Developer Shiro Games has shared new details about its upcoming real-time strategy game Dune: Spice Wars.
The game was announced in December as part of The Game Awards 2021 event with a teaser trailer. Details were scarce, but Shiro Games and publisher Funcom revealed that the title is a real-time strategy (RTS) game with 4X elements similar to titles like Sid Meier’s Civilization.
An official description released alongside the teaser trailer states, “Vie for total domination of the spice in Dune: Spice Wars, an upcoming 4X RTS game set in the DUNE universe. What house will you lead to victory?”
A newly-published FAQ on Steam has unveiled more details about the game. In it, Shiro Games confirmed that the title is played in real-time but that its pace is slower than in a typical RTS while featuring the common gameplay elements of 4X titles like spying, politics, economic growth, territory control, exploration, and combat.
The game will come with four playable factions at launch, two of which have been announced; House Atreides (Duke Leto) and House Harkonnen (Baron Vladimir). Two more factions will be available at launch followed by a fifth during Early Access and more later. All factions are based on Frank Herbert’s novel and the Houses within it.
Shiro Games took inspiration from the Dune video and board games, but has stated that it’s “very much its own game with a unique take on the struggle for the control of Arrakis.”
Dune: Spice Wars will have procedurally generated maps, with various customisation options such as sandworm activity. It’ll support a variety of languages – English, German, French, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, and Russian have all been confirmed – and the game will support multiplayer via an update released during Early Access.
Shiro Games also confirmed that the game’s campaign will not be available at launch, but will be added in a large update during Early Access. Unfortunately, there will be no mod support at launch and Shiro Games has not planned any DLC for the game.
Dune: Spice Wars will release via Steam Early Access in 2022 for PC, and Shiro Games has confirmed it’ll look at other platforms during Early Access. No official date has been revealed, but we can expect one soon. In the meantime, check out the teaser trailer for the game below:
