Dune: Spice Wars – Tweakers Preview

When you hear the name Dune, you might think of the movie that came out in theaters last year or the strategy games of the ’90s. As for the origins of this science fiction story, we have to go back a little further, to the mid-1960s, when American author Frank Herbert defined the genre with his Dune. This later became a popular book series, with all kinds of adaptations.

We’re planning to add another title to the franchise later this year, when Shiro Games released the strategy game Dune: Spice Wars. Translating a world of this stature from books into a game is in itself a major undertaking. In the case of Dune: Spice Wars, there is some additional pressure on the developers, because many fans also have warm memories of Dune strategy games. The games were developed by Westwood Studios and the second part, Dune II, became particularly popular. It got a partial remaster, in the form of Dune 2000. The studio’s last game, Emperor: Battle for Dune, was released in 2001. After that, it remained silent for a long time.

This continued until Shiro Games released a new strategy game late last year announce Set in a dune world. The French team may already be feeling the shadow of previous dune games a bit over its upcoming strategy game, with the studio first releasing the game as an early access title on Steam. The developers seem to like it with their previous strategy game, Northgard, which was also released first in Early Access. The same model has been used with Wartales, the other game currently being developed by the French studio. With Dune: Spice Wars, Shiro Games is aiming for an Early Access phase of about nine months, during which work on the game can continue while collecting feedback from players. It gives us the opportunity to get acquainted with the game in advance.