Pros:
+++Gameplay that keeps moving. There is a pause button, but playing through while using it sparingly lets you experience the chaos of maintaining control over all resources and military action. 4x games have always been very slow and dull for me, so this strikes a good balance of action and patience.

++The espionage system. This is definitely a standout to me from similar games I've played. It's an added layer of intrigue that is ongoing while you manage you colony, and they provide incredibly strong ability that can help or hurt your opponents. I would like to see Intel having more early game purposes, maybe providing incentives for allies.

+Arrakis is threatening. You have to monitor troops at all times to be sure they have enough supplies to get through the desert, defeat the enemy, and take the spoils. Taking risks by making enemies must be calculated. I've seen people say that sandworms aren't threatening, but in my experience, they've at times greatly affected the flow of combat. For example, you could be engaged in a battle, and inevitably wormsign begins. I could choose to push the incentive, and risk being out of position with my ranged fighters, or flee and try to line up the opponent to get devoured.

Cons:
---Tutorial and information. As someone who's familiar with the world from the novels and movies, I had an easier time just being knowledgeable of certain terms and organizations. To someone who is completely new to it, or only had exposure via the new movie, they might be overwhelmed at first. Even then, I found myself lost at certain points knowing what to do with the number of systems at play.

The "tutorial" is only told through the quests and a few popups on your first game, and that's it. Having more hoverable explanations would really help, such as terms and cooldowns/timings. Also, being able to adjust notifications for important abilities like the Landsraad reroll, while reducing useless ones would be very helpful.

--Factions are a little same-y. The unique abilities that each faction holds is really cool. The Smuggler ability especially felt unique and intriguing to explore. However, after those abilities are explored, the strategy remains largely the same. Each faction is capable of producing units with unique abilities to others, but at its core, ranged, melee, demo triangle is what you work with. There are a few special classes like drones, so I would like to see this expanded upon.

-Communication between opponents. This is rather lacking compared to some other games of this genre. Every 20 minutes or so you'll get an NPC ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ you for next to reason, and that's the extent of it. I think expanding the options for treaties and bartering may help this, and it would certainly be remedied by multiplayer.

Conclusion:
I had only encountered a few frame drops, and a bug involving the warning that I'm combat when I wasn't happened a few times. Other than that, the game feels "close" to ready. The price point is awesome, with most games releasing at $60+ these days with DLC, $30 is reasonable to me.

I'm not going to bother to mention the lore issues this game presents, particularly with the use of guns, because it's clearly meant to be a divergent series. Are there things that suck to see not in line with the source material? Sure, but if it's at the cost of being a more fun video game, I'm fine overlooking that.

Playing this with multiplayer when it releases should be a lot of fun. The voting and espionage systems can lead to tons of fun interactions that will make you hate each other, or be happy to work together. Hopefully the devs take this and run, because they've got the makings of something awesome. Wishlisting Bene Tleilaxu and House Carrino factions.