Dune: Spice Wars to blend RTS and 4X gameplay mechanics

Dune: Spice Wars is coming in 2022, and through Shiro Games and Funcom, will blend RTS and 4X gameplay into one package. Shiro Games have a precedent set with their critically acclaimed Northgard RTS, and will share several designs with the previous title.

Set on the desert planet of Arrakis, Dune: Spice Wars will be just as much about alliances and political intrigue as it will maneuver military units around in real-time.

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What awaits on Arrakis in Dune: Spice Wars?

Shiro Games’ experience in developing Northgard will be visible in Dune: Spice Wars when it arrives later this year. Players will move across the desert planet’s regions, which will have outlined territories, each with a town.

Controlling the town means that the player also controls that territory and that offers the player resources such as Spice (trade), Plascrete (building), or other resources to sell-off. While it will be satisfying to march troops into a small town and conquer it, there is another way.

The strategy game will also feature many of the options 4X players enjoy, such as taking over a town through diplomacy and politics. This will be the domain of factions like the Atreides and may be much safer than simply sending in the army.

That could lead to a loss of life, and it’s not free to deploy military forces. Arrakis is an unforgiving desert planet; when a military force runs out of supplies, they will quickly perish in the heat of the desert.

This makes the political facets of the game incredibly important. It’s not just “sand,” either, since the game's desert has its own version of oceans in the Deep Deserts. It’s not about drowning there, but sandworm attacks.

Water will be farmed at the polar ice caps as well, but water is a very rare and precious resource and will be a major point of conflict between players.

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Politics is incredibly important in Dune: Spice Wars

One of the nice things about the upcoming RTS/4X hybrid is that it seems to respect the source material. The Dune novels were very much political stories, and while there were moments of combat, a great deal of power belongs in the world of politics.

Though the game is set on Arrakis, the politics of the factions on and off-planet are a deep part of the game. Players will have to gain favor in the Landsraad and get laws passed that benefit them and slow down other factions.

No time of day is really safe on Arrakis (Image via YouTube/Shiro Games)

Several factions will exist to build favor with. These include the Emperor himself, the Spacing Guild, the Bene Gesserit, and CHOAHM, which buys up Spice. Spice will, of course, be a factor since the Emperor has a tax that must be paid in Spice.

Ultimately, the goal is to be the planetary governor of Arrakis, and if the player constantly pushes a military force, that may be a harder goal to attain. Players will probably have to use both political and military might to see victory.

Dune: Spice Wars will go into Early Access in Spring 2022, and will receive updates such as Multiplayer, more factions, and the campaign itself, as the months go on.