A once-canceled game based on Frank Herbert’s Dune has resurfaced on Steam under a new IP. Dune fans have had plenty to look forward to recently with the impending sequel to 2021’s highly acclaimed movie, a spin-off HBO Max series, and several official games including Real Time Strategy game Dune: Spice Wars, and an upcoming open-world MMO game, Dune: Awakening, the latter of which was announced at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2022.
A highly ambitious Game Boy Advance title, Dune: Ornithopter Assault was being developed by Hungarian studio Soft Brigade in 2001, and although the game was nearly finished it was ultimately canceled in 2002 by Cryo Interactive due to the publisher’s bankruptcy that year. The title would have been a 3D shooter seen from the cockpit of the ornithopter and would have been the first adaptation of the Dune universe on handheld consoles. Despite Dune primarily following the story of Paul Atreides, a young noble whose father becomes the ruler of a hostile planet called Arrakis, Dune: Ornithopter Assault would have placed players in the shoes of an ornithopter pilot trained under the guise of Gurney Alleck. Although its core gameplay focused on protecting spice harvesters from the Harkonnen, Ornithopter Assault would still have adapted major moments from the Dune novel, such as the fall of the House of Atreides, and Paul and the Fremen’s fight for Arrakis, albeit from a different perspective. Despite its cancellation, a ROM of Dune: Ornithopter Assault was since leaked online and preserved, and could be played on GBA emulators.
The Spaceshipper (via. GameSpot) took to Twitter to point out that the Dune-based title had finally received an official release on Steam with the new title Elland: The Crystal Wars. The title was brought to PC by game preservation specialists Retro Room Games following a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $21,222, and boasts 23 levels. Retro Room Games also gave the title some modern quality-of-life features during its redevelopment and move from Game Boy Advance to PC, such as the ability to save anywhere, and the addition of controller support and control remapping, cloud saves, image scaling, and smoothing options.
Elland: The Crystal Wars’ Story Will Be Very Familiar To Dune Fans
Regarding its story and visuals, not much has changed from Dune: Ornithopter Assault, but any obvious traces of the Dune IP have been stripped from the title to avoid any copyright infringement. Instead of taking control of Dune‘s ornithopters (which are now in Fortnite), players will be piloting “advanced flying machines” called Raptors as they explore Arrakis stand-in, a hostile desert planet called Elland. Instead of protecting spice harvesters, Elland: The Crystal Wars‘ story sees players fighting Trafford Corp, the largest constructor of space cruisers and weapons in the Galaxy who have their sights set on the planet’s Brem-Nar crystal mines, with the crystals being asset essential for space travel.
Although Dune fans have official titles to enjoy – with Westwood’s collection of classic strategy titles from the 90s and early 2000s still easily accessible on PC, and Shiro Games’ strategy title Dune: Spice Wars currently in Early Access on Steam – it’s nice for long-standing fans of the franchise to finally get their hands on an official version of Dune: Ornithopter Assault after its unceremonious cancelation. Despite Elland: The Crystal Wars not using terminology from within the Dune universe, its gameplay remains largely unchanged, and what is left is certainly similar enough to evoke Frank Herbert’s epic world without inciting too many legal issues.
Sources: The Spaceshipper/Twitter (via. GameSpot)
Be the first to comment