I pre-ordered Dune: Awakening at the highest level.
When I first heard that Dune: Awakening was being made by the people who made Conan: Exiles, I was interested but not excited. I thoroughly enjoyed Exiles. My friends were the ones who routinely hunted for larger and more powerful bosses to slay, but my enjoyment focused on taking the resources they would bring back and using them to build interesting structures. In all survival-type games, I tend to do this. I'll venture out and fight monsters, but only in service to acquiring the resources and items I need to build cool things.
The announcement for Dune: Awakening came in August of 2022. I had seen and loved the new Dune movie in 2021, so the new game piqued my interest.
And then... then, I watched an interview with the makers describing what their inspirations were and what features were planned.
They said that one of their primary inspirations was Star Wars: Galaxies.
At this point, my interest changed to rabid fascination. My favorite computer game of all time, Star Wars: Galaxies was the epitome of an open, living world. I sank many hundreds of hours into it before it was shut down in 2011.
To hear, ten years later, that a new game in the style of Conan: Exiles, inspired by Star Wars: Galaxies, and set in the world of Arrakis was being worked on... well, that set my interest on fire.
The second movie being released last year added fuel to that fire.
So of course, as soon as preorders were available, I bought the game's most expensive edition. And I took off two days of work for the early release in May.
Later, I was dismayed to hear that the release was delayed three weeks, to June. I can't take time off of work that particular time period because it coincides with a major work project that I have to lead. However, I will play as much as possible those first days. I may even record myself playing, so I can remember what it was like in the future. We'll see. I don't stream anymore because there are no streaming services outside of American control.
I'm very much looking forward to this.