In a bit of an unexpected announcement Funcom, the studio behind Conan Exiles and MMOs like The Secret World and Anarchy Online, have recently revealed that they're working on a brand new MMO set within the Dune universe! While the gameplay details are still few and far between, Dune: Awakening will be an open world and survival focused MMO that will have thousands of players squabbling over every inch and resource found on the planet of Arrakis.

Besides being able to create your very own fortress, the most exciting part of Dune: Awakening will be the coriolis storms that will be capable of shifting the sands and altering the landscape. How exactly that will work in terms of gameplay, I'm afraid nobody outside of Funcom currently knows, but having large-scale dynamic events is a great way to shake up the game and get players into conflict with each other, so I'm cautiously optimistic about the whole idea.

While it doesn't showcase any actual gameplay, you can get a little bit of an idea of the sort of atmosphere Dune: Awakening is going for through the trailer below:

Unsurprisingly, no release date has been announced just yet either, though you can expect Dune: Awakening to launch for PC, PlayStation and Xbox. Once we get some more details, ideally alongside a gameplay preview, I'll make sure to let you know.

Until then, you can read a few more tidbits about Dune: Awakening, as well as sign up for a currently unannounced beta test, over at the official website. Enjoy!