If you last played Dune: Awakening in 2025, your character is still there and the game around it has been rebuilt. Base taxes are gone, PvP is optional, Book One has an ending, and anyone back after 28 days away gets a free Return Package.

Check one thing before anything else: whether your World survived the May closures. After that, here are the big updates in order and a plan for your first evening back. Checked against Funcom's patch notes, 9 October.

First: did your World close?

Funcom closed 162 low-population Worlds on 26 May 2026. Characters on them chose a new World, bases moved with the Base Reconstruction Tool and vehicles with the Vehicle Backup Tool. Anyone who didn't have those tools got them free through Claim Rewards. Every PC World still running is on our server list.

The big updates since launch, in order

WhenUpdateWhat it means for you
Sep 2025Chapter 2Story continues, re-customise your look in the hubs, Deep Desert quicksand borders gone
Oct 20251.2.10Vehicle recovery, and PvP chests give everyone their own loot
Dec 20251.2.30Base Reconstruction Tool: pack a base into one of three snapshots and rebuild it elsewhere
Jan 20261.2.40Character transfers between Worlds, one token a week
Feb 2026Chapter 3Taxes removed, Landsraad missions, Specialisations, Augmentations, five Testing Stations
Mar 20261.3.10Ruins of Tsimpo, one Landsraad mission per Specialisation
Apr 20261.3.20PvE and PvP Deep Desert instances, Hagga Basin fully PvE
May 20261.4Wind Pass, the Old Quarry Testing Station, self-hosted servers
Jun 20261.4.10Five more Landsraad missions
Sep 20261.5Single-player mode, the Book One ending, PS5 and Xbox

The next one is already on the test server: here's what's in patch 1.5.15.

The three changes you'll feel tonight

  • No tax bill: Chapter 3 removed base taxes and forgave every overdue bill. Expanding a base costs nothing in upkeep now. Power is still required, or the weather wears it down.
  • PvP is a choice: every official World runs at least one PvE and one PvP Deep Desert, and you pick on the way in. The PvP rows pay 2.5x on mining and harvesting. Our Deep Desert guide covers which to choose.
  • The endgame isn't just the Deep Desert: Landsraad missions feed five Specialisation tracks, each 100 levels deep, unlocked at Faction Rank 5.
Chapter 3 added five repeatable Testing Stations with difficulty scaling, and 1.4 added the Old Quarry. · Open full size

Claim your Return Package

  1. Log in on the character you're coming back to.
  2. Open the Escape menu and choose Claim Rewards.
  3. Collect the package, plus any migration tools waiting there if your World closed.

Funcom doesn't publish an item list, because the package is sized to the highest research tier you've unlocked: resources and components for the stage you'd reached. A late-game character gets late-game materials.

The Rain of Blood challenge hit all four milestones. The CHOAM Extension pieces go to everyone who logs in by 5 November. · Open full size

Your first evening back

  1. Claim everything: the Return Package and any tools in Claim Rewards.
  2. Find your base: if your World closed, redeploy your base snapshot with the Base Reconstruction Tool.
  3. Re-spend your skill points: Chapter 3 reset every skill tree, so a 2025 character comes back with points to place. Later respecs cost Spice Melange, starting free and climbing with each reset before decaying back, and only work in a watersealed base or a social hub.
  4. Head for Faction Rank 5: that's the gate to Specialisations, the new long-term progression.
  5. Fly into the PvE Deep Desert first: relearn the map before you go where other players can take your haul.
Bases moved off closed Worlds as snapshots. Redeploy yours with the Base Reconstruction Tool. · Open full size

What's free and what's paid

Every Chapter and numbered update has been free, single-player included, and the Polar Cap will be too. The paid extras are five DLC packs:

DLCReleasedPrice
Wildlife of ArrakisJun 2025Season Pass only
Lost HarvestSep 2025US$12.99
Raiders of the Broken LandsFeb 2026US$9.99
Water WarsMay 2026US$9.99
Filmic ArchiveSep 2026US$9.99

The US$24.99 Season Pass covers the first four, including the launch-day Wildlife of Arrakis pack, which isn't sold on its own. Filmic Archive, a cosmetic pack, is sold separately.

Rather skip the catch-up?

Our operators level your PC character by hand from where you left it to any level up to 200, and we deliver Solari on every PC World by in-game trade for the augments and parts you'll want back. The FAQ on our Dune: Awakening page covers how both work.

New to the 1.5 changes too? The Start Here guide covers single-player versus a World.