It isn’t an enormous shock to be taught that dehydration is a significant reason behind demise amongst beta testers of survival MMO Dune: Awakening. The fictional planet of Arrakis is so dang dry the inhabitants stroll round in particular fits that recycle their sweat, pee, and even poo into ingesting water. When folks die (or get killed) their physique’s moisture is recycled into water as nicely.
Dehydration is not the one risk in Dune: Awakening, nevertheless, or the most important. In line with Funcom in a weblog submit on the finish of 2024, the commonest reason behind demise for gamers of the closed beta are NPCs, which account for “58% of participant deaths.” Second is sandworms, the large, eternally hungry spice-producing guardians of Arrakis, at 27%. Dehydration is an in depth third, nevertheless, at 22%. Gulp.
With a notable lack of water on Arrakis, you may have to seek out different sources of hydration. Disgusting sources. Dune: Awakening has programs that allow you to recycle the lifeless, some cruder than others. On essentially the most primary stage, you may jab a rusty needle right into a lifeless enemy’s physique, drain their blood right into a sack, and simply chug it straight down, although as recreation director Joel Bylos defined again in March, “…ingesting blood shouldn’t be actually good for you.”
A more healthy route is to move the blood again to your base and pump it right into a craftable machine referred to as a blood air purifier, which is able to ultimately filter it into clear water so that you can drink whereas making an attempt not to consider the way it got here out of some lifeless man’s physique. And in response to Funcom, lifeless NPCs aren’t the one sources of blood: you may extract it from animals, too. Even cute ones.
“Near 100 muad’dibs had their blood extracted” throughout the closed beta, Funcom mentioned, referring to the lovable little kangaroo mouse creatures on Arrakis, who survive by ingesting the dew that collects of their big ears. “How may you?”
Imply because it sounds, I may undoubtedly see myself draining a candy lil mouse of blood and having a couple of swigs, although actually, it makes extra sense to only eat all the mouse, would not it? That manner you get a little bit of protein along with your blood.
I assume there’s an essential query to ponder, although: dying in fight with Sardaukar assassins or getting swallowed by a mighty sandworm sounds prefer it may at the very least be enjoyable or thrilling, however is dying of thirst on a regular basis something however a drag? I’ve died of nearly all the pieces potential in survival video games through the years, and operating out of water is not in my prime most fun deaths. It is normally gradual and sometimes boring.
That does not imply hydration administration cannot be enjoyable in survival video games. I find it irresistible once I can progress from slurping soiled water out of scummy ponds to crafting a filtering system to ultimately build up a dependable water provide, so hydration ultimately turns into simple to take care of and the system fades into the background amongst extra thrilling tasks. Hopefully that is how Dune: Awakening works, too. We’ll discover out quickly: it is due out in early 2025.
