Dear Sleepers,


These are exciting times, we’re closing in on launch, and we’ve just initiated a major preview beta where hundreds of journalists and content creators are playing the early parts of the game and will be releasing their coverage on April 25th.

These past few weeks we’ve been steadily gearing up, releasing the Character Creator & Benchmark Mode back in February, starting pre-orders in March, and continuing to release new livestreams, videos, and details to keep you informed.

We want to thank everyone who has shared in our excitement. It’s been a joy reading all your comments across the various community channels.

Our ongoing Persistent Closed Beta is also continuing in full force, with regular updates, and the feedback we’ve been collecting from beta testers has been invaluable in making sure we can launch a quality game. We have a very active Discord going with our beta testers where our developers can interact directly with them to ensure we collaboratively make Dune: Awakening a better game.

Thanks to this process, we’ve concluded that with a bit more time to cook, we can act on a lot more of the feedback we know is important to our beta testers.

As such, we will be moving the release date of Dune: Awakening to June 10th, with head start launching on June 5th. This is not a decision we take lightly, we know everyone is very excited to get playing, but these three extra weeks will give us the time needed to make improvements that will lead to a better gameplay experience from day one.

We’re also excited about the fact that this will allow us to do a large-scale beta weekend next month where even more of you will get the opportunity to play the game and share your feedback. We will release more information about this soon.

Dune: Awakening is a beast of a game. This is multiplayer survival on a massive scale, and we’re making gameplay and technical strides not seen in the genre before. We want to make sure we stick the landing.

Also, don’t forget to tune into today’s livestream on Steam, YouTube, and Twitch, where our developers will be showing and talking more about the combat in Dune: Awakening.

With best regards from the entire Dune: Awakening team here at Funcom

As the saying goes, “April showers bring May flowers”. But the “showers” are actually “sandstorms” and the “flowers” are actually “a sandy death”….or something like that. Anyway, the launch for PC is quickly approaching, so it’s a good thing you’re here to read up and prepare yourself! Not to mention that pre-orders are live on Steam right now along with different editions of the game we are offering.

There were numerous reveals and updates in the last couple of weeks and this issue will make sure you don’t miss a thing in our round ups section below. We are also showcasing some amazing concept art of the Saudaukar dropship you’ll encounter in the game, answer questions from the community, and show off some great fanart.

If you missed any previous Signals, you can take a look here:

• Signal #1[duneawakening.com]
  
• Signal #2[duneawakening.com]
  
• Signal #3[duneawakening.com]
  
• Signal #4[duneawakening.com]
  
• Signal #5[duneawakening.com]
  
• Signal #6[duneawakening.com]

Pre-ordering

If you’re looking for one good reason to pre-order, let us introduce you to the smallest and most adorable creature on Arrakis (besides you).
By pre-ordering any edition of the game, you could have this little guy in your base, waiting for you to come home every day with beady eyes that say, “please don’t drink me”.

Our Deluxe and Ultimate editions also come with even more additions, so much sure to check out our latest blog post[duneawakening.com] that details everything that comes with them.

We also announced our business model and post-launch plans so you can make an informed decision to buying Dune: Awakening (if the Maud’Dib wasn’t enough to convince you). You can find all details on this, as well as system requirements in our article here[duneawakening.com].

Exploring Arrakis

Though Arrakis is hot, dangerous, and sandy, it’s still very much beautiful and holds many secrets. Take a look at our narrated video, Exploring Arrakis, that gives you a peek into what challenges you will face to uncover what the sands have hidden and how to overcome them.
New Screenshots
Imperial Testing Stations all over Arrakis hold echoes of the past and a valuable technology. Equip your best weapons and abilities and fight your way to learn unique blueprints and recover resources. Whether you’re in for a contract or a haul, beware: trouble is around each corner.

The Shield Wall is a proving ground for experienced explorers of Arrakis. Its rugged terrain demands a reliable ornithopter or groundcar, but provides valuable resources in exchange. With a harsher climate and enemies, you'll want to be properly prepared.

