DUNE: IMPERIUM BOARD GAME
Paul Dennen, Dire Wolf’s Creative Director and creator of the popular Clank! game series, is a life-long Dune fan and the lead designer of Dune: Imperium. The board game for 1-4 players marries two fan-favorite mechanics – deck-building and worker-placement – into a new and deeply thematic strategy game experience inspired by Legendary’s blockbuster film from director Denis Villeneuve and the esteemed literary series from Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson.
Debuting worldwide in Q4 2020 across multiple territories and languages, Dune: Imperium became an instant commercial and critical success -- breaking into the top sales charts and winning a variety of top awards including the 2022 SXSW Tabletop Game of the Year, 2022 Cannes As d’Or Grand Prix - Best Expert Game of the Year, 2021 Golden Geek Award - Best Card Game, 2021 American Tabletop Award - Best Complex Game, and the only licensed tabletop game in history to receive an esteemed Spiel des Jahres nomination. Residing in the Hotness Top 10 on BoardGameGeek since the day it debuted, Dune: Imperium is currently ranked at #8 on BoardGameGeek's Best Board Games of All Time.
Fueled by the game's success, Dire Wolf has since published two expansions to the core game -- Rise of Ix in Fall 2021 and Immortality in Fall 2022 -- which seamlessly connect to the core Dune: Imperium game. Next up for the Imperium series in 2023 are Uprising, a new stand-alone board game, and Dune: Imperium Digital, a faithful digital adaptation of the beloved board game for PC, consoles, and mobile.
What the critics are saying:
“More than measures up to the hype.” – Polygon
“More addicting than the spice mélange.”– Nerdist
“It’s ultimately the rich theming that really drives the game to be such a success for me. This just feels like Dune.” – GameInformer
“One of the most well-developed games I’ve ever seen. This is going to be in my top 10 games of all time.” – Drive Thru Reviews
CLIENT:
Legendary Entertainment
PARTNERS:
Gale Force Nine | Dire Wolf Digital
Dune: Imperium uses deck-building as a core element of gameplay. Yet since Dune is such a complex world of intrigue with leaders plotting to maneuver their pieces into appropriate positions, worker placement only felt right. And where GF9’s Dune board game focused solely on the fight for finite land and resources on Arrakis, Dune: Imperium widens the playing field, building Arrakis into the board for a larger story to unfold across the universe.
Each players portrays a leader of a Great House in the Landsraad, fighting over control of the spice trade. Players not only wage a land war for precious territory and resources on Arrakis. They must also court the key pillars of the Imperium – the Emperor, the Landsraad Council, the Spacing Guild, the Bene Gesserit, CHOAM, even the Fremen – all NPC factions offering advantages to any House who earns their favor. Taking a “what if?” approach to the events unfolding during gameplay, Dune: Imperium stays true to how each faction should feel within the context of the world, but empowers players to divert from the political alliances and events in the book and inspires a new yet authentic Dune narrative to emerge in every playthrough.
Much like the seminal book series, we’ve made a game where the fate of the Imperium is determined by the choices you make. What strings will you pull? Who will you trust or betray? How much will you claim, destroy, or sacrifice? With every card comes another choice and challenge that takes the story in a new direction, making each game an epic and memorable adventure.
Fans and retailers alike can visit dune-imperium.com to learn more and order their copies of the growing tabletop gaming program today. Then sign up for the latest news and previews in the days to come!