Play Dune II online — the original 1992 DOS game Works — the full original game runs via DOSBox in your browser
Guide updated October 2026 · Runs via DOSBox + WebAssembly
Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty — Westwood's 1992 game, and the template for every real-time strategy game since. Choose House Atreides, Harkonnen or Ordos, harvest spice to fund a base, and build an army to drive the other Houses off Arrakis while sandworms swallow anything left on open sand. The intro takes a while to load; press Esc to skip it.
Tap the screen to click · ENTER: confirm · ESC: menu
⌨ Keyboard — for menus & name entry
Controls — what does what
| Action | Keyboard | Mouse / touch |
|---|---|---|
| Select a unit or building | — | Click |
| Order: move, attack, harvest | Click the order button | Then click the target |
| Build | — | Click your Construction Yard, then the item |
| Skip the intro | Esc | — |
Runs in your browser tab with DOSBox + WebAssembly — nothing is uploaded. Click the screen to capture input; press Ctrl+F10 to release mouse.
Dune II is no longer sold anywhere, and its publisher is gone or has left it unsold for decades. It is hosted here on the same footing as the Internet Archive's software collections. That is a practical position, not a legal claim. This page carries no advertising. Provenance: /apps/dune-2/NOTICE.md. Rights holders: it comes down within 48 hours on request.
About Dune II
Dune II introduced the building blocks of the genre: resource harvesting, a build tree that opens as you construct buildings, a fog of war over an unexplored map, and units that fight in real time. Westwood built Command & Conquer on the same design three years later. Units are ordered one at a time, which was standard in 1992; select a unit, click an order such as Move or Attack, then click the target.
Tips for getting started
Build a second Spice Refinery and a couple of harvesters early; credits limit everything else. Concrete slabs under buildings stop them crumbling. Keep harvesters off open sand when a worm sign appears.
How it runs here
This is the original DOS release of Dune II, unmodified, running in DOSBox compiled to WebAssembly. The whole game is about 10 MB, so it starts within seconds on a normal connection. Sound and music play once you click into the game.
Frequently asked questions
Can I play Dune II online for free?
Yes. Click Play and the original 1992 DOS version starts in your browser, running in a WebAssembly build of DOSBox. Nothing to install and no account.
Why is Dune II hosted here?
Dune II is not sold anywhere today; we checked the stores listed in its provenance note. It is preserved here the way the Internet Archive preserves old software. That is a practical position, not a legal claim. If the rights holder (Electronic Arts (Westwood), with the Dune licence held by Herbert Properties) asks, it comes down within 48 hours.
Does my progress save?
Saved games persist in this browser between visits, best-effort. Clearing site data removes them.
Can I play on a phone or tablet?
Yes. Touch buttons for the keys Dune II uses appear under the game on touch devices.
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Want a game like this on your own site?
Dune II isn't ours to give away — we host it, we didn't write it. But eleven of the games here we did write from scratch, and those are free for anyone to put on their own page: one line of HTML, no account, no permission, no attribution beyond a credit line.