What sets Dune apart from other coming-of-age power fantasies is its unusual world. As the Atreides take over spice production, they are betrayed, Paul flees into the desert to join the Fremen, and he eventually leads them in sandworm-powered revenge. Found only on Dune, spice enables faster-than-light space travel, which makes it the most precious commodity in the universe.
Later, when I became obsessed with Dune 2000 and Emperor: Battle for Dune, I couldn’t imagine that the series would fall dormant for 20 years.įrank Herbert’s Dune (1965) tells the story of 15-year-old Paul, heir to the noble House Atreides, who travels with his parents to the desert planet Dune, home to the indigenous Fremen, giant sandworms, and a drug known as spice. I was oblivious to the fact that it was based on one of the richest, strangest, and most successful science fiction universes ever and would define the design of RTS games for more than a decade. The game was too complex for a controller, I was seven, and I didn’t speak English, so I didn’t have a clue what was going on.
I remember playing Dune II on my Sega Genesis around 1995.
