That Time A 'Dune' Game Destroyed Its Publisher

We recently witnessed the reveal of the new Dune game and find it very interesting to see everyone's hype because it is just a gameplay-less CGI video of the main character Paul Atreides, so basically a teaser for the first film but in CGI. It's even more interesting because attaching the word Dune to a game is no surefire way to success if history is anything to go by. 

Dune Awakening will break away from the more common RTS mold of Dune games and will instead be an MMORPG, a strange choice considering how a mostly deserted planet is probably not the place best suited for varied and non-repetitive quests and social interaction. The graphics of the video look neat, sure, but do you know what also looked pretty? 'Frank Herbert's Dune' – no, not the book – a game that used not only the property's name but also the name of the writer and it still forced publisher Cryo Interactive to file for bankruptcy.

Interestingly, this wasn't a direct adaptation of the book but rather an adaptation of those weird ‘00s made-for-tv Dune tv series. Haven’t seen those? Picture the David Lynch Dune with a lower budget, or, better yet, check out this clip that somehow looks worse than the video game.

Despite making a desert as eye-pleasing as possible, the main problem with this game is that it played so poorly chances are it came out unfinished. Much like its contemporary company-ending Tomb Raider Angel Of Darkness, Dune tried to be an action and a stealth game at once, and it failed to be either. Also, the PS2 version seemed to be stuck in slow-motion mode.

Obviously, this and Awakening are not the same. It'll do better than the game from '01 even if only because Dune is now more popular than ever, but we sure shouldn't get our hopes up before we even get to see some gameplay.

Top Image: Warner Bros