Dune: Awakening has already dumped one of franchise’s most important rules

In Dune, Sandwalking is essential for traversing the sandy dunes to avoid being detected by the giant sandworms, the Shai-Hulud. Although it’s crucial to the lore, it will not be appearing in the upcoming game Dune: Awakening because it looked ridiculous and slow.

During the Dune: Awakening Direct on March 4, fans got their first look at the MMO’s desert-filled gameplay. While there will be much for players to explore, one aspect they won’t have to endure is Sandwalking. As reported by PC Gamer, the developers behind Dune: Awakening tried to implement this, but after much experimentation, they decided to scrap it.

Even though we were able to read about it in the books and see a brief snippet of how sandwalking works in the Dune movies, it’s just that—brief—because no one wants to sit around and watch people do the sand shuffle for 10 minutes, especially gamers. But just because you don’t need to do the slow, awkward shuffle across the sands doesn’t mean you won’t ever see the sandworms. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to kill them, so your only option is to avoid them. But at least you can use the thumpers.

If you think Dune: Awakening will be easy to navigate, you may be wearing your rose-covered glasses because it’s still a survival game, meaning you must find ways to survive, even when the landscape changes and destroys your outpost. Like in the Dune series, you must also find ways to get water. 

So, while not all the rules have been broken, thankfully, you won’t have to do the awkward and time-consuming Sandwalking shuffle. If you’re interested in testing your survival instincts across the dunes, keep up to date with upcoming beta. But there are no official beta test dates just yet.