Dune: Awakening fans have figured out how to "sandwalk," or traverse the unforgiving sands of Arrakis, despite it not being an official feature in the survival MMO.
A recent Reddit thread showcases as much, with poster "ufzo" exclaiming that there "IS," in fact, "sandwalking" in Dune: Awakening – it just takes a bit of effort. "It isn't official and doesn't look anywhere near real sandwalking," admits ufzo, "but it's functional." What does one need to do to properly sandwalk? First, make sure that it's nighttime during any attempt. Then, try and cross the open sands as ufzo does in their attached clips.
"The worm will breach, but won't start its 'eating-run,'" explains the poster. "If you do it just right, you can cross any distance." In their video, ufzo can be seen crossing the Vermilius Gap – an area that's usually impossible to journey through without a vehicle. Sure, they're sporting some Softstep Boots and, as they write, "spamming the grappler," but it's only to make things move along more quickly. Just remember, it's only safe at night.
There IS sandwalking from r/duneawakening
"It only works at nighttime, 'cause at daytime you will get sunburned," as ufzo puts it. "This is actually lore accurate, the Fremen only travel at night." They're not entirely wrong – in Frank Herbert's Dune series, the books that started it all, the Fremen do indeed prefer the cooler temperatures and reduced sunlight of the night when traveling. As a Dune stan myself, I suppose it's yet another way ufzo's method feels near-canonical in presentation.
It's nice to see fans making the Dune: Awakening experience more lore accurate, so to speak – especially after news that the upcoming 1.1.20 patch sadly makes riding Sandworms fatal, effectively axing another player-spurred recreation of the books' and films' activities. Here's hoping that Funcom doesn't release future updates that render ufzo's so-called "sandwalking" method obsolete, especially for those of us who too often forget our sandbikes.
As Paul Atreides instructs in Dune, courtesy of Herbert's brilliant writing, "We must walk without rhythm…" And so I shall in Funcom's survival MMO.
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