As much as Dune: Awakening guides you around Arrakis, it can be a hot and unforgiving place. Almost everything around you is trying to kill you, and if not, then you're being used as a pawn to further someone's agenda. Awakening succeeds in making players feel like everyone is out to get them, all while encouraging you to rise to the occasion and come out the other end stronger.

Dune: Awakening is set in its own timeline. Here, things play out very differently than in the films and books. Paul Atreides' mother gives birth to a daughter, as she was supposed to. Because of this, House Atreides never falls, and a War of Assassins between House Harkonnen and House Atreides begins. As a result, the Fremen are all but dead.

Awakening takes time to explain the ins and outs of the game. With a planet known for being as hot as it is, it only makes sense that the sun's rays are one of the constant threats. Learning how to survive never felt like a chore; it was a necessary sequence to learn.…