Fans of Frank Herbert and 4X strategy games can look forward to returning to Arrakis this month as Dune: Spice Wars releases into Steam Early Access on 26th April.

Developer Shiro Games and publisher Funcom are prepped for this release and, according to its Steam page, the game will stay in Early Access for between nine and 12 months depending on how quickly development milestones can be reached and when planned features can be implemented.

“As we move into the final QA phase, the game already feels incredible to play and we’re super proud of what we have achieved” the announcement reads.

“These last few months, sharing details about the game with you all, hearing your theories and seeing the anticipation building within the community has been a tremendous experience, and we can’t wait to hear what you all think of the game.”

On top of the Early Access launch date the fourth playable faction has also been announced in the form of The Fremen. The natives of Arrakis will join House Harkonnen, House Atreides and The Smuggles as the combatants fighting over the planet and its precious Spice.

The gameplay of this faction will reflect their natural abilities in working with the harsh planet instead of against it. Fremen units can travel faster in the environment and even use the Sandworms to get around. These forces play as a guerrilla army looking to strike and retreat instead of engaging in prolonged combat.

Several named characters and unit types have been revealed for The Fremen which you can read here though we won’t be mentioning them as it could constitute spoilers for anyone who wants to go into the game completely blind.

A gameplay trailer for the game exists and you can watch it below, though it is a month old so it’s likely rather outdated by now.

Between Spice Wars and the Dune movies, it’s good to see this universe getting more attention in recent years.