Gulp! Dune: Awakening beta testers are dying of thirst nearly as often as they're dying of sandworms, and some are even drinking mouse blood to stay alive

It's not a huge surprise to learn that dehydration is a major cause of death among beta testers of survival MMO Dune: Awakening. The fictional planet of Arrakis is so dang dry the inhabitants walk around in special suits that recycle their sweat, pee, and even poo into drinking water. When people die (or get killed) their body's moisture is recycled into water as well.

Dehydration isn't the only threat in Dune: Awakening, however, or the biggest. According to Funcom in a blog post at the end of 2024, the most common cause of death for players of the closed beta are NPCs, which account for "58% of player deaths." Second is sandworms, the giant, eternally hungry spice-producing guardians of Arrakis, at 27%. Dehydration is a close third, however, at 22%. Gulp.

With a notable lack of water on Arrakis, you'll have to find other sources of hydration. Disgusting sources. Dune: Awakening has systems that let you recycle the dead, some cruder than others. On the most basic level, you can jab a rusty needle into a dead enemy's body, drain their blood into a sack, and just chug it straight down, though as game director Joel Bylos explained back in March, "...drinking blood is not really good for you."

A healthier route is to transport the blood back to your base and pump it into a craftable machine called a blood purifier, which will eventually filter it into clean water for you to drink while trying not to think about how it came out of some dead guy's body. And according to Funcom, dead NPCs aren't the only sources of blood: you can extract it from animals, too. Even cute ones.

"Close to a hundred muad'dibs had their blood extracted" during the closed beta, Funcom said, referring to the adorable little kangaroo mouse creatures on Arrakis, who survive by drinking the dew that collects in their huge ears. "How could you?"

Mean as it sounds, I could definitely see myself draining a sweet lil mouse of blood and having a few swigs, though honestly, it makes more sense to just eat the entire mouse, doesn't it? That way you get a bit of protein with your blood.

I guess there's an important question to ponder, though: dying in combat with Sardaukar assassins or getting swallowed by a mighty sandworm sounds like it could at least be fun or exciting, but is dying of thirst all the time anything but a drag? I've died of just about everything possible in survival games over the years, and running out of water isn't in my top most exciting deaths. It's usually slow and often boring.

That doesn't mean hydration management can't be fun in survival games. I love it when I can progress from slurping dirty water out of scummy ponds to crafting a filtering system to eventually building up a reliable water supply, so hydration eventually becomes easy to maintain and the system fades into the background among more exciting projects. Hopefully that's how Dune: Awakening works, too. We'll find out soon: it's due out in early 2025.