It’s been a very long time coming however Warner Bros. and Legendary’s gigantic Dune adaptation lastly hit cinemas and HBO Max this week, sparking a revival of curiosity in Frank Herbert’s beloved sci-fi franchise.
To mark the discharge of the most recent adaptation of this sci-fi epic, we’re wanting again on the historical past of Dune video games in an effort to know why the franchise hasn’t seen long-running success on gaming platforms, regardless of providing a wealthy and distinctive sci-fi world brimming with lore that ought to have builders rubbing their arms in glee, and the way the Dune franchise might make a gaming comeback as grand as Frank Herbert’s books.
Dune is an absorbing and visually hanging sci-fi epic – with one main drawback
A troubled historical past value remembering
(Picture credit score: Virgin Video games)1992’s Dune, developed by Cryo Interactive and printed by Virgin Video games, was an formidable mixture of real-time technique and interactive journey, borrowing components from hits resembling The Secret of Monkey Island in an effort to flesh out each its characters and the dense world of Arrakis. Its growth was as troubled because the manufacturing of David Lynch’s 1984 movie, and the entire thing was virtually canned a number of instances.However, the sport was successful and proved there was a future for the IP within the gaming world. If we glance again on the essential reception, most reviewers praised the mix of journey and RTS, with some shops praising how Cryo struck gold by specializing in what made Arrakis a singular setting and toying with the participant’s company. That sort of strategy sounds acquainted, doesn’t it?
We’re greater than used to versatile, non-linear storytelling in video games by now, particularly when it helps discover huge, unknown worlds. Dune is all about this – most of Herbert’s authentic novel spends virtually half of its pages organising Arrakis and its guidelines, plus different planets and a very good portion of a large galactic empire. The cinematic medium has a tougher time with this due to runtime limitations, and Dune is simply too huge for the small display. However video video games don't face the “too much information” drawback, as they'll flip all of it into good playable content material.
(Picture credit score: EA)
Surprisingly, Virgin Video games wished to Try its luck with a full-blown RTS too, within the type of Dune II. Oddly, Dune and Dune II have been launched solely months aside, – they'd been developed by completely different studios as rival initiatives underneath the identical writer’s umbrella.
Past the essential DNA, Dune II, developed by Westwood Studios, had little or no in frequent with Cryo’s recreation. The truth is, it was titled Dune II (with two completely different subtitles) solely as a result of it ended its growth later. It was launched simply in time for Christmas 1992 and likewise discovered nice success, establishing a brand new commonplace for technique video games. This can be a little bit of buried recreation historical past, however arrange quite a lot of what we’d see later within the Command & Conquer series, born from Westwood as effectively, and within the first Warcraft.
Okay, so each an adventure-RTS hybrid and a whole RTS made a splash within the early 90s. However did that occur due to their high quality or due to the property they have been primarily based on? Trying again, Dune wasn’t highly regarded round that point. Lynch’s movie had left a bitter style in individuals’s mouths, and avid guide readers have been those preserving the flame alive for future audiovisual variations. Constructing these video games on high of an already-established property saved recreation corporations treasured time and wasn’t as dangerous as developing with one thing new, however that was it. The gameplay is probably going what made these titles profitable, quite than the ‘Dune’ title, and that grew to become evident with Dune II.
Here’s the factor: there’s a lot to unpack in every of Frank Herbert’s novels (and his son’s should you’re into them) – the Dune universe follows frequent patterns, however always tears them down. The iconography that has been solidified is that of the sandworms and perhaps the stillsuit-wearing, blue-eyed Fremen. However Dune is a lot greater than that, and most video games previous the primary one appeared to overlook about its uniqueness, an untapped energy that was pushed apart in an effort to as an alternative work with acquainted blueprints. Even when individuals didn’t care a lot for Dune, it was an IP that would’ve pushed these technique titles in brisker instructions if it had been utilized correctly.
Arrakis is ripe for the taking
(Picture credit score: EA)
Look, we’re not saying Dune II, later remade as Dune 2000, is a foul recreation, as a result of it isn’t, however it set the IP on a path of conformity and diluted identification, giving delivery to initiatives (later dealt with by EA) that felt like Command & Conquer mods. Anybody into the books is aware of why that’s an issue and nullifies what makes the universe particular. For starters: no waving weapons and lasers round to battle, that’s essentially the most not-Dune factor ever.
Dune II already confirmed indicators of inventive confusion through the use of a non-canon faction, Home Ordos, as an alternative of developing with an fascinating Fremen faction that hardly resembled the opposite two (Atreides and Harkonnen). Moreover, huge pew-pew autos slowly took over – it obtained ridiculous in 2001’s Emperor: Battle for Dune – as a result of huge sci-fi means Star Wars-y tanks and ships, proper? There have been loads of properties doing that already, and the world of Arrakis was asking for one thing not practically as explosive.
Dune video games went underground after Cryo someway obtained its arms on the IP once more to provide you with a tie-in recreation for Frank Herbert’s Dune, a Sci-Fi Channel miniseries launched in 2000. It was a pricey flop that didn’t land lots of its photographs, however it doubled down on the inherent weirdness of the universe and went again to the story-heavy gaming roots of the franchise despite some canonical compromises. We might see one thing like that working now, as avid gamers have grown to like character-driven experiences. And that’s only one chance.
We nonetheless don’t know whether or not or not Denis Villeneuve’s Dune will discover sufficient cash within the sands of Arrakis to kickstart a movie franchise, however it has actually gotten individuals speaking and diving into Herbert’s expansive universe once more. Individuals like bizarre, particularly of their video video games – Dune doesn’t need to comply with “safe” aesthetics or design choices anymore, as many sci-fi properties have come and gone whereas it hibernated. With open-world RPGs, cinematic narrative video games, and RTS titles now having huge followings, it could be the proper time to sprinkle some spice on high of these genres.
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