The Sounds of Arrakis

If you like what you see so far, then you’ll love what you hear. Knut Avenstroup Haugen returned after having worked on Conan Exiles to create the soundtrack for Dune: Awakening, and is joined by Audio Director, Arild Iversen. From classical orchestration to experimental synths, it's a harmonious blend to capture the essence of Arrakis.

In this behind-the-scenes look, they discuss their musical journey and how sound design is so incredibly important in this game.

Live Stream
And of course, we’d be remiss not to mention our very first Dune: Awakening live stream, packed with two hours of information, interviews, gameplay, and Q&A. Hosted by our Senior PR Manager, Natascha, various developers from Funcom talked about their work in the game.

We began with a live gameplay segment where our World Director, Jeff, and Expert Environmental Artist, Øyvind, walked us through various parts of the game you’ll experience. This includes finding a trade post, sandstorm, flying an ornithopter, combat, exploring a shipwreck (community voted!), and more.

We were then visited by Knut Haugen and Arild in the flesh to talk more about their creative process in making sounds and music for Dune: Awakening.

Lastly, we touched on the business model and Q&A with lead producer, Ole Andreas. Among other topics, our team confirmed that you can pet sandworms… from the inside. For more insights such as this and on topics that are you have probably been more curious about, make sure to watch the stream and stay tuned for more of them in the future!

Many adversaries will be a danger to you on Arrakis, most of them bandits and scavangers in their camps and invaded buildings. But at night, a much more lethal threat will be out, actively hunting you: The Emperor’s Sardaukar.

Starting from the age of 6, the Sardaukar are trained in all manner of martial skills as they grow up in a system designed to promote the most skilled and ferocious; the mere mention of their name is often enough to ensure submission.

As they serve the emperor himself, you’ll spot them in the sky surveying and scanning the land below on his orders. Traveling at night will keep the sun off your back, but you’ll still want to keep an eye on their patrols. Here we are showcasing some beautiful concept and 3D art of the Sardaukar drop ship; equipped with high powered spotlights, you won’t want to be detected unless you’re looking for a fight.

If found, they’ll release an anti-gravity field that holds you in place and keeps you from running before sending down the Sardaukar troops onto your position.

Concept art is by Kemp Remillard, and the 3D art is by André Sterzenbach.[www.artstation.com]

Final version of the ship found in game is subject to change.
We have a fresh batch of community made fan work that we always love seeing and sharing! Whether it’s physical or digital media, paper or mixed elements, we want it all. These featured here will have a shiny invitation to the Dune: Awakening Closed Beta!

Make sure to you share yours with us in the #fanart channel of the official Dune: Awakening Discord server, or use the #CommuninetSignal tag on social media.

Characters Kaelen and Lysara who are siblings, created by CarolCGod (Reddit)

POV: Your first login on the Deep Desert by Araborn

A Sandworm miniature created, printed, and painted by dogbump

We use metrics because Frank Herbert also used metrics in the books.

Yes! You’ll be able to review and edit your character after it’s imported if you made them through the character creator on Steam.

Vehicle permissions aren’t tied to guilds. These are personal settings that you can adjust.

You can add 5 horizontal and 5 vertical extensions. To extend a fief you need "staking units". These can only be applied to advanced subfief consoles.

Yes. We have fall off, custom recoil patterns per weapon, accuracy, magazine size, reload speed, custom camera shakes and all that to match the accuracy and recoil, shield damage, stagger/poise damage, slowing effects, holster/unholster speeds, move speed while firing, weapon drag/rotation modifiers, and fun stuff like that.

Yes we have both swatches (which is color variations) and variants (take the appearance of another outfit).

We plan to clearly telegraph what known issues are present in the live version of the game to minimize impact they might have on the player experience. Whether that will take shape of a board, list, or be hosted on a specialized platform, that is something we are actively investigating and testing along the closed beta tests.

There was a lot to go through the last month, but we hope that answered a lot of questions you might have had after our launch date reveal. We know that you may have more, so don’t be afraid to join the Dune: Awakening official Discord server[discord.com] where you can ask and be answered in the next Signal!

We have exciting things planned to go out in the coming month, so keep your eyes peeled on our socials, Discord, and official website for news. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a small Muad’dib to tend to…