Awakening is going to make me the villain

A fresh gameplay reveal for Dune: Awakening Showed some elements of exploring Arrakis that had me worried I’d be playing a villain. This is not necessarily off-brand for those Don Series. after all, Protagonist Paul Atreides becomes a villain At the end of the first book. Still, it’s one thing to read about a flawed protagonist and his tragic fall from grace, it’s another to build a game around doing the same villainous actions.

Now, being a villain in general isn’t necessarily a bad thing in video games. It can be fun to do an evil run like an RPG Baldur’s Gate 3 And make cartoonishly bad decisions. however, Don tackles some serious real-life issues that feel very relevant to today’s political landscape. Elements of the gameplay reveal seem to suggest that players will work both with and as colonizers on Arrakis. I’m a little worried that Dune: Awakening It’s not just going to have me be the villain but that it doesn’t recognize that’s what it’s doing.

Dune: Awakening trailers show players working with the Harkononnens

Players appear to bow to a Harkonn officer

One of the clearest indications we will take on the role of the villain in Dune: Awakening Comes from clips showing the player Working with, and even bowing to Harkononnens. While the world of Don It’s rarely as simple as saying that one faction is the clear good guys, the Harkonns are very clearly one of the worst groups. They are power-hungry and violent, and they are not afraid to kill their allies or their own family members to get ahead.

Since Dune: Awakening Taking place after the fall of House Atreides, it makes sense that the Harkonnens would have a large presence on Arrakis. Still, there are other ways that characters get through Don Except working with them. Gurney Hallek, for example, works with smugglers. Paul and Jessica ally with the Fremen, an option that seems absent from the gameplay reveal.

If I’m able to work with the Harkononnens as a double agent, or if there are less morally dubious options, I won’t worry about there being optional missions for them. However, working with the Harkononnens, seemingly, is a more available option than the Fremen is just one indication that Dune: Awakening May not present many options for doing the right thing. After all, a major part of the gameplay seems like it would put players in direct conflict with the natives of Arrakis.

Dune: Awakening involves building bases on Fremen Land

Building on Fremen land seems counterintuitive to Dune’s anti-colonial message

Although it is not clear if working with the Harkononnens in Dune: Awakening is required, it seems like building bases in the desert is a major part of the game. While I’m willing to suspend my disbelief for the sake of gameplay and ignore how unlikely it would be to safely build such structures on Arrakis, I’m still not that enthusiastic about doing so. Being an outsider building bases on Arrakis feels great Counter-intuitive to the main anti-colonial message the Don Serial communicates.

Arrakis should belong to the Fremen. The only reason other factions are even interested in this planet is to exploit it for its spaces. in DonThis is a clear condemnation of how colonial powers use the native population for their own interests in a region’s natural resources. Unfortunately, it seems like Dune: Awakening Will force players to become one of the colonial forces by establishing their own bases on Fremen land. Worse yet, one clip from the trailer and a major shift in the game’s narrative suggests that players could take it even further.

The Gom Jabbar test could turn players into the New Paul Atreides

The Gom Jabbar may indicate that players will become the Lisan Al Gaib

When I first heard that Dune: Awakening Wouldn’t include Paul Atreides, that made sense to me. By removing Paul, the main thrust of DonHis story has been removed. This allows for an Arrakis that likely won’t see any major political upheaval for an indefinite amount of time, and keeps the game’s setting more consistent. However, I am now a little concerned that this is not the case Dune: Awakening said Paul.

In the gameplay discover for Dune: AwakeningYou can see a player taking the Gom Jabbar Human Rights Test. This is The test that both Paul Atreides and Fayed-Routha Harkunn undertook to assess if they were capable of becoming the quizmasterA kind of messiah figure for Ben Gesrit. This could suggest that players will fill in Paul as the new quizz room, something I’m not looking forward to.

Paul uses his abilities as the Kwisatz Haderach to convince the Fremen he is the Lisan El Ghaib, a messianic figure of their own. This idea was planted in Fremen culture by the Bene Geserit, specifically, so that they could control the Fremen with their own operatives. Although Paul does not end up doing this as a tool of the Bene Gesserit, he still does Manipulating the beliefs of Fremen to use them as his own personal army.

Paul Atreides is not an aspirational figure or power fantasy, but he is a cautionary tale. DonThe author, Frank Herbert, made this quite clear Don Christ When Paul openly compares himself to Adolf Hitler. The idea of ​​potentially filling in for Paul as someone who exploits the Gentiles’ religion to gain their allegiance does not excite me; It makes me feel gross. I hope the Gom Jabbar is included in some other capacity, though I’m concerned that it’s meant as a way to empower the player in a similar manner to Paul.

The MMO setup makes a good ending for Dune: Awakening unlikely

MMOs typically don’t allow players to shape the world in major ways

were Dune: Awakening A story-driven game, I’d be more confident that some of​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ alike. Traditional RPGs can present players with a variety of choices, which would perhaps have allowed for a route where I wouldn’t have to deal with Harkononnens or colonizing Arrakis. Even if it was more action-oriented, Dune: Awakening Could have done that Spec Ops: The Line and challenged players by having them examine their morally dubious actions. however, I worry that an MMO isn’t fit to address these topics properly.

Players can’t really work to make Arrakis a better placeBecause it would have too great an impact on the status quo of the world. Dune: Awakening will likely keep Arrakis in a constant state of open conflict with no hope for permanent solutions. Although this is not a problem in itself, it makes me worry that there is no way to be invested in the game, and also actively participating in the kind of harmful actions Herbert’s novels are meant to warn against.

I have a lot of fun DonBut it was never the type of fantasy world I wished I could be a part of. It’s not like the lively and fun Star Wars Galaxy or the beautiful middle-earth where good always triumphs in the end. It is much more similar to Westeros. It’s a fascinating place to read about, and the setting can be used to effectively communicate political themes.

were Dune: Awakening Simply a survival game, I would probably have fewer reservations about it. The idea of ​​trying to survive the harsh environments on Arrakis sounds like a fun challenge for a video game. However, if the way I’m forced to do this is by building settlements on Fremen land and working with colonizing forces like the Harkononnens instead of Arrakis’ native people, the game will feel like a betrayal of the warnings that Herbert’s novels tried to instill in me