As of my latest 2026 play sessions, I have died to a Dune: Awakening sandworm more times than I care to admit, yet I still keep sprinting at the nearest dune like a moth arguing with a sandblaster. The community’s latest obsession is not an official feature, and Funcom reportedly considered letting us ride the great makers before discarding the idea. But that has not stopped players like SgtDolphin from doing it anyway.
Riding a sandworm feels like trying to surf a freight train made of teeth and bad intentions. There is no directed control once you are on. The worm follows its own path and the game physics occasionally fold like a cheap paper fan, which explains why the rider gets tossed into the sky without ceremony. It is part spectacle, part comedy, and part survival horror.
The accidental sport of worm riding
SgtDolphin has now shared two separate clips of successful rides. The key is not some hidden unlock, but a combination of high-mobility tools and study. You need to watch the worm’s movement patterns with the obsessive patience of an ornithologist tracking a rare storm petrel, then commit to a launch that will probably kill you anyway.
The gear and abilities in play include:
| Tool or Ability | Role |
|---|---|
| Bindu Sprint | Super-sprint for closing distance quickly |
| Full Suspensor Belt | Slows falls and improves air control |
| Emperor’s Wings | Extra airborne adjustment for positioning |
Even with all that, it is not clean. SgtDolphin said the ride is very glitchy at times, especially on the sand being displaced, and that many deaths were required to get these clips. The worm is not a mount. It is more like a moving earthquake that briefly tolerates a passenger before remembering it has other plans.
Why anyone would do this
Because it is there, mostly. Dune: Awakening has always sold the fantasy of Arrakis, but sandworm riding was absent from the official systems. Players love to poke at the edges of a survival game, and this is a perfect example. The worm is lethal, unpredictable, and utterly indifferent to your loadout. That makes any successful ride feel earned in a way normal traversal never does.
I have spent more than 35 hours on Arrakis and still feel like I am early in my adventure. I have not reached every zone, the main story remains mostly unfinished for me, and my PvP experience is only a handful of encounters. The gunplay can feel unimpressive in places, but the scale and the sandbox carry a lot of the experience.
The wider state of the game
Despite the jank, the survival multiplayer launch is attracting serious numbers. At one point the Steam concurrent player peak climbed beyond 117,000 players. That is a strong signal for a game that asks you to manage water, shelter, and the occasional worm-inflicted respawn.
If you want to survive long enough to try your own accidental worm ride, there are a few priorities. First, gather basic resources. Iron, steel, and aluminium are the bones of early progression, and they are spread across the map in ways that force you to leave comfortable areas. Second, pick a class that suits how you want to handle Arrakis, because some builds handle the deep desert far better than others. Third, follow a step-by-step walkthrough for the story, because it is easy to wander into a high-level zone and get flattened by the environment before you even meet another player.
The worm riding clips are a reminder that Dune: Awakening still has room for weird player-made stories. It is not official, it is not stable, and it is definitely not safe. But as a spectator sport, it is magnificent. I will probably keep trying it, because the worst thing that happens is the worm wins again, and even that is worth the clip.
For now, I am keeping an eye on post-launch plans and the business model, because a game this ambitious will live or die on how Funcom supports it. If the updates leave room for accidental stunts like this, the community will keep finding new ways to turn the desert into a playground.