderful game by myself during the release hype, but I obviously can't reccomend that to anyone else.