Dune: Imperium Uprising Review: A Patch, Not an Upgrade

Welcome to this week’s review! This week I’m taking a look at the second standalone game for a popular IP. So, without further ado, let’s jump into it.

Disclosure: A review copy of this game was provided to The Meeple Digest in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.

Dune: Imperium Uprising is the second standalone game in the Dune: Imperium series and is a thematic tie in to the Dune: Part Two film. Before we jump into the game, it’s worth mentioning that while I really enjoyed the two most recent Dune movies, I’ve never read any of the novels and wouldn’t consider myself a huge Dune fan. Therefore, the mechanics rather than the IP is what initially drew me to game. In addition, while the original Dune: Imperium has been consistently ranked within my Top 40 games of all-time, I do have critiques with the game and wouldn’t go as far to say it’s the sixth best board game out there according to BGG. That said, I was eager to see what changes Uprising introduced to shake up the Dune: Imperium formula.

I’ll get into the specific changes in a moment, but the tl;dr is that Uprising feels like a slight refinement of Dune: Imperium rather than a significant leap forward. If I were to compare it to a software update, Uprising feels like a patch rather than an upgrade to a brand-new version. More experienced Dune: Imperium fans will likely notice the changes more readily, but personally, Uprising feels very similar to the original Dune: Imperium, albeit likely a bit more balanced, and many of the new introductions I could take or leave them.

The first change is that many of the worker-placement locations have been updated. Rise of Ix, the first expansion to Dune: Imperium, made updates to a handful of locations in an attempt to make them more appealing. Uprising does something similar by tweaking some of the costs and effects on a few spaces. That said, the board hasn’t drastically changed, but the locations feel more balanced now.

One of the new additions are sandworms, and I would compare these to the dreadnaughts from Ix. Though sandworms require some initial upfront investment to recruit, they provide double the rewards from conflicts. There is also a thematic integration in that sandworms cannot be deployed to certain conflicts until the shield wall has been broken. Like with dreadnaughts, sandworms can be particularly strong if utilized effectively, but they do require a fairly sizable investment. And unlike dreadnaughts, they have to be recruited again after taking part in a combat.

The next new addition are spies. These can be placed adjacent to up to three connecting locations. Spies can be recalled to allow the player to go to locations that are blocked by other players or allow the player to draw a card when they visit one of the connecting locations. There are also some card effects that allow the player to recall spies to gain rewards. I like that spies make it less likely that you’ll be boxed out of critical locations, but if I don’t think I’d miss them that much if they weren’t there.

There is also a new optional CHOAM module that introduces contracts. Some effects allow players to claim one of the two contracts in the display. These contracts typically specify a certain location, and the next time the player visits that location, they complete the contract and receive a small reward. I’ll likely always choose to play with this module because the alternative is just two solari whenever you receive the CHOAM effect. The module can provide some direction if players are on the fence on which locations to visit, but I personally didn’t find this new mechanic particularly engaging.

Uprising also provides new decks of cards that overall feel a bit more varied. One change to the conflict cards is each one has an icon in the top right of the card. When a player wins two conflicts with matching icons, they can flip both cards to score a victory point. Previously in Dune: Imperium, some conflicts were critical to win, whereas others were less important, and now the conflicts feel a bit more balanced. That’s not to say that conflicts aren’t still a key part of the game, and players who deprioritize them will struggle to earn enough victory points through other means.

I mentioned at the beginning that I have critiques with the original Dune: Imperium, and Uprising doesn’t exactly fix them. First off, for such a big IP, the overall production is a bit disappointing. I’ve always felt the board was more functional rather than eye-catching, and I can’t believe we’re still using square wooden cubes to represent units. That said, Uprising does come with four new plastic sandworms that are quite detailed, but I would have traded those for a better production overall.

Given that Lost Ruins of Arnak is arguably my favorite game, I do enjoy games that combine worker-placement with deck-building. That said, I’ve always found the deck-building element in Dune: Imperium to be a bit lacking. First off, while it seems like there are more opportunities to trash cards in Uprising, it can still be a challenge to build a cohesive deck. This is compounded by the fact that the cards in your deck directly relate to the locations you can place your workers. If you end up with a poor draw or are unable to trash enough of your starting cards, this can feel incredibly punishing, and newer players can unexpectedly box themselves in if they’re not careful. As I’ve played Dune: Imperium more, I’ve realized how important it is to prioritize acquiring certain types of cards, but I’ve also found that the Imperium display can get stale if all players are selective about the cards they buy. The Immortality expansion added a one-time ability to refresh the Imperium Row, and while I can easily house rule this in, I’m surprised this wasn’t carried over to Uprising.

I also consider Dune: Imperium best suited for three or four players. While the solo and two-player rules are easy enough to pilot, you lose a lot of that tension from the conflicts and competition over worker-placement spots when playing with fewer players. Uprising does come with a new mode to allow games of six players, but personally I have no interest in this as I can imagine six player games of Uprising taking quite a long time.

Finally, I’ve found that my experience with Dune: Imperium, and now Uprising, can vary game to game. I’ve had extremely epic games where the difference between winning and losing have come down to a final conflict or intrigue card. And I’ve had games where there’s been a runaway leader and halfway through the game, players realize they have no chance at winning. This means that the game can be somewhat group dependent. When the game is firing on all cylinders, I can understand why Uprising and Dune: Imperium are the fifth and sixth highest rated board games of all time. On the flip side, I’ve had games of Dune: Imperium that were a bit of a letdown. I bring this up not to rack on the game, but more so to highlight that Uprising still has many of the same issues that I’ve experienced with the original Dune: Imperium.

Overall, Uprising feels like more Dune: Imperium. I’d likely recommend Uprising over the original Dune: Imperium because of the small tweaks, but outside of hardcore fans, I don’t think there’s much reason to own both. While both the Rise of Ix and Immortality expansions can be integrated with Uprising, and while I haven’t personally tried Immorality, if I were to compare Dune: Imperium + Ix to Uprising, I’d likely lean towards the former. That said, be on the lookout for a review of the Bloodlines expansion that was specifically designed to integrate with Uprising.  

With that, I’ll wrap up this week’s review! If you played any of the Dune: Imperium games, I’d love to hear which game/combination of expansions is your favorite. Happy gaming!

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