Dune: Spice Wars is a diamond in the rough
Frank Herbert’s Dune holds a special place in the gaming community, providing the basis for one of the first true real-time strategy titles, Dune 2: The Building of a Dynasty. Shiro Games is treading on hallowed ground with its latest title, Dune: Spice Wars, and the studio seems to know it. The game’s recent 1.0 release still has some pain points after a year in early access, but it's clear that Spice Wars was developed with a clear passion and understanding of the assignment.
Dune: Spice Wars is a 4X game, played completely in real time, set against the backdrop of Herbert’s novel. While the game clearly uses established 4X titles like Civilization 6 as a framework, massaging that same formula into an RTS flavored with the Dune universe gives Spice Wars an edge.
At launch, Spice Wars features the Atreides, Harkonnen, and Fremen factions, in addition to Smugglers, House Corrino, and House Ecaz. Each faction operates on the same basic principles but has some unique wrinkles that lend them to a specific play style. For example, while House Atreides can’t pillage settlements, they can peacefully annex them, which is more expensive but yields long-term bonuses. The Fremen, on the other hand, aren’t subject to the same penalties for failing to pay the Emperor's ever-present spice tax.
The standard game mode, Battle for Arrakis, is supplemented by the protracted two-player Kanly Duel and the more lengthy Conquest Campaign. The gameplay will be familiar enough to seasoned players of the 4X genre, but a series of helpful tooltips and tutorials are also present to fill you in on the basics.
Each procedurally generated map is composed of regions controlled by a single settlement (think city-states from Civ 6). These can be
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