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Surviving the harsh wastes of Arrakis is much less intimidating with friends, but multiplayer isn't the easiest thing to set up thanks to some awkward menus. With a much more linear opening than most survival sandboxes, there are also a few kinks to iron out if you're looking to play with others.

Below, I'll go over how you actually group up and play with friends so you can survive the dunes [[link]] together. As you'd expect from a survival game, there are lots of deep systems and precious materials to find, which you don't want yoinked by other players, so I'll also explain how to change player permissions.

How to play Dune: Awakening multiplayer

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To play with friends, all you need to do is:

1. Open the social menu found at the bottom of any menu (like the map or your inventory)
2. Search for your friend's character or account name in the "players" tab, both of which you can find in the top left of this screen
3. Send a friend request
4. Once accepted, select the player in your friend list and invite them to a party

You can accept other players' friend invites by pressing Enter when the prompt appears (before the timer expires) or through the social menu. If you're having trouble joining or finding each other, make sure you're playing on the same server.

You can also manage your party from the "players" tab in the social menu. Here, you can invite more players, kick them, leave the party, and manage the permissions and ranks of individual members.

Once you've formed a party with another player, they'll be marked on your map, and you can meet up. You can do pretty much everything with another player, from building bases and exploring and riding on the same sandbike provided you have the second seat module installed.

It's worth noting that it's technically possible to bypass much of the intended progression by playing with other players. You could join a late-game player and be handed a sandbike or an ornithopter for free, or given high-end resources. I even tested heading into the second region of the map before I had officially unlocked it, which triggered a story cutscene ahead of time but didn't skip the pre-requisite quests.

Dune: Awakening multiplayer permissions

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One thing I recommend doing right away is managing the permissions of party members and friends. By promoting and demoting players, you can control who can access what. You can head into the social menu to tweak the rank of individual players, but you'll also need to change the access level of items (like chests), which is done by interacting with them and going to the "general settings" tab.

By default, players will be made associates, which prevents them from adding or removing players, and more importantly, interacting with most features of base building. For example, associates can't open containers or access vehicles (unless you go out of your way to lower the access level to associates). It's even possible to trap someone inside a building if you restrict access to the door. This is great if you're playing with a random person that you don't particularly trust, but you probably don't want this if you're teaming up with your bestie.

On the other hand, promoting people to co-owners lets them add and remove players and interact with base items. In other words, you can share your home and items like a proper team should. Importantly, even co-owners can't promote or demote players (including themselves), so [[link]] you won't find your base usurped entirely.

Here are the three roles, and what each one can do:

How to trade with players in Dune: Awakening

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You can trade with players by holding the interact key while [[link]] looking at them, and selecting the trade option, represented by two arrows. Here, you can offer any item for your inventory, including high-end resources that the other player might not have access to yet. Both players must accept the trade before it will go through, so you can't be cheated out of your prized possessions.

Trading was very buggy for me, with trades frequently failing to actually go through despite us both agreeing. If this happens to you, you'll just have to try again and hope it works next time. Otherwise, you can also just drop items on the floor, which can be picked up by anyone. Obviously, it's much easier to effectively back out of a deal and "steal" items dropped this way, so be careful who you're trading with if you're dropping items like this.

Does Dune: Awakening support crossplay?

As it stands during the closed beta, Dune: Awakening doesn't have crossplay, nor will it be available at launch on PC. While the game will be on Xbox and PS5, it doesn't launch on consoles until a later, unspecified time. Developer Funcom is yet to confirm whether Dune: Awakening will eventually support crossplay, though I'd be surprised if it didn't when the console versions eventually arrive. Surviving Arakkis is much more fun with friends, after all.