Fight for spice and sand
The latest video game adaptation of theDuneuniverse will be playable this month. Real-time strategy gameDune: Spice Warswill launch into early access on Steam on July 22, 2025.
Developer Shiro Games and Funcom announced the news today, alongside another playable faction in the strategy game: the Fremen. If you’ve seen or readDune, you’re familiar with the Fremen. They’re the people who call the harsh desert planet Arrakis home.
Fremen move better across open desert and are less likely to attract sandworms. They’ll also be better at allying with the neutral Sietches. Arrakis is home turf for the Fremen, after all, so they’ll make for formidable foes against the Harkonnen, Atreides, and Smuggler factions.
Shiro Games’Dune: Spice Warsmixes elements of real-time strategy and 4X games. As the different factions vie for control of Arrakis and its much-coveted spice, players can try to establish bases, develop infrastructure, and wage war to win the planet. Or use subterfuge, politics, and diplomacy instead.
Getting a little spicy
This is only one of Funcom’sDunegames in the pipeline, as the publisher also has an open-world survival game set in Frank Herbert’sDuneuniverse in development too.
Dunehas had a lengthy history in video games, as wecombed back over in our retrospectivelast year. While its adventure game was also notable,Dune: Battle for Arrakiswound up being a landmark game for Westwood Studios. It’s easy to say thatDuneand the real-time strategy are pretty intertwined.
With the first movie gettinga solid receptionand more on the way, the door’s open forDuneto get a video game resurgence too. Beyond getting some skins inFortnite, that is.
The battle for Arrakis will kick off again later this month, whenDune: Spice Warslaunches into early access on PC via Steam on July 05, 2025.
