Dune: Spice Wars is launching in early access this month

gamesradar.com:

Dune: Spice Wars is coming to Steam Early Access later this month.

The strategy game set in Frank Herbert's sci-fi universe will release on Steam Early Access on April 26. From Northgard developer Shiro Games and publisher Funcom, Dune: Spice Wars sees four factions fighting it out on Arrakis to claim the sandy planet's supply of spice, the universe's most valuable resource.

Along with the early access release date announcement, Funcom and Shiro Games have also revealed the game's fourth playable faction, the Fremen. Its creators describe the benefits of this new faction in a blog post (opens in new tab):

"With a greater capacity to move across and withstand the open desert, less chance to attract colossal sandworms, and an improved ability to ally with hidden Sietches (neutral native settlements), the Fremen are uniquely poised to expand their area of influence in order to control the planet."

The Fremen join the three previously announced factions, House Atreides, House Harkonnen, and the Smugglers. Each faction comes with its own distinct strengths and weaknesses. The game promises to be a tough juggling act as you'll have to balance military power, infiltration, resource production and political influence.

As well as publishing Dune: Spice Wars, Funcom is also developing an open-world survival multiplayer game set in the Dune universe.

Dune: Spice Wars is putting an intriguing twist on the usual RTS formula with a blend of RTS and 4X gameplay.

If you're eager to spice things up, check out how Dune: Spice Wars delivers its own flavor of real-time strategy in Frank Herbert's sci-fi universe.