Despite launching into a PC-exclusive advanced access period just one day ago, the survival MMORPG Dune Awakening is off to a pretty colossal start. Not only has the game pulled in nearly 100,000 players but it’s earned a very positive rating from early adopters in spite of some all-too-common launch day woes.In its first 24 hours, Dune Awakening has reached a peak concurrent player count of 93,634, according to Steam DB. This doesn’t give us a clear picture of how well the game has sold, as more players will probably jump into the game over the weekend. But it does provide a decent indicator of how popular Funcom’s latest release is ahead of its general release since this head start period is only available on PC through Steam. The game has an 81.57% positive rating across 4,000 reviews and is the top trending game on Steam and the number two top-selling game on the platform.The general positivity from early adopters is a promising start for players waiting for its full launch on console and PC on June 10. An active community will be crucial for the game’s long-term success as a live service. Funcom has promised Dune Awakening will get regular free updates and new features in lieu of a monthly subscription expected of games in the MMO genre.It hasn’t been all great updates coming out of the launch. As has become commonplace for big online-only games, Dune: Awakening’s servers were hit pretty hard at launch. Stability issues and server outages have been common according to players on Twitter and Reddit. There have also been reports of freezing and crashing among players who haven’t updated their drivers. Funcom has rolled out several hotfixes since its release to try to curtail those issues ahead of the weekend.Dune Awakening takes place in an alternate timeline from the books and films. In this version of events, Lady Jessica gives birth to a girl (as ordered by the Bene Gesserit sisterhood) instead of Paul Atriedes. This allows Dune: Awakening to be the narrative sandbox that Funcom gets to explore in compelling new ways without messing with canon. For instance, without Jessica’s betrayal of the Sisterhood, the political landscape of Arrakis is free of Paul’s takeover of the planet and the deadly religious battle that follows.Instead, players are each settling on Arrakis hoping to get a lucrative piece of the spice industry. They have to forge alliances, sabotage enemies, and garner support from the galactic authorities to amass power. That of course is second to surviving the harsh climate of the desert planet.Without the birth of Paul Atredies, players are able to forge their own Golden Path through the Imperium’s most important planet. | FuncomThe MMO and survival crafting genres seemed like a perfect fit for the source material right from the game’s announcement considering it’s all about royal families and factions establishing dominance through the resources and support they can muster up. Bringing that sort of political conflict into a video game makes for a strong premise. And it’s good to know that after several delays, the first non-strategy Dune video game in over 20 years mostly lives up to the hype so far. Aside from the game’s quality, Funcom couldn’t have released at a better time. It comes just a few years after both of Denis Villeneuve’s two Dune films found great success at the box office. It also comes between seasons of the HBO Max series Dune Prophecy, the prequel series delving into the origins of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood.Dune: Awakening will be released on June 10 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.