Developer Shiro Games has shared more details about Dune Spice Wars, clarifying what it meant when describing its next project as an “real-time strategy game featuring 4X elements.”
The two genres are usually distinct from each other, given how 4X strategy games often tread turn-based territory, but Dune Spice Wars aims to combine both, relying on slowed-paced gameplay.
“The game is real time, but the pace is slower than in a typical RTS (and you can pause and fast forward),” the developer explained in a Steam post. “The game also features exploration, territory control, economic growth, combat, politics and spying, features that make it a true 4X game but do not detract from the core RTS experience that players would expect.”
Dune Spice Wars will also include base building, although in the shape of structures automatically added to your main base, rather than individual buildings you can place down on the map.
When compared to the studio’s other popular RTS, Northgard, the slower pace is the only similarity, according to the developer.
“Dune Spice Wars is on a much bigger scale, featuring politics, trading, covert operations and a deeper resource management system. Game length is also 2 to 3 times longer than Northgard (although this could still change at this point).”
Procedurally generated maps will also be part of its early access launch, offering “different options for size, wind strength, sandworm activity and many others.”
The studio also notes that “deep deserts are used as a kind of blocking feature (like seas in other games), at least until you develop technologies to survive longer in the desert, or build a network or airfields. Maps will also feature unique places that readers of the book will recognize.”
Both its multiplayer and campaign modes are set to arrive as major updates after the game enters early access.
Dune: Spice Wars will first arrive on PC, via Steam, in 2022. The studio will look into expanding to other distribution platforms in the following months.
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