
After months of closed betas tied up in NDAs, Dune: Awakening developer Funcom is getting set for a much bigger beta weekend in May, promising "tens of thousands" of players early access to a substantial chunk of the survival MMO.
"From May 9 until May 12, the largest Beta yet will take place, with a huge number of new players joining compared to previous closed Betas," the devs say in a press release. "Players can get a taste of both spice and story in the large-scale Beta weekend, featuring the first 20 hours of the game and most of Act 1 of the story."
You can request access to the playtest on Steam, and it looks like the devs aren't kidding about this being "large-scale." In addition to the early Steam invites, Funcom will also give out "tens of thousands" of beta keys during a Twitch stream on May 10.
"Unlike previous Betas," the devs add, "this one has no NDA, meaning all information is open to share, and the game can be streamed for all to see."
Alongside today's news, we also have a new story trailer that offers a taste of the game's plot. While this is a survival MMO through and through, it looks like we'll have a fair bit of Dune political intrigue to guide the gameplay, too.
Dune: Awakening was previously scheduled to launch on May 20, but suffered a last-minute delay to June 10 – though certain editions of the game will let you play as early as June 5.