Back in 2002, the Hungarian games development studio Soft Brigade was working on a Dune game for the Game Boy Advance. Sadly, the game was cancelled very late in development and it was thought to be lost, until the rights were purchased by The Retro Room Games, which has now reworked the game into Elland: The Crystal Wars, so while it may no longer be a Dune game, we can finally play that long-lost Game Boy Advance game, which was released digitally on Nintendo Switch by Pixel Games UK on September 25, 2026, with a Steam release set to follow later this week, on October 3, 2026. Retro Room has has even released Elland: The Crystal Wars on the format for which it was originally intended, the Game Boy Advance, on which it is available as a digital download; a cart-only physical edition; and as a complete-in-box physical edition.
Dune, the original inspiration for Elland: The Crystal Wars, began as a novel by Frank Herbert that was first published in 1965, with further books following, as well as a feature film by David Lynch in 1984, with further films and a TV series following between 2021 and 2024. The property has also received a number of tie-in games. Indeed, we have previously reported on a new Atari ST port of 1992’s Dune II game, and on the recent Dune Awakening game.
Of course, Elland: The Crystal Wars is no longer a Dune game, but its origins as one mean that it’s likely to be of interest to fans of the property.
