Dune Awakening finally has a release date – and you can start creating your character right now

It’s been a long wait for Funcom’s highly-anticipated video game version of Dune. Dune: Awakening will take place on a slightly different timeline to Frank Herbert’s canon but the survival game masters behind Conan Exiles are set to unleash potentially one of the finest examples of the genre in the middle of the year, and now we have a release date to look forward to.

When does Dune Awakening release?

We now know we only need to wait until the 20th of May before we can head to Steam to finally start to play the open-world, multiplayer survival game set on Arrakis.

The biggest Dune game to date has a new trailer to herald the news and you can enjoy that below.

How much is Dune Awakening?

The base game is priced at $49.99/€49.99, with pre-orders starting soon. Players who pre-order Dune: Awakening will also receive the Terrarium of Muad’Dib, a beautiful in-base decoration which houses the iconic desert mouse. Observe him well as he goes about his life, for he is wise in the ways of the desert.

Dune Awakening Character Creator and benchmarking tool

Downloading Dune: Awakening’s full Character Creator & Benchmark Mode in advance will snare you a code for the exclusive Frameblade knife skin that can be redeemed in the game at launch. You can play around and tweak your new character until your heart is content and, once created, the character can be saved and later imported into the game at launch.

In addition to character creation, the benchmark mode lets you check your hardware performance and system compatibility while being treated to some epic scenes from the game, including soaring with an ornithopter and a dramatic encounter with a colossal sandworm.

A spokesperson for Funcom said, “Dune: Awakening is the most ambitious survival game ever made, set on the most dangerous planet in the universe, Arrakis. Whether a Dune fan or not, the vast world will immerse you in an epic experience that draws from both Frank Herbert’s sci-fi masterpiece and Denis Villeneuve’s blockbuster movies. Embark on a journey from scavenging and survival to controlling the planet itself.”

Dune Awakening releases on PC on 20th May 2025.

The post Dune Awakening finally has a release date – and you can start creating your character right now appeared first on ReadWrite.