Dive into Dune: Awakening’s Water Scarcity Mechanics

Feeling parched? This is your chance to quench that thirst – albeit by unusual means.

As a fan of survival games, I’ve spent around 25 hours in the Dune: Awakening beta recently, and I must say, the water and hydration mechanics have left quite an impression. Given that Arrakis is a desert planet, water management is a critical aspect right from the get-go.

Initially, my hydration options were severely limited to sipping water from paltry plants, which only filled my thirst meter by about one-third. Staying out of the biting sun and finding shady spots became a matter of life and death. At points, I found myself crawling between shadows, hydrating from plants, and thinking, “Paul Atreides never faced such challenges!” (though in this alternate timeline, he was never born).

The next phase of hydration involved more drastic measures: harvesting blood from defeated foes with a syringe and converting it into water using a blood purifier I’d craft at my base.

There were times in dire straights that I opted for the quick solution of drinking straight from a blood bag – a temporary penalty awaited, of course! In the face of extreme need, even a mouse could be a hydration source.

Thus, I frequently treated NPCs like my own personal juice boxes: exploring, battling sandworms, and suddenly feeling the burn of thirst. This prompted a raid on scavenger camps or breaking into a moisture-sealed cave, where I would drain every last drop from those unsuspecting inhabitants.

On one occasion, I realized I had established my base near a scavenger camp where one NPC respawned. It turned into a routine for me: each migration from base ended with attacking and draining him of blood—probably 20 or 30 times throughout the beta!

However, scarcity made later stages of the beta satisfying when I unlocked new water sources. I eventually crafted a device to harvest water directly from scrubby plants, allowing me to keep a canteen at my side. Goodbye to licking plants in Dune!

Later developments introduced crafting a stillsuit that enables me to recycle wastewater, which further removes the need for external hydration sources. I bet those NPCs would appreciate seeing those innovations in the full game to avoid any further mishaps.

The sense of achievement grew as I managed to keep my water levels at a 100% hydration mark after much struggle. Watching my blood purifier fill to the brim with water was a high point (much to the relief of that scavenger!).

Eventually, I even crafted a cistern to hold my extra water stash. What a victory for a desert patriarch! And as it turns out, machines require hydration too—sorry, scavenger neighbor, but my new machines got thirsty.

With all the water management updates planned, I can’t wait to see how Dune: Awakening evolves.