In the vast narrative universe created by Frank Herbert, Paul Atreides represents the culmination of millennia of genetic engineering and intensive training, a superior being capable of dominating every aspect of war and galactic policy.
However, Dune developers: Awakening (here our review) have decided to brutally remember players a fundamental truth: you are not the legendary Muad’dib, and any attempt to ride the legendary worms of the sands will inevitably end with death.
The latest update of the game definitively eliminates any ambition, making any contact with the most iconic creatures of the Ancorkis planet lethal.
Patch 1.1.20.0, currently available for participants in the Public Test Client on Steam, introduces a change that will make many adventurous players cry. Each collision with the body of a worm of the sands during its animations will now lead to instant death or complete destruction of the vehicle used.
This decision puts an end to the heroic deeds of those daredevils who had succeeded in the apparently impossible company to ride Shai-Hulud, probably exploiting bugs or unintentional mechanics of the game system.
Funcom developers clarified that these prodes had never been conceived as part of the expected game experience.
The message is unequivocal: in the world of Dune Awakening, the giant worms remain supreme and indomitable predators, faithful to their original literary representation.
Parallel to the question of worms, the update addresses a particularly elaborate Griefing problem that had plagued the players.
A particularly hateful tactic saw some users use their Ornithopters to land on the vehicles of others, abandon the pilot, place a thumper to recall a worm of the sands, and then take off safely while the victim was devoured by the giant beast.
The implemented solution provides that the collision ornithopters now receive an automatic impulse that separates them, effectively preventing this type of harassment.
The developers specifically requested from the testers to focus on this mechanics to verify its effective functionality before the global release.