Funcom's survival MMO Dune: Awakening is heading north with a free expansion that trades the deserts of Arrakis for a frozen new map.

The expansion, called Blood and Ice, will release on 1st December. Funcom said it adds "around 35 hours of new progression", along with new vehicle modules, augments, and specialisation traits. It's coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox.

The new map, called the Polar Sink, turns the game's usual survival loop upside down. Instead of protecting yourself from extreme heat, you'll need to find ways to stay warm, upgrading your gear with resources found only in the Polar Sink.

The map is split into two biomes, the tundra and the ice cap. You'll start in the tundra, where wealthy water shipper families have built lavish strongholds, before trying to get into the heavily guarded ice cap. Once you're in, you can harvest ice to cool your base equipment and speed up production.

According to Funcom, the expansion "brings the focus back to ground-level survival, with traversal, temperature management, and combat all playing important roles in your progression". The studio also said future updates will add more reasons to go back to the region.

Blood and Ice also brings a new Events tab to the main menu. Shortly after the expansion launches, a new event called Water Crisis will follow the current one, The Scourge. Funcom says every event can be completed in both single-player and multiplayer, and that it plans to run them more often, each with new stories and free rewards.

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