Dune: Spice Wars Early Access Review

ign.com:

It's been a while since we've visited the Dune universe in a real-time strategy game – I thought the iPod was basically sorcery when Emperor: Battle for Dune came out in 2001 – but even in its early access form, Dune: Spice Wars is shaping up to be a triumphant return. Four distinct factions that all engage a little differently with interesting combat, politics, and exploration make for an exciting time on the beautifully deadly world of Arrakis. And more impressive still, it never made me feel like I need to be a highly trained Mentat mastermind to keep track of it all.

Spice Wars is a bit more of a traditional RTS than developer Shiro Games' last project, Northgard, which shared a lot of elements with worker placement tabletop games. But a return to the old formula isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and its well-balanced resource mechanics are still at the heart of everything. Whether it's manpower, political influence, or the all-important spice, I never fell into a rut in this glimmering desert where I felt like I had enough of everything. Spice Wars always keeps you hungering for something, which can lead to conflict even with a long-time ally if they just happen to get to that juicy spice field you were eyeing before you can.

Combat is relatively simple but satisfying. Until you get pretty deep into the military tech tree your army size will be limited to only a handful, which makes microing your units crucial in an even fight. I appreciate how this raises the skill cap significantly without having to worry about a giant, indecipherable blob of soldiers. And each faction fights a bit differently, from the relatively straightforward Atreides legions who get bonuses for ganging up on a single enemy, to the elusive Fremen