Dune: Awakening’s Tutorial Takes Up To 10 Hours, But I Promise It’s Worth It

Dune: Awakening is a massive game with some incredibly deep systems that require a bit of knowledge to master, which explains why its opening tutorials are so extensive. It can take upwards of ten hours for some players to complete all the different tutorial-type missions, and while this might seem like a lot, the game successfully explains its various moving parts to make things much more approachable. At times, these tutorials try to hold the player’s hand just a little more than they need to, but you’ll ultimately benefit in the long term from powering through.

Whether it’s learning how to research and craft new gear or understanding the various skills and abilities for all the classes in Dune: Awakening, there’s a useful tutorial-sort of quest in the beginning hours of the game that will cover just about everything there is to know. For a survival-based game this size that involves base-building, a rich environment like Arrakis full of diverse materials, and complex and intricate role-playing elements, I personally think the tutorial missions at the beginning of the game are essential, especially for players new to the survival genre.

Dune: Awakening’s Opening Hours Are A Massive Tutorial Mission

Learn The Ropes On Arrakis & Ease Your Way Into The Action

The opening hours of Dune: Awakening are packed full of useful missions that teach you the basics of most (if not all) of the game’s various components. These are largely built into the main story progression, and each individual mission can usually be completed relatively quickly, allowing you to jump back into a session and pick up where you left off. As you start your journey on Arrakis, you’ll be guided through a series of somewhat menial tasks that cover the core concepts throughout the game, such as how to stay hydrated, how to build structures, research and crafting, etc.

All Unique Weapons In Dune: Awakening

There are many weapons in Dune: Awakening, but only a limited number of uniques that are unlocked using schematics in rare containers on Arrakis.

For experienced survival enthusiasts, the basic concepts at play in Dune: Awakening can be figured out with a bit of practice, though the details are worth paying attention to if you want to have the best experience in the later stages of the game. However, these beginning tutorial-style missions are going to be crucial for players new to the genre who are simply interested in being a part of the Dune universe and haven’t spent much time with multiplayer survival games. Dune: Awakening casts a wide net and makes sure players at all experience levels know what’s going on.

While there are a ton of useful tutorials, some things in Dune: Awakening are still a bit complicated, such as the complex Research and Crafting system that requires unlocking unique schematics through gameplay

Aside from the tutorial-style missions, a ton of tooltips will pop up as you play through the beginning, all of which can be reviewed again in the actual Tutorial menu. These are handy on their own, but it’s likely most players would not even check these if they weren’t presented during gameplay. A series of these will pop up during each of the beginning story missions and provide more thorough explanations for each mechanic. These will come in useful in the future as well, especially if you accidentally skipped them during gameplay for one reason or another.

Dune: Awakening Teaches Its Fundamentals Through Story Missions

Learn How To Stay Hydrated, Build Bases & Keep Them Powered, Basic Combat Mechanics, & More

The missions and objectives in the introduction are not explicitly called tutorials, but there’s no question that they serve the same purpose. The first quest lines in your journey are part of the “A New Beginning” Story missions. These include fundamental concepts for the game, such as learning how to use blades during “The Attitude of the Knife” quest or crafting a Construction Tool to get started with base building during the “Shelter and Shields” mission. These opening missions are relatively basic and straightforward by design, but they will give you a strong handle on the game’s basic mechanics.

“You’ll be happy you spent the time on these missions in the long run, even if they may feel tedious for veterans of the genre.”

As you progress forward through the first story missions, each new tool and concept adds a layer of complexity, and I completely understand why the game chooses to break things down into bite-sized quests. Leaving things up to the player to discover and figure out would be a bit overwhelming, considering the sheer number of moving parts, all of which serve a specific and important gameplay function. You’ll be happy you spent the time on these missions in the long run, even if they may feel tedious for veterans of the genre.

Where Does Dune: Awakening Fit In The Dune Timeline?

Dune: Awakening is an upcoming survival MMORPG set on the desert planet of Arrakis in an alternate timeline from the beloved Dune novels.

These missions may hold the player’s hand a little more than they need to, but I’d argue that Dune: Awakening is simply covering all its bases. Some players prefer trial by fire and learning things on their own without explanations about elementary concepts like how to stay hydrated or how to craft a basic tool, though I’m definitely not one of those people. Many players like me will simply be overwhelmed or confused without these tutorial missions, which I think is a greater risk than disappointing the more hardcore survival-genre veterans.

Dune: Awakening Tutorials Can Be Completed Quickly If You’re A Veteran

Skilled Players Can Complete These Tutorials Much Faster

While it can take up to ten hours to complete all the introductory missions and get past all the tutorials, that’s only if you’re truly taking your time and getting familiar with Arrakis, perhaps without having played many survival games in the past. I would argue that veteran survivalists can easily complete these introductory quests much faster and get into the meat of the game within a reasonable timeframe. If you played Dune: Awakening’s Beta, the opening sequence and New Beginning quests will be very familiar and won’t take you long to complete at all.

How Shields Work In Dune: Awakening

Holtzman Shields are an iconic part of the Dune universe, and in Awakening they have unique mechanics against both ranged and melee attacks.

These quests also serve to advance the main plot and give players a sense of direction in the main story. You’ll begin a series of “trials” during the introduction, which provide much more context about what is happening on Arrakis and exactly what you’re supposed to be doing in the grand scheme of things. While Dune: Awakening is primarily a survival game, its story elements are absolutely essential to the experience and will likely be the main thing players are interested in learning more about as they advance into the later stages of the game to awaken the Sleeper.

I was able to complete the opening missions in about 3 to 4 hours, which included a lot of running around unnecessarily to explore the environment.

Overall, whatever you hear or read about Dune: Awakening’s tutorials, I personally think they are extremely helpful and useful in getting players oriented in the complexities of surviving on Arrakis. Ten hours is also a generous estimate, and it should only take that long if you get lost exploring the vastness of Arrakis and are distracted from your current objectives (admittedly, this is easy to do given how interesting and beautiful the open world environment is). Most importantly, I don’t think you should be deterred by the tutorial length, as these missions are extremely informative and useful going forward.