Dune has been rekindled as one of the most popular sci-fi franchises today thanks to the massive success of of the recent films. Now, the upcoming survival MMO set on an alternate reality version of Arrakis, Dune: Awakening finally has a release date. The game is set to launch in just a few short months on May 20. However, Funcom has released both the game’s character creator and a Benchmark Mode that eager players can download on Steam as of today.

Dune: Awakening is different from the story from the novels or films. There is no Paul Atreides in this reality, and Arrakis is the setting of a war between the two Great Houses of House Atreides and House Harkonnen to see who will control the planet. The player character can join either side to help achieve victory for whichever Great House they choose.

The released Character Creator allows you to build your character including choosing home planet, caste, and mentor. Then, players can also choose their starting class from one of the four of Swordmaster, Bene Gesserit, Mentat, or Trooper.Each class has their own unique starting abilities. However, players will be able to gain access to every class as they play the game and will be able to mix and match the abilities that fits their playstyle best. Once created, characters will be able to be imported into the game at launch.

The Benchmark Mode offers players the ability to see how the game will preform on and the system compatibility of their PC. This will give players every indication of if their machine will run the game well upon its release. Players will also be able to see a few cinematics from the game while using the Benchmark Mode such as seeing iconic things from the series like an ornithopter and a giant sandworm.

Players who preorder the game will be gifted a Terrarium of Muad’Dib (the iconic desert mouse that Paul gets his name from) base decoration. For those that download the Character Creator and Benchmark Mode, they will be gifted a Frameblade skin that can be redeemed once the game launches.

You can see our initial thoughts from seeing the game last year at Summer Games Fest here.