Funcom revealed that its survival game, Dune: Awakening, will receive significant updates in April 2026. These changes will emphasize player-versus-environment (PvE) gameplay, meaning players won’t need to compete against each other to advance in the game.
The blog post explains that most players of Dune: Awakening (over 80%) focused solely on the game’s player-versus-environment content. Adding player-versus-player combat in the Deep Desert update didn’t quite match the developers’ original vision. Besides these gameplay aspects, Funcom also detailed what players need to know about setting up private servers.
Dune: Awakening is out now on PC via Steam. Players on PlayStation and Xbox will be able to experience the game in 2026. You can find our first impressions of the game’s beginning in our preview.
You can find more details about Dune: Awakening’s major updates and more below via Funcom:
Greetings, Sleepers!
Let’s dive into some exciting new developments for Dune: Awakening! Today, we’re sharing major updates about our progress, including self-hosted servers that let you fully customize your gameplay, and a revamped system for how player-versus-player and player-versus-environment content work together.
Balancing Priorities
We’ve been listening closely to your feedback since the beginning, starting with our first Closed Beta Weekend, and it’s been crucial in making the game what it is today. Developing a game isn’t always a straight path, and we’re constantly juggling priorities – like improving what’s already in the game, fixing issues as they arise, getting ready for the console launch, and creating new content. Sometimes, this means we need to adjust our plans for new releases to make sure we can deliver them at the highest quality.
We’re excited to announce several new features designed to let you personalize your Arrakis experience. We’ll be testing some of these changes soon on the Public Test Client, so we can get your feedback and make them even better. The first big update, coming in Patch 1.3.20.0, will focus on improving how battles work in the Deep Desert.
PVE-first Open World Survival
For me, Arrakis has always been about feeling that constant pressure – you really need to learn the desert if you want to survive. The sun’s brutal, water’s scarce, and you’re always looking over your shoulder for the sandworms! But with Dune: Awakening, I want it to feel like my Arrakis, shaped by the choices I make. I want to be able to build my experience how I want and find other players who are after the same things, so we can all coexist and thrive together in this harsh world.
Dune: Awakening lets players choose how they want to play. But we’ve noticed most players – over 80% – prefer playing the game’s story and challenges rather than competing against others. Because of this, combining these two types of gameplay, especially in the Deep Desert area, didn’t quite work as we’d hoped and was something we talked about a lot.
After looking at our design goals, how players are actually using the game, and feedback from surveys, we realized we needed to shift our focus to prioritize the player-versus-environment (PvE) experience. Player-versus-player (PvP) combat is still important to many, but it shouldn’t be necessary to advance in the game – it should be a rewarding, optional activity.
Chapter 3 introduces several new features designed to improve the overall experience. These include Specializations, updated Landsraad Missions with a better Faction Rank system, and new Testing Stations that can be scaled to your progress, offering more engaging and replayable gameplay.
To further emphasize the PvE-first approach, we are making the following changes in Patch 1.3.20.0:
All PvP zones in Hagga Basin will be disabled across all official Worlds.
All official Worlds will have separate Deep Desert instances you can choose from:
Okay, so this new instance is all about surviving and exploring – think of it as a really intense single-player experience. The best part? No other players can attack you at all, anywhere inside – not even in the shipwreck areas. It’s just you against the environment, which is exactly what I was hoping for!
Engage in player-versus-player combat in a challenging open-world environment spanning areas B through I. To reward players for the increased danger, gathering resources like mining and spice harvesting will provide 2.5 times the usual amount in these PvP zones.
We’ve designed the game to offer different experiences. Players can focus on gathering resources or investigating research facilities without worrying about combat, while those who enjoy fighting can test their skills in a dedicated arena with valuable rewards. This setup caters to both peaceful exploration and thrilling battles.
Self-hosted Servers Are Coming!
We’re excited to share that you’ll soon be able to host your own Dune: Awakening servers! This means you can create private servers to play with friends or build communities with custom rules – giving you more control over your experience.
The first version, coming soon for testing, will be a bit more complex to set up and won’t have all the customization options right away. You’ll be able to adjust things like how quickly you gather resources, the number of building pieces you can use, and how long items last or bases stay standing. We’ll add more customization later. Private server owners will have access to all these options from the beginning. We’re releasing this early version to get your feedback and improve the game with your help. We plan to add even more features and improvements throughout the year.
Detailed instructions for setting up and customizing your own servers will be released with the feature’s launch in the patch notes. Please note that this first version is a bit more complex than usual and requires a Windows Pro computer with Hyper-V enabled to run the servers using a Linux Virtual Machine (VM).
I’m really glad to hear the developers are already planning future updates! They’re aiming to make the customization options even better with those releases, though they’re not ready to share details just yet. I’m super excited to see how they continue to build this survival experience – they clearly want Dune: Awakening to be something special that people enjoy for years to come.
Thank you for walking this path with us.
Frequently Asked Questions about Self-hosted Servers:
Q: Why is self-hosting more complicated than in Conan Exiles?
Dune: Awakening handles its expansive world differently than many games. It doesn’t rely on one central server; instead, it uses several maps that load and unload dynamically, along with a database to manage all the information about players and the game world.
Q: Will Self-hosting always work like this?
No, this is just a first, test version. We’re working towards making hosting simpler, more available, and less complicated for everyone over time.
Q: What are the hardware requirements for hosting my own server?
The system requirements vary based on the number of players and their in-game activities. We’ve found that the following is the minimum configuration needed for the game to run:
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit Pro with Hyper-V
- Memory: 20 GB RAM
- Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 5 1600
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 100GB
- Additional Notes: SSD required
With that hardware, the game should run smoothly with 1 to 4 players, especially if you’re all on the same map and building bases of a typical size.
CPU and RAM requirements increase rapidly with number of players and number of maps.
Q: Can I run the server directly on a Linux machine instead of running it on a VM on Windows?
While it’s possible, we don’t have an easy installation process for that right now. You can try it out if you’d like, but it might require some extra effort.
Q: Will the Server customization be made available to Private Servers?
Yes, all server settings will be accessible on private servers as we make them available. However, how these settings are used might vary depending on the hosting provider.
Q: Can I transfer my character to a self-hosted server?
You can move your game character from official and private servers to self-hosted servers. However, once it’s on a self-hosted server, you won’t be able to move it back to official servers. Transferring to some private servers might be possible, but it depends on whether those server owners allow transfers from self-hosted servers.
Q: How many players can join a self-hosted server?
The number of players allowed depends on your computer’s capabilities, but it won’t exceed the limits of the official game servers. While Hagga Basin will support up to 40 players at once, you could create your own game world with multiple Sietches if you have the necessary hardware. However, we anticipate most players won’t have powerful enough computers and will be limited to a single Sietch, or 40 players total.
Q: Does self-hosting cost money?
Funcom isn’t charging extra for this feature, but your internet provider might charge you more depending on your data plan.
Q: Can I host on Linux or cloud providers?
A: The initial version requires Windows Pro with Hyper-V. Additional options may be explored later.
Q: Can I customize PvP rules?
A: Yes, that is one of the customization options available in this first iteration.
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2026-04-10 08:29