Private servers are coming to Dune: Awakening, albeit with "concessions" to make sure gamers retain the large-scale elements of multiplayer worlds.
Developer Funcom confirmed the information in an replace posted to the Steam store page, revealing "rentable private servers" might be obtainable from the second the game goes stay for "head start" (learn: early entry) gamers on Thursday, June 5.
"We’ve previously communicated that private servers are for post-launch, but we’re happy to share that progress has been faster than expected," the crew mentioned. "We do, however, want to manage expectations about how private servers work in Dune: Awakening. As you know, this is not your typical survival game."
Each server will belong to a World consisting of "several other servers," all of which is able to share the identical social hubs and Deep Desert. Funcom mentioned that by doing this, it'll help retain a "neighbourhood-like feel."
"We decided early on that we did not want to remove the large-scale multiplayer aspects of the game as that is such a crucial part of the Dune: Awakening experience, and the game’s content and mechanics are deeply rooted in this setup," the replace defined.
"That meant we had to make some concessions in terms of how much control players have over their private servers. The result is a model where you have fewer settings available than you would in some other survival games such as Conan Exiles."
So if you happen to determine to rent a personal server, you'll have one Hagga Basin, similar to the official server, and belong to a World of different personal servers (and also you'll have the ability to decide which one when signing up). You won’t be able to rent or control social hubs or the Deep Desert, however you’ll be able to nonetheless "take full advantage of Dune: Awakening’s large-scale multiplayer content and mechanics."
Enough of what you don't get — what about what you do get if you happen to rent a personal server? Funcom mentioned you'll have the ability to disable safety zones totally, "making all parts of Hagga Basin PvP enabled," or you’ll be able to have pockets of PvP, very like the official servers. You also can disable taxation and sandstorms, in addition to identify your server and set a password for it. Private server house owners also can go to different World servers in the event that they know the password and even declare land (one thing you’ll be able to't even do on the official servers).
"Enabling private servers for Dune: Awakening has not been trivial considering our unique large-scale multiplayer setup, and it was important to us to retain the fundamental MMO-like gameplay that makes Dune: Awakening so unique," the crew concluded. "That means it does come with some restrictions on how you can configure them compared to some other survival games such as Conan Exiles.
"But we hope that this service will nonetheless be significant to these of you preferring to play on servers you don’t have to share with others, and we hope that the shared World construction will add an additional dimension with out taking away from the distinctive content material and mechanics that makes Dune: Awakening what it’s."
"As a longtime fan of Dune, it additionally simply feels so good to discover and be taught more about a world that I’m fairly fond of, and Funcom has clearly put a ton of effort into worldbuilding and lore, even regardless of taking fairly a bit of inventive liberty by inserting Awakening inside a parallel actuality and canon than the books/films," we wrote in IGN's Dune: Awakening closed beta impressions preview.
"There are little particulars which have a huge affect on gameplay. I received’t go into spoilers, however this sort of consideration to element touches nearly each facet of the world, together with the factions and characters you meet alongside the way in which, which ought to be a deal with for any fan of the setting."
Dune: Awakening is set to release on June 10, 2025, on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S after a three-week delay to fix issues identified during its beta testing. Players with a "head begin," nonetheless, get to play 5 days early, from June 5. For more, take a look at particulars on the MMO's business model and post-launch plans. We've additionally acquired the global release time schedule for Dune: Awakening proper right here for you, too.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, in addition to a critic, columnist, and advisor with 15+ years expertise working with some of the world's greatest gaming websites and publications. She's additionally a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.