Dune: Awakening Reworks Deep Desert for PvE-First Play and Adds Self-Hosted Servers

Funcom's April 2026 developer update for Dune: Awakening makes two strategic changes at once: it is rebalancing the live game around a more explicit PvE-first identity, and it is preparing self-hosted servers so players can run more customized worlds. According to the Steam update, more than 80% of the game's lifetime players have engaged exclusively with PvE content, which pushed the team to rethink how progression and conflict intersect, especially in the Deep Desert.

The most immediate change is tied to Patch 1.3.20.0. Funcom says all PvP zones in Hagga Basin will be disabled across official Worlds, and official servers will then offer separate Deep Desert instances. One instance is designed for pure PvE survival and exploration, with no player combat anywhere in the zone, including Shipwrecks. The other keeps the classic high-risk PvP structure across rows B through I, but boosts mining and spice harvesting yields by 2.5x so the extra danger carries a much clearer reward.

That split is a direct answer to how the audience is actually playing. Funcom says PvP will remain an important pillar for part of the community, but it no longer wants PvP exposure to feel mandatory for progression. The studio also argues that newer Chapter 3 systems already ease some of the pressure. It specifically points to Specializations, reworked Landsraad Missions, Faction Rank progression, and scalable Testing Stations as loops that help reinforce a survival path outside forced open-world conflict.

Self-Hosted Servers Move Closer

The other major announcement is self-hosting. Funcom says an initial version will be available for testing soon and will let players host private servers or community-run spaces with their own rules. At launch, the customization set will be limited but still meaningful: resource harvesting rates, base building piece limits, item durability, base decay, and PvP rule adjustments are all on the table, with broader tools promised later in the year.

The tradeoff is technical complexity. The studio says the first self-hosted release will require Microsoft Windows Pro with Hyper-V so the servers can run inside a Linux virtual machine. Its minimum tested setup is Windows 10 64-bit Pro, 20 GB of RAM, an Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600, broadband internet, and 100 GB of SSD storage. Funcom says that is enough for 1 to 4 players under normal activity on the same map, while Hagga Basin itself remains capped at 40 concurrent players. Character transfers from official and private servers into self-hosted servers will be allowed, but transfers back to official servers will not.

Taken together, the update shows Funcom trying to reduce friction for the majority PvE audience without deleting the game's high-stakes identity. Players who want tension, risk, and boosted rewards still get a dedicated PvP space. Everyone else gets a cleaner survival lane and, soon, the option to build a more controlled Arrakis of their own.