The Dune franchise has been cemented as one of the greatest science-fiction stories for decades. With complex storytelling and politics, deep world-building, and installments that span different media, its legacy is well-earned. While not everything derived from the Dune series has been a beloved success, the newest Dune movie has proven to be a uniquely captivating experience.
This in-part is because of the scale of 2021's Dune. While the characters, music, and story help push the story forward, its defining feature is how the alien environments of Dune's planets are presented. These environments highlight the sheer size of everything around its human characters, and would make a great blueprint for not just movies, but video games as well. There are already major sci-fi franchises with new games planned for the next couple of years such as Starfield, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and new Star Wars games, which are all titles that should look at Dune’s use of environment and creature design as something to be transposed into video games.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
NPCs have been a staple of video games for decades, but until the past few years it could feel like they’re more placeholders than active parts of a game. An approach to wildlife, characters, and environments that learns from how these aspects are depicted in scenes from Denis Villeneuve's Dune could help show how far the technology behind NPCs and world building has come. Massive environments where larger-than-life creatures exist alongside main characters rather than around them could create experiences that highlights more than one person’s perspective.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora may already be taking steps in this direction. The game’s tech demo has shown off that Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s environments are incredibly ambitious. With an interconnected world and sweeping landscapes, it looks like it will put fans onto the surface of Pandora. Shots similar to the confrontations with sandworms in Dune should inform some of the ways players interact with the ecosystems they’re in.
Flora and fauna should feel like titanic forces of nature when players are confronted by them. This doesn’t have to mean direct conflict between the Na’vi and the environment of Pandora, as this could go against one of the Avatar franchise’s core conceits, but it should feel like each animal holds weight in the space it inhabits. Instead of just being a peripheral aspect of the world players are in, environments and animals should be core to the way Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is experienced.
Benefits for Starfield
Similar arguments can be made for Starfield and its approach to different worlds. With just over a year until its planned release date, there's room to learn from the visuals used in the Dune (2021). Even though some might point to the film’s intended experience on IMAX screens and its intense score as barriers, that doesn’t mean there isn’t something to be taken away by games like Starfield.
As a new IP from Bethesda, Starfield will simultaneously have a lot to work with and not as much when compared to other titles from the studio. The dichotomy of this situation provides Starfield plenty of breathing room, despite fans’ expectations. Industrial and inhabited planets have already been confirmed for Starfield with locations like the foreboding New Atlantis. The lore for other worlds has given off vibes similar to Arrakis from Dune, and it’s in these spaces that Starfield should look to set itself up for success.
Using hospitable and defined urban or inhabited spaces in the face of monumental danger could help round out Starfield’s experience. It would give players a world where sweeping landscapes are inhabited by creatures like Akila’s Ashta would humble players. Adapting to unknown and overpowering forces in the natural world was key in depicting the differences between Paul and the Fremen of Arrakis in Dune. The use of a similar approach could help the settled systems in Starfield and its player character feel unique in a sci-fi story that is framed with familiar concepts of new frontiers and political powers.
A Blue Print for Future Games
Building environments like Dune beyond these two games is also important. It would help to create worlds that players won’t soon forget. While this has been done before, and classic games like Skyrim and Knights of the Old Republic have put players into universes where they feel immersed, those places don’t always feel independent and alive. The protagonist’s story is often the unifying and defining aspect of these environments. This is expected of many games and is perfectly ok, but at the same time Dune’s approach in which the world around Paul much more massive than him provides a concept that would be novel to see in more video games.
While it can be hard to execute this and make a strong character seem small, it’s not impossible. This was achieved in many parts of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order as Cal Kestis encountered ancient tombs, large creatures, and the industrial efforts of the Empire. Other sci-fi games like The Outer Worlds have also made their player characters important but somewhat small compared to the forces around them.
Taking this into consideration and using Dune as a template, future video games could make open worlds or metroidvania-style environments perfect for storytelling. A narrative doesn’t necessarily need to have a specific focus on the world or its creatures, but making them integral parts of the experience rather than peripheral assets could push sci-fi games forward. Rich worlds would become richer, and unique environments could feel like more than grids for players to explore. Not every interaction needs to mirror staring down a sandworm at the edge of an endless desert, but steps in this direction could help redefine what many people think when it comes to video games as a medium.
Dune is currently in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.