Discovering and Mapping Arrakis - Exploration in Dune: Awakening

Greetings Sleepers, 

Dune: Awakening, inspired by Frank Herbert’s legendary sci-fi novel and Legendary Entertainment’s award-winning films, is a multiplayer survival game where the vast, open, and ever-changing world is designed to keep you engaged in exploration, making maps, and hunting for rare resources and valuable technology.

Arrakis is the most dangerous planet in the universe, but if you can master its numerous hazards, a world of great beauty and immeasurable wealth lies ready for you to explore.

Check out the new Exploring Arrakis - Secrets of the Desert video, showing exploration in Dune: Awakening.

Arrakis is by no means just a sea of sand. The landscape varies greatly, from the towering peaks of Jabal Eifrit, to the iron-rich and red-colored Vermillius Gap, the irradiated Sheol, the imposing Shield Wall, and the sheltered O’odham, where sparse vegetation clings to life. Along with large player hubs like Arrakeen and Harko Village, these are only some of the places you’ll explore. Beyond the Shield Wall lies the Deep Desert, a vast expanse full of priceless treasure and constant danger.

Learn to Survive  

Your beginnings on Arrakis will be dominated by blistering heat, scarcity of water, treacherous quicksand, punishing sandstorms, and the constant tension when stepping on open sand, where the great sandworms roam. The shade and the night will be your closest friends as you harvest dew from sparse and gnarled shrubs, and try to avoid sunstroke.

To truly master Arrakis you must follow in the footsteps of the Fremen. Their teachings will help you make many of the tools needed for survival. Learning to craft your own stillsuit is the first major step towards staving off dehydration, and ultimately, thriving in the hostile environment.

Travel Across the Vast World 

Build your own shelter from the sun and sandstorms, and use it as a base of operations from which to explore the massive world. To traverse Arrakis you can run, climb, use suspensor belts to levitate, use abilities like the shigawire claw as a grappling hook, and more. 

But to truly open your horizons you need to craft your own vehicles, like the sandbike, buggy, and ornithopter. To attempt to outrun the mighty Shai-Hulud on foot is to welcome a quick death. 

You can install various different modules on every vehicle to expand its capabilities. Equip your sandbike or ornithopter with a scanner to reveal valuable resources like minerals, harvestable rocks, and water you need for crafting and survival. 

Do you want to hunt for buried treasure? Venturing out to the dunes after a sandstorm has passed can be very lucrative. Use your scanner to uncover buried debris and dig it out with a sand compactor. Valuable loot can be found this way, but you should never tarry too long on the open sand, as sandworms will always emerge from the deeps to silence any rhythmic vibrations you cause.

The Art of Map-Making 

The best way to reveal the map is by finding a very high vantage point and launching a survey probe into the sky. The probe scans a section of the map and reveals important locations, as well as the terrain. 

If you have trained with a Planetologist and have learned the Cartographer skill, you can even create maps, called Sinkcharts, of the regions you have uncovered. These maps can then be given to your friends or even sold to other players on the Exchange in Arrakeen or Harko Village. 

The most valuable Sinkcharts are made in the Deep Desert. The world of Dune: Awakening consists of several regions that you can travel between on the Overland Map. You start your journey in Hagga Basin (which is made up of several seamless regions) and you can travel into the Deep Desert once you have an ornithopter.

The Ever-Changing World 

A constant source of danger on Arrakis is the Coriolis storm. This massive sandstorm sweeps across the planet and changes the landscape, covering old resources and revealing new ones. 

The most dramatic changes occur in the Deep Desert, a vast expanse of open sand nine times larger than Hagga Basin. Not only are new resources uncovered by the shifting sands, but important Imperial Testing Stations are also revealed. These contain the highest-value unique technology and loot. 

Because the Coriolis storms change the Deep Desert map on a weekly basis, new Sinkcharts that pinpoint valuable locations will be useful for those who wish to search for unique schematics, hunt for spice, or battle for control of the Landsraad. The ever-changing nature of the Deep Desert ensures infinite exploration and discovery is tied to valuable rewards. 

Forward operating bases can be built in the Deep Desert to establish a foothold from which to gather materials and explore further. The blueprint system is invaluable to quickly set up bases like this, as it allows you to save an entire build and place it anywhere, using Solido projections as a guide. But always remember to get your resources to safety ahead of the Coriolis storm hitting, as it will reduce any structure to dust. 

The Deep Desert must always be explored with caution. Other players may lie in ambush or try to hunt you down should they spot you. It can be wise to equip a boost module to your ornithopter unless you want to fight your way out of a trap instead of fleeing from it. 

In the Deep Desert, your ornithopter is your only lifeline. Should it become damaged out among the dunes, you must either repair it or call for rescue by another ‘thopter, for Shai-Hulud roams in the deeps and will emerge should he sense footsteps or vibrations from other vehicles. 

This has been a short guide to some of what you can explore in Dune: Awakening, but there is much more for you to experience yourself at launch, on May 20. Until then, breathe in the majesty and diversity of Dune in the Beauty of Arrakis video. 

Until next time, Sleepers.