For me personally the best RPG open-world sandbox experience since TES: Oblivion (...unfortunately I've skipped out on KCD1). As KCD2 features such an immersive sandbox freedom, with its dynamic and vivid open-world where decisions and or failures lead to realistic and understandable outcomes. Also NPCs are not the usual overlooking "idiots" as in other titles and react accordingly. Paired with the most natural looking landscapes, forests and locations I've ever seen in a video game (screenshots). But it does not stop there, as KCD2 also features great visuals, sound, music and voiceovers, as well as a keen eye for details. And on top of that it is realistic as it can be while still being an enjoyable and challenging video game, you will even learn stuff just by playing it. As I don't want to spoil anything, the story and quests do fit perfectly and not to mention the historical research side of things! Thank you so much Warhorse Studios. <3
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3426840431

Overall I am absolutely suprised and if you want to immerse yourself on Arakis then this is definitely your chance... if, you can survive this Dune universe sandbox. While Dune: Awakening does not reinvent the "open-world-rpg-survival-crafting" wheel, it surprises with tweaks and additions to the genre's typical gameplay mechanics. And even expands it with the desert mechanics. While the UE5 lets the open-world of Arakis shine in all its sandy beauty, it delivers a really good performance, too. The crafting-system is also very well implemented. And I've never waited in any server queue, it is absolutely lag free and you don't even feel that you are playing online! What Funcom already improved is the overall npc behaviour. But there's still tactical npc team behaviour missing in general. As I do not want to spoil content, you should definitely experience Arakis by yourself, if you are generally interested in DUNE. There is actually lots of freedom regarding how you want to play and enjoy Arakis. I really enjoy my time on DUNE as it did not feel like farming (work) like in other titles, at least for ~100hrs when playing solo. In the end Dune: Awakening is a great game for the DUNE universe, although not perfect and there is still room left for improvements and maybe even more suprises? I personally can't wait to deep desert furthermore. Besides that, the UE5 is a great fundament even for the coming years - long-term fun provided by the devs. PS: Some screenhshots (click) taken at 5670x2400 (24:10) on ultra settings with DLSS quality 90% and FG2 enabled ~90fps on a 4090.