Dune Awakening: What happens when you die?

Modified Mar 14, 2025 16:10 IST

Dune Awakening death — There's more than one type of death in Dune Awakening. Here's what you need to know (Image via Funcom)

Death is inevitable in Dune Awakening, but there are a few different ways you can die, and it certainly matters. This was revealed by Joel Bylos, Creative Director of the game, courtesy of wccftech.com at GDC 2024. This is, at its core, a survival game, so it’s inevitable that players are going to die, whether it’s to the elements, from rival players/NPCs, or even at the gaping maw of the terrifying sandworms. Death is a part of life.

It’s not the end of your adventure, once you die, thankfully. You can come back and respawn, but depending on how you met your end, you might lose some items or resources — this can make PVP in Dune Awakening even more dangerous as well. Here’s what happens when you die in the game.

Types of death in Dune Awakening

There are a few ways to die in Dune Awakening, that’s for sure. It’s not all about death in combat; this is very much a survival game, and it’s on one of the most unforgiving planets in the Science Fiction genre. Arrakis is a cruel desert planet, and players can, without a doubt, expect to die a few times. Here are the currently known causes of death:

Death due to the elements (Dehydration, Sandstorm)
Death in combat (NPCs, Players)
Death by Sandworm

The elements are a quick way to die in Dune Awakening. If you aren’t staying hydrated, you’ll no doubt perish under the heat of the sun. It can help to explore at night or take refuge under shelter or in caves. But ultimately, you still need to stay hydrated. Failure to do so means death. This isn’t the only weather that can take you out, though.

Sandstorms aren’t instant death, but they do spell your end pretty fast — about 30 seconds, according to Joel Bylos. Sandstorms aren’t really that bad in the early going, but the Coriolis storms that appear later will be devastating to not just you, but what you’ve built on Arrakis.

Death in combat isn’t immediately the end, either. You can get yourself back on your feet with some water, or if you’re grouping with friends, they can carry you away. If you fail at your second chance at life and die, you drop some items, which can be stolen by players.

The most unfortunate way to die though, has to be death via Sandworm. If you’re gulped down by a Sandworm, it won’t take you very long to perish — it’s not like Star Wars’ Sarlacc. It’s a quick, unpleasant death.

Do you lose all your items when you die in Dune Awakening?

Whatever you do, avoid being gulped down by a Sandworm (Image via Funcom)

Depending on the situation, you do lose some items when you die in Dune Awakening. Again, it very much depends on what took place. It doesn’t sound like you lose items in a sandstorm or from dehydration — perhaps if it’s in a PVP zone. We’ll reach out for clarification on that.

However, if you die in combat, whether to NPCs or players, it sounds like you lose quite a bit. You drop resources, any spice you had with you, harvesting resources, and any Solari (money) you were carrying. However, you can bank Solari, so don’t walk around with too much at once.

Again, a fate worse than death is definitely death by Sandworm. If they swallow you, you lose everything. All gear, everything you had with you. It’s incredibly important that, no matter what you do, you avoid death by Sandworm.

Dune Awakening respawn mechanics, explained

Ecology Labs are one of the many respawn options you have available (Image via Funcom)

There are a few methods of respawn in Dune Awakening, just like there are multiple ways to die. First, there are Beacons. You can place one respawn beacon out in the wild, wherever you want. You can also respawn at your base, or at your last-used vehicle, as well. Finally, there’s the Checkpoint Respawn.

Anytime you enter the ecology lab, a respawn point will be triggered right outside of it. You can also recover items from your corpse when you die, but in PVP areas, it’s all a matter if someone looted you.

Check out our other Dune Awakening guides and features

Edited by Angad Sharma