Dune: Spice Wars

Dune: Spice Wars is a clever, multilayered, challenging RTS that translates the very essence of what I love about Dune into systems that demonstrate a respect for the lore and an uncommon understanding of interesting strategic gameplay. It looks great, it sounds great, and the pacing is excellent. Every faction is flavorful and different, lending it loads of replayability. The tactical AI could definitely use some work, and not all of the ideas in the Conquest campaign mode landed gracefully. But the fact is: this is my favorite video game set in the Dune universe, and I think I'll be playing it for a long time.

You can mainly expect political scheming, whether in the form of using your political influence in the clan group, Landsraad, or in the form of your network of spies that you can deploy against other factions or individual powers. [Issue#330]

Dune: Spice Wars masterfully translates the intricate conflict for Arrakis to the gaming screen, delivering an engaging experience while it lets you delve into conquesting new territories, political machinations within the Landsraad, CHOAM share trading, and forging unexpected alliances. Despite the absence of a significant story campaign and stupid AI, it still offers an addictive strategic journey that can easily make you lose track of time.

An extremely well crafted RTS that, despite the lacking of an actual and traditional campaign, shines thanks to a layered and smartly designed gameplay.

Dune: Spice Wars is an excellent Dune-licensed RTS. The approach to the game mechanics is fresh and functional, net of some various imbalances.

Dune: Spice Wars pays homage to the source material but lacks a story mode that with almost 3000 pages at one's disposal is hard to justify. Fortunately the gameplay depth and flexibility make up for it almost completely.

We succumb to the hypnosis of the sandy planet of Arrakis to analyse Dune: Spice Wars, a brilliant recreation of an entire social, political, economic and religiously articulated universe.

Dune Spice Wars pays homage to the source material in a clear and often effective way. The strategic foundations that the Shiro Games team has laid are also solid, thanks to the various mechanics that refer to the Dune universe. However, on this well-studied foundation the team has built an experience that is at times superficial. The depth and complexity that one would expect from a game set in such a rich imagination are lost in some choices that we struggled to understand. That said, those who love the reference genre and Frank Herbert's iconic novels should give Spice Wars a chance.

I cannot lie, the world of Dune is one of my favorites, and any chance to visit Arrakis is a welcome one. Despite a its significance to gaming as a whole, there aren’t a lot of Dune games out there. Spice Wars is the kind of power struggle fantasy game that we’ve been seeing for decades, but its a winning formula. Sure Spice Wars might mostly be porting over a lot of the mechanics from Northgard and dressing them up with a new coat of paint, but it’s an incredible court of paint. If you were distraught to learn that the second Dune movie will be pushed back into next year, Spice Wars will probably hold you over until the big day for the big worms.

Unfortunately, it didn't improve as much as expected during the early access period, and even regressed a bit, especially in the scenario mode. As it is, we have a good game, a strategy game that is fun to play. But it must be said that it failed a bit to meet expectations.

Dune: Spice Wars is a very well-made game, but it falls short in not being able to give the proper relevance to all the game modes.

Dune: Spice Wars lacks spirit and a story campaign. The solid gameplay foundation alone is not convincing in the long run.

A solid 4X that fails to capture the spirit of its colourful setting.

A lack of the promised single-player story mode, middling graphics and relatively shallow combat systems threaten to consume Dune: Spice Wars in the maws of a Sandworm. Thankfully, it’s somewhat rescued by an authentic recreation of the Dune universe and the scope of available ways to play. It won’t be usurping the Imperial council, but the launch of Arrakis’ mining wars is a solid, if unspectacular one.

A wide range of systems make Dune: Spice Wars an enjoyable 4X, but the depth of Frank Herbert's world-building is largely lost in translation.

A competent strategy outing, Dune: Spice Wars provides a range of strategic systems that offer engaging decision points for players. However, without a narrative campaign, options for play are limited, and immersion into this classic sci-fi setting is held back by samey environments and shallow combat.