It was once a tradition that after the release of a blockbuster movie at the box office, a game based on that cinematic experience would arrive on the various platforms. From the most anonymous titles to the “must haves” like the King Kong video game or those of Batman, there is a long list of tie-ins.
In the case of Dune it was not easy to imagine how the blockbuster directed by Denis Villeneuve could be transposed into a video game, given the way in which the themes it deals with are treated. Unexpectedly, however, Shiro Games managed to transpose the essence of this magnificent universe in a strategic key, succeeding in a difficult undertaking.
Dune Spice Wars it looks like a very traditional but fun management software, even for those who are not akin to this type of video game, which usually turn out to be complex and unnerving given the many things to do and manage.
From the suggestive main menu, the player can set out to conquer Arrakis and its precious spice, being able to choose his own faction and, later, two advisers. And it’s a pleasure to find the characters from the film and see them play a key role in our campaign.
Classic, but not obvious, is the presence of bonuses and malus which, depending on the selection, modify the experience such as the choice of the difficulty and the size of the map, or the possibility of deciding which factions to meet or not.
DUNE Spice Wars is very intuitive from a management point of view. Right from the start we must send our explorers in search of places where it is possible to extract the spice, of cities that control that particular territory, of points of interest from which to obtain information, and so on. Our task will be to annex a population center to our domain, by force or diplomacy.
After completing this phase, you can start the construction of the most important buildings to obtain resources, expand and fortify the army or increase statistics useful for the political sphere. Obviously, to accomplish all this it will take time and time in Dune Spice Wars is essential, precisely because our aim is to collect as much spice as possible through the harvesters at our disposal, so as to respect the imperial orders and make deliveries for time.
However, it is not only the deadlines that worry the players in Dune Spice Wars because the game has a fairly large number of random events, also based on the chosen difficulty, with which to deal in order not to suffer consequences that would damage our hegemony. From sandstorms to attacks by the Fremen, passing through clashes with other factions up to the feared Shai-Hulud, the iconic giant worm of the desert who will try to destroy the harvesters at work on the spice fields, there are many unexpected events that you will face.
In short, the world of Dune is really difficult, putting the player in difficulty whenever it is possible to do so and creating a really interesting level of challenge for those who want to test themselves, but accepting the consequences.
While on the one hand natural or planetary threats must be addressed, from a political point of view it will be necessary to keep the morale of the population high in order to maintain the votes and therefore have greater influence. It was therefore challenging to find new ways to approach the other factions in the game, thus benefiting the trade. Or discover already occupied cities and take possession of them to weaken rival houses.
Maintaining control requires not only diplomacy but also cunning, cunning and strategic superiority. In any period of time we will be able to recruit an undercover agent to earn a bonus on the knowledge of the opponents. Weakening them from within and discovering the location of other cities under their control is an interesting mechanic, but the Council’s even more so.
In this case, every time the game warns us we will have to participate in a session in which to vote for a certain procedure that will bring advantages or disadvantages. With our family we could both support the collective will and oppose it, but in this case losing diplomacy points.
Once we have reached a certain level of hegemony we will be able to expand our base with new buildings and here we found ourselves facing a new obstacle, namely the costs, on average high compared to our income, which also seemed good to us given the fairly high number of colonies and structures. at our disposal.
Another problem is related to the way in which this title is posed towards the player. In fact, as much as it tries to be intuitive, Dune Spice Wars has proved cryptic in some of its mechanics, one among all that of the Council. There is no real explanation related to the way the voting takes place, nor how to earn and spend the consents.
Dune Spice Wars overall is a fun and interesting experience, which demonstrates Shiro Games’ prowess in developing management titles. The way in which the developers have managed to transpose the film into a strategic one, respecting both the cinematographic and the literary work, is certainly very pleasant. However, some improvements remain to be made to the usability of the game and we are curious to see if the developers will be able to smooth out the few edges that we found during our test.
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