"We want to stay true to Dune": After the dragon flamethrower ruffled some feathers, Dune: Awakening producer promises fans "you won't be running around in pink pool floaties"

Look, I enjoy making Sabrina Carpenter hit the Griddy in Fortnite as much as any 12-year-old does, but I don't want that kind of silliness in every single game I play. Funcom came under fire for including a dragon flamethrower skin in Dune: Awakening – one I actually think looks pretty cool – and it prompted a wider discussion about the aesthetic future of the game. Don't worry, things are going to stay true to the Dune universe.

"Yeah, that's a misstep on our part," Scott Junior, chief product officer and executive producer at Funcom, says to TheGamer when asked about the flamethrower. "Out of context, it doesn't look good. People will need to play The Lost Harvest, and they'll see what we're doing and why we've added this item."

One developer has already said, "you'll (potentially) be more understanding of its place once you see the context" of it in-game. Still, it's easy to see why people are worried about more grounded games opting to ape Fortnite, just like Call of Duty did. Even Battlefield 6 confirmed it will be avoiding that – for the moment, at least.

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"We want to stay true to Dune as much as we can; it's something we've prided ourselves on since the beginning of development," Junior says. "We made some changes for the betterment of the game, but everything we do has to be approved by the Herbert estate and Legendary."

Remember, Frank Herbert's Dune books contain fish people that can see into the future and genetically engineered chairdogs that mould themselves to the shape of whoever is sitting in them, so there's plenty of weird stuff to draw from.

"Don’t worry," Junior reiterates, "you're not going to see ponies running around and you won't be running around in pink pool floaties. We promise that." I wouldn't mind those chairdogs, though, Junior, if you could get those added soon.

In the meantime, check out the best MMORPGs you can play right now. Some of them do have goofy skins if that's what you're after.