The game contains no character creation system, romance mechanics, pronoun options, or identity-focused narratives, keeping its core premise and gameplay aligned with traditional strategy mechanics drawn from Frank Herbert's setting. No other progressive themes, DEI elements, or narrative messaging appear in the strategy gameplay or marketing. The score of 6 stems directly from two explicit gender swaps of established source characters.

Liet Kynes, the male planetologist and Fremen leader in the novels, is presented as female, aligning with the 2021 film adaptation. House Ecaz's ruler is changed from male Armand Ecaz to female Armanda Ecaz.

Steam community threads criticize these alterations as unnecessary modernization or virtue signaling, with players noting the developers referenced updating the "gender repartition" from the book's era. Audience reception shows limited but direct backlash focused on these changes rather than broader ideological content.