While Dune: Awakening has some very rough corners and is clearly built on Conan's foundations, it is still a compelling survival / base-building game. The game feels half baked at times because it was re-jigged to be a single player PVE game, where it started as a PVP game. Because player numbers didn't reach the level Funcom were anticipating, they changed many things to be solo-friendly.
The core of the game is its construction tiers and a very broad class skill system. While mining minerals remains relaxingly enjoyable, farming the sub-components needed for new weapons, armor, and vehicles can be very daunting. The map is reasonably large and in many cases you have to enter a dungeon to have its map marker appear. This means for most people, they will spend a lot of time looking up farming locations of materials which, to me personally, is always a shame.
If however you enjoy exploration and base building, you will likely be very happy with what Dune has to offer. The construction system is good, with pieces snapping together without much fuss. There are multiple construction sets that you can purchase and then blend together for some very interesting architectural possibilities. Finding player made guild bases those size rivals many in-game structures is a lot of fun. Player movement is diverse and enjoyable. You start with hover-belts that can allow you to glide across some gaps. Later you will gain access to Sandbikes, Buggies, and several classes of Ornithopter. Being able to fling yourself large distances using class skills like the hookshot combined with more advanced hover-belts is incredibly fun. So too is the Ornithopter's glider mode which you use almost exclusively for travelling large distances.
The combat can rapidly shift from easy to overwhelming, which means most of the times you will be able to kill enemies quickly but you have to stay on your toes for larger numbers and especially melee units that enjoy flanking you. Death can come shockingly quick since the shields you use briefly lower any time you shoot a ranged weapon. This adds a layer of complex timing to firefights, meaning that shooting as fast as you can isn't always the best option.
I'm playing with one other player so I can't speak to a truly solo playstyle, but it seems totally viable to me. That said, the game clearly intends for you to group up with larger guilds, as the amounts of some materials might be hard to procure alone. All said, I am happy with the game, but it is not perfect, especially technically. I have experienced a number of CTD, seemingly the fault of Battleye, the anti-cheat software. The game is also incredibly slow to load, regardless of your hardware. Still, I am having a good time with Dune: Awakening.
