I am a huge fan of Conan Exiles and, in general, a lover of the survival genre. 2026 has brought many new survival games to console and PC players alike; there is no shortage of survival games released this year. Regardless, when I heard that Dune: Awakening was coming to consoles this year, I was over the moon. I always get excited when a survival game doesn’t start you in a forest or on an island. We already have a review for Dune: Awakening; please check that out using the button below.
The Single-Player Experience
Part of this update includes the single-player experience. For what it’s worth, I think that Dune: Awakening works as a single-player game. However, I also think that work needs to be done to make the game feel less shallow. There are NPCs sprinkled around the map, most of which will try to kill you. I have no complaints on that end because the combat is fun, and that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone familiar with Conan Exiles.
Sprinkled around the map, there are trading posts with friendly NPCs who won’t fire on sight. They usually have a mission for you to do, lore to share, or something to trade. Most of the NPCs are shallow, and while I like the world-building a lot, don’t expect anything too mind-blowing in the way of dialogue.
Dune: Awakening never feels empty, which I really like. Even though most of the life comes from constantly being attacked, it makes leaving my base very interesting. There is also a story for you to follow, which is a stark contrast to most survival games. Dune: Awakening features an actual narrative which is broken up into chapters. It takes you through what’s going on with your character as they find out who they are and what their purpose in this new world is. For one playthrough of the game, it’s fine, but for subsequent playthroughs, it’s not something that I enjoy.
Some, not all, crafting recipes are only unlocked by completing specific portions of the Journey. I’m not a fan of this, because it makes replaying the game or starting over with a friend a chore. In survival games, I don’t mind having to unlock recipes. I have grown to prefer the way that it’s done for Abiotic Factor, meaning once you craft an item or pick up a resource, you get access to more recipes. Gating unlocks behind portions of the story feels needlessly restrictive to me.
Character creation is pretty good though! Don’t expect anything crazy in the way of sliders, but the base level of customization is nice for both men and women. Keep in mind that your character will appear in cutscenes, and if you’re like me, that will mean that you spend extra time in the creator. The weakest options for customization are by far the beard selection, and in general, facial hair just doesn’t look that great.
You can only have one single-player character, which means you only have one chance to adjust the game options. This is extremely irritating. Essentially, you have to decide if you want to change any of the modifiers before you start the game, or else you’ll be starting your single-player save over.
Look and Feel
Dune: Awakening looks great from afar. The sandy environments are brought to life expertly, and the game is truly a sight to behold when you’re taking in large formations in the distance. I also love the lighting, especially as the sun is rising and falling.
There is a real sense of depth with the dunes, which I’m completely obsessed with. Taking a vehicle out and just driving across the sand, risk of the worm be damned, is one of the best experiences I’ve had with travel in a survival game. There is a real feeling of adventure here which is amplified by how important it is to move your base. Most of the rock formations feel the same, which I expected.
Looking closer at the sand, rock, metal, and cloth is where the visual issues begin. Really, anything that isn’t directly placed by the player, and even then the game starts to lose some of its visual charm. Rocks become smooth and glossy-looking, and the sand becomes a flat surface completely devoid of texture. It becomes especially jarring when getting close to surfaces to climb up them or search for loot.
My biggest problem with textures and overall look comes with your character and NPCs during cutscenes. When the scene is dark, your character looks alright. But they have no facial expressions; they look completely devoid of emotion and reaction. It’s very jarring. I understand that the character is not meant to react to everything, but even when experiencing the dream sequence, my character looked like a dummy.
In general, character models have this weird look to them. They don’t look bad, but something about the textures looks incomplete and very smooth. Like something is struggling to load. I realize I’m playing on the Xbox Series S, but I think having more texture, even just a little to retain the overall art style, could’ve gone a long way.
Final Thoughts
Menu Navigation is done by using a cursor, which I hate. I have never liked when console games do this, and while some games make it work, like Dune, it never feels like a solid experience to me. A lot is going on in the Dune: Awakening menus, but I do wish that menu navigation was more fluid.
Using a controller to play Dune: Awakening feels natural, even for building, despite that having its own issues. Everything from combat to using abilities feels like it was made with a controller in mind, and it makes Dune: Awakening a very enjoyable experience when you’re playing the game. Responsiveness when running is really good, a lot better than I expected it to be. Climbing is a whole different story. It often felt like I had to mash A multiple times to get the mechanic to work.
The highlight of my time with Dune: Awakening is the driving and vehicle building. It’s one of the highlights of the whole game, and the whole process controls wonderfully on the controller. Steering is very responsive, which I appreciate because you do have to make quite a few sharp turns during the heat of driving.
Combat is an absolute blast in this game. Ranged combat is a lot of fun, and melee combat shines. I do think that a target lock would’ve gone a long way to further enhance this experience. I didn’t experience any issues with combat while it was happening but did have a few instances of bodies melding into the sand.
The highlight of my time with Dune: Awakening is the driving and vehicle building. It’s one of the highlights of the whole game, and the whole process controls wonderfully on the controller. Steering is very responsive, which I appreciate because you do have to make quite a few sharp turns during the heat of driving.
Dune: Awakening has been a real blast to play, and I look forward to continuing my adventure. I hope that we can get an update to fix some of the textures and other visual issues that I experienced. I can ignore any visual issues because of the combat and base design. Figuring out how to survive in this world has also been really fun, and I can’t wait to see where the adventure takes me.
