Awakening Reveals Big Endgame Changes Coming Soon

Funcom, the developer of survival MMO Dune: Awakening, has detailed a number of upcoming changes to the game’s high-level endgame designed to address player complaints and diversify the experience. Dune: Awakening launched early in June 2025, impressing players with its free-form desert gameplay with elements of competitive PVP.

Dune: Awakening has set new records for its developer Funcom, becoming the studio’s fastest-selling title and drawing in over a million players. The game itself was already highly anticipated thanks to its combination of the iconic Dune setting with tuned survival MMO gameplay that drew in veterans aware of Funcom’s other work with titles like Conan Exiles. Even now, tens of thousands of players are building, exploring, and competing in the virtual sands of Arrakis to establish dominance over the most important planet in the universe.

Dune: Awakening’s Endgame is the Ultimate Proving Ground for Its Longevity

One of Dune: Awakening’s most controversial features is getting a big rework, and it could ultimately help the game’s longevity.

Despite the strong start, though, the game hasn’t been free from complaints, and it seems Funcom has been paying attention. Creative Director Joel Bylos has responded to concerns about the Dune: Awakening PVP and endgame experience in a Steam blog post outlining planned changes to both PVP (player-versus-player) and the overall endgame experience. According to Bylos’ post, Funcom plans to add a number of PVE (player-versus-environment) options to the Dune: Awakening endgame, so as “not to force PVE players to interact with a PVP system they may have no interest in.” Currently, PVP in the game’s Deep Desert is the main pillar of Dune: Awakening‘s high-level play, as it is the only pathway to obtaining the rarest and most valuable resources and gear.

Dune: Awakening Endgame to Shift Towards PVE in Major Ways

Bylos said that while Funcom’s ideal of the Dune: Awakening Deep Desert was for players to team up and form guilds to overcome its challenges collectively, the reality is that players have been “cut out” of the endgame by the “extremely competitive nature” of the current Deep Desert. To mitigate this, portions of the Deep Desert will be flagged as “Partial Warfare (PVE)” areas where players can explore test stations and harvest tier 6 resources without unwanted PVP. These sections will be balanced around group and guild play, so they’ll still be “grindy” for solo players, though. Meanwhile, the largest spice fields and other deep parts of the Deep Desert will have open “War of Assassins (PVP)” status for players who enjoy the high risk, high reward dynamic.

Funcom will also make further changes to PVP to address outstanding complaints, particularly the current dominance of flying ornithopters. While a previous Dune: Awakening update removed ramming damage from vehicles to nerf that particular strategy, other changes will also reduce the effectiveness of rocket-equipped ornithopters, as well. Bylos said that PVP play should revolve around “combined arms,” which means that while Thopters are important, they shouldn’t be the dominant force in actual battles.

Funcom seems to be listening to player complaints about the state of the Dune: Awakening endgame. With luck, those changes will address the concerns.