Every Dune Game, Ranked

Highlights

• Dune has seen many adaptations over the years, from video games like Dune 2 to the recent Dune: Spice Wars, offering a variety of experiences.
• While some games like Frank Herbert’s Dune (200
• failed due to poor gameplay, others like Dune 2 set the foundation for the RTS genre.
• Dune: Imperium stands out as a highly tactical digital board game, offering a unique blend of deck-building and worker-placement mechanics.

Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, Dune, was a game-changer for science fiction. Due to its immense popularity and sustained place in the mainstream of science fiction, it’s seen many adaptations. From David Lynch’s Dune to the original 1992 video game, Herbert’s world has long been a playground for creatives.

With the recent release of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part 2 and the popularity surrounding it, there’s never been a better time to delve into the Dune universe. Over the years, there have been a plethora of Dune video games, though some have been more successful than others.

6 Frank Herbert’s Dune (2001)

A Bizarre Third-Person Adventure

• Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 2
• Released: 2001
• Developer(s): Cryo Interactive
• Genre: Adventure

This bizarre, third-person action adventure game followed the events of Frank Herbert’s novel fairly accurately, but its gameplay left much to be desired. Developed by Cryo Interactive, the developers of the original Dune game from 1992, Frank Herbert’s Dune was, unfortunately, far from a success.

Although Frank Herbert’s Dune eventually spelled the end for Cryo Interactive, it made a valiant attempt to stay faithful to its source material. Unfortunately, it’s let down by rough-edged third-person action that was poor even for its time.

5 Dune (1992)

An Old-School Point-And-Clicker

• Platform(s): PC
• Released: 1992
• Developer(s): Cryo Interactive
• Genre: Strategy

Developed by Cryo Interactive, this initial video game adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic 1965 novel is one of the most ambitious adventure games to date. Despite its 1992 release and increasing age, Dune features considerable graphical style.

Dune features classic, old-school adventure gameplay in the form of exploring several mostly-static locations via in-game menus and speaking with NPCs. However, Dune combined its adventure game mechanics with classic strategic gameplay, managing to blend the two ideas to relative success.

4 Dune 2 (1992)

An Innovative Real-Time Strategy Game

Arguably the most definitive real-time strategy game, Dune 2 is an old-school masterpiece that may be showing its age, but it laid the foundations for the entire RTS genre. It could also be argued that Dune 2’s innovative combination of base building, resource gathering, and unit production paved the way for the boom of RTS games in the late-90s.

Where Dune 2 shows its age is in its user-interface, making the game a pain to play until players can memorize the variety of keyboard shortcuts. Furthermore, the game lacks a group-select function, forcing players to command each unit individually. Despite these downsides, Dune 2 remains a fantastically thematic real-time strategy game. There was also a remake in 1998, titled Dune: 2000, which made several changes.

3 Emperor: Battle For Dune (2001)

A Competent But Familiar RTS Set In The Dune Universe

• Platform(s): PC
• Released: 2001
• Developer(s): Westwood Studios
• Genre: Real-time strategy

This direct sequel to Dune 2000 (the aforementioned remake of 1992’s Dune 2) was, like its predecessors, developed by Westwood Studios. For fans of Westwood’s style, Emperor: Battle For Dune provided more of what people had come to know and love. However, by this point, the market was flooded with RTS games, making it a competitive space; games such as the original Stronghold and Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, for example, were released in the same year.

Surprisingly, Emperor: Battle For Dune features asymmetric factions that manage to remain thematically in line with Herbert’s sci-fi world. Furthermore, Emperor: Battle For Dune also includes small details such as laser weapons reacting poorly when used against enemies with shields, making this a shockingly faithful adaptation.

2 Dune: Spice Wars (2022)

A Competent, Modern RTS Set In The Dune Universe

Developed by the team behind the hit indie strategy game, Northgard, Dune: Spice Wars is a highly polished, modern RTS set in the universe of Dune. Dune: Spice Wars features a variety of asymmetric factions that give the game a great deal of replay value, featuring unique abilities and ways to play.

Dune: Spice Wars features a wonderful visual style that manages to make the bleak deserts of Arrakis a consistent joy to look at, and each of the factions’ units is immediately recognizable. Dune: Spice Wars also features elements of the 4X genre, including diplomacy, making it one of the more unique real-time strategy games to have been released in recent years.

1 Dune: Imperium (2024)

A Highly Polished Digital Board Game

• Platform(s): PC, Mobile
• Released: 2024
• Developer(s): Dire Wolf
• Genre: Strategy

This digital adaptation of the board game of the same name is arguably one of the best digital adaptations of a tabletop game, thanks to its polished user-interface and faithfulness to its source material. Dune: Imperium is a unique combination of deck-builder and worker-placement, the latter of which is rarely utilized in video games, making Dune: Imperium rather distinct.

Dune: Imperium is a highly tactical strategy game of intrigue and exciting skirmishes, featuring a variety of asymmetric leaders that round out the experience and add plenty of replay value. Visually speaking, Dune: Imperium is a fairly static game, with relatively standard visuals that may turn some players away. However, Imperium is strategically deep and surprisingly thematic, arguably making it one of the best Dune games currently available.

Special Mention: Dune Awakening

• Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox
• Released: Unreleased
• Developer(s): Funcom
• Genre: MMO

This open-world survival game is an upcoming MMO set in Frank Herbert’s Dune universe. Though unreleased, the game promises to combine the creative mechanics of sandbox survival games with the social interaction that an MMO can provide.

Set to feature a crafting system, base-building, and deep character creation, Dune: Awakening could be a timely hit if it fulfills its promises. Furthermore, the game’s visuals are fairly impressive, and from what has been shown, Dune: Awakening looks to remain faithful to Frank Herbert’s iconic world.