Dune Spice Wars: Release date, gameplay, trailers & more

The Dune: Spice Wars release date means the Spice must flow, as goes the Harkonen adage goes, and finally, the responsibility of seeing to it falls to you. The new strategy game by Funcom looks to take head from the classic Frank Herbert novel as well as effectively riding the coattails of the recent Denis Villenuevue adaptation. But, when exactly is the Dune: Spice Wars release date? And what will it entail? Here's everything we know about the upcoming strategy title.

Dune Spice Wars: Release date

The release date for Dune Spice Wars is September 14, 2023, with the early access version launching in October the previous year.

Dune Spice Wars: Trailer

Dune: Spice Wars got its first trailer and announcement during the 2021 Game Awards, offering a peek into the atmosphere of the game.

The trailer shows an Arakkis in danger, playing out the events of the Harkonnen invasion of the planet. As House Atreides falls, we see that the surface of the planet hangs in someone's palm, and it clenches to destroy everything as Baron Harkonnen booms "This is my vengeance. This is my Dune." oo-er.

This is the only peek at the game that we have, and it'll have to tide us over for some time.

Dune Spice Wars: Gameplay

Click to enlarge

Not much is known about the gameplay of Dune: Spice Wars, but knowing that it's a 4X real-time strategy game gives us a peek into how the game will work. It'll be top-down on a board, presumably set on Arakkis, and it'll let you attack enemy forces in armies.

Time will tell if the game will let you play as all of Arakkis' armies, but there's little doubt that you'll adopt the armies of Duke Atreides, with the likes of Paul and Lady Jessica in tow - and there's every chance you'll be able to play as the allied Fremen and hostile Harkonnens too.

Narratively, we expect this will take game will take place in an altered version of the events of the siege of Arakkis, set halfway through the original novel in an attack that sees the collapse of House Atreides. We're intrigued to see where it goes from here, and what different endings we can muster.

That's all we know about Dune: Spice Wars so far - we'll catch you when it's time to retake the planet. For more from The Game Awards, why not read up on the Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League release date and Nightingale release date?