Dune: Awakening Is The Perfect Grindy Game For People Who Hate Grinding

There’s no reason to shy away from one important fact about 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dune: Awakening; it’s a grind.𒊎 Of course, that’s part of the sur𓂃vival game fantasy. You start with nothing, and after toiling away for hundreds of hours, you’ll work your way to becoming a master of Arrakis, the spice, and even the dreaded sandworms.

Despite the promise of such a premise however, for people like me who don’t really lo✱ve grinding in video games (don’t ask me about my RuneScape account), the idea of grinding my way through Dune: Awakening’s massive scope left me t🤪rembling like the muad'dib - the kangaroo mouse not the messiah - in the presence of a mighty sandworm.

Luckily, I have good news: Dune: Awakening’s grind is perfect for people who hate grinding. I’m now almost 20 hours into Dune: Awakenꦫing, and so far the grind doesn’t feel like a chore, but rather, the gift that keeps on giving, even playing primarily solo. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why this is, but I’ve got some working theories as to why working your way to the top of the Landsraad in Dune: Awakening doesn’t feel like an arduous task.

A sandworm leaping out the sand in Dune: Awakening.

Dune: Aw🍬akening Is More Intense And Spectacular Than Most Survival Games

After playing six hours of Dune: Awakening, I'm excited byꦗ the unique side of the survival aspect.

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We Must Convert The Non-Believers

dune awakening player stood in front of a giant sandworm popping up from the ground.

After playing the opening hours of Dune: Awakening during the beta period, I was skeptical about just how hand-holdy the full game might be. To some extent, this is still true. Even after you leave the game’s South Hagga Basin tutorial area, you’re given a specific quest line for each new area the game introduces that shows you how to refine b🥂etter materials, create stronger sub-fiefs, and more. While I do find this a bit repetitive, you can ultimately ignore these quests and still make👍 it just fine on your own.

This is just one of the reasons why the grind doesn’t feel like a grind. Yes, Dune: Awakening encourages you to grind through the process of upgrading your weapons, vehicles, armor, and so on, but you can also completely ignore this process if you so choose. As for me, I’m much more engaged by the game’s Landsraad system, joining Great Houses, and♍ exploring settlements than I am by the prospect of hunting for ore for hours on end.

In the end, Dune: Awakening offers options in grinding for believers and non-believers alike. You can follow the chosen quest line and grind yourꦏ way to become a master of a sprawling sub-fief on Arrakis, or you can engage with the game’s more narrative-driven questlines and explore at your own pace. The 🍌grind isn’t forced.

I See Many Possible Futures

A sandstorm engulfing a building in Dune: Awakening.

One element of grind-heavy games that has always left a bad taste in my mouth is their linearity. Take, for example, a classic game like Pokemon. In most mainline entries, you have to level up your monsters to the proper scale to take down gym 🌟leaders. While you can certainly try to take them out at lower levels, it’s not recommended, and many of the games softblock you from progressing if you even try.

This isn’t the case in Dune: Awakening. While, on occasion, I have veered too far away from my sub-fief only t🦋o find enemies that are perhaps a bit too powerful for my current gear, I was never soft-blocked from the attempt. And, in some cases, I was able to persevere reg🦄ardless. This perfectly encapsulates that feeling of steady progression, but also captures the essence of a great exploration-survival game. You explore, you gain new abilities and items, you return to home base, and then you venture out even further; not a grind, but organic progression.

Rather than prevent players from enteringꦛ certain areas or scaling the world by a specific level, you’re mostly only blocked out of select areas by your own ingenuity. The hardest blocks the game has are access to the first PvP area and the fact that you need certain types of gear to mine for certain materials.

However, these ‘softblocks’ are tied into the fiction and world of Arrakis. It feels🐠 right that I can’t harvest spice without the right gear to do so. The game isn’t omnisciently blocking me; I just haven’t le⭕arned the right skills yet. It’s a subtle distinction, but one worth noting in an experience as expansive as Awakening.

The Moment Of Revelation Is Sometimes A Shock

Promotional art from Dune Awakening, showing a sandworm attack.

As a Certified Hater of Grinding™, one element of grindy games I loathe is the seemingly endless stretch of tasks that yawns before you. It always seem🔴s like, no matter how hard you try, you’ll never get to the end of an infinite skill tree or upgrade list. However, Dune: Awakening employs, in my opinion, a very smart system that keeps this in check.

When it comes to Intel, a resource you use to unlock new tech, there are certain thresholds you must pass to unlock advanced equipment. In other words, you have to spend Intel at various tiers to unlock higher tiers of technology. This means that there’s always something to aspire to, but never so much that the task itself feels insurmountable. The same goes for the game’s skill trees, which you must unlock by visiting specific locations. There’s always something to work for if you want, but never too much at once. This keeps the game feeling like a challenge, without forcing you to do al𒊎l your grinding all at once.

The simplicity of this system, which𓆏 is not necessarily unique to Dune: Awakening, but is all too often missing from grindy games, is ingenious in my opinion. It keeps the game feeling scaled correctly to the challenges you’re facing, while always giving the player the option to veer in any direction they want.

Ultimately, when it comes to l❀ife on Arrakis, you’re in charge of when you grind and when you don’t. You can follow the game’s tutorials and mine ceaselessly for ore, or you can pursue a narrative questline helping the Atreides. And, with jus💞t the right amount of places to explore and things to do, and plenty of breaks in between, Dune: Awakening proves itself a masterclass in making a grindy game for those who hate grinding.