Dune: Spice Wars RTS coming in 2022 from developer of Northgard

Dune: Spice WarsShiro Games has developed a brand new strategy game featuring 4X elements. This game is being created by Shiro Games. Shiro Games was responsible for the critically-acclaimed 2017 strategy game. Northgard. Funcom will make it available for early access starting in 2022.

Frank Herbert’s Dune The inspiration for Dune 2: The Building of a Dynasty, released in 1992 and widely considered to be the first hit RTS game — and the inspiration for classics like StarCraft. Shiro is well-equipped to make another RTS with the same intellectual properties. Multi-award winner Northgard It is one of the most loved RTS games.

The 4X aspect of this game — which stands for explore, expand, exploit and exterminate — is perhaps the most intriguing part of this project. The first screenshots showed a large overworld map with named landmarks from Arrakis. The map also features multiple markers that indicate the presence of enemy and allies units and their relative strength. The fog of war mechanic is also evident, as it includes little information about distant units or regions yet to be discovered.

Grid View

Dune: Spice WarsMulti-asymmetrical factions will be available, with the possibility to assassinate and spy on your enemies. By leveraging the influence of other noble houses in the Landsraad, players will also be able pull the strings to power. Although both a multiplayer campaign and a single player campaign will be included in the final game, they will not be accessible at launch.

This isn’t the only game based on the Dune franchise on the way from Funcom. An open-world multiplayer survival game was announced in 2019, and given the publisher’s success with Conan ExilesIt seems like the perfect fit. Tencent acquired the Norwegian company in 2020 for $148 million, leading Funcom to announce that it would “increase the ambition level” of the game “with resources being allocated from other iniatives and possible additional financing.”