A unique mix of real-time grand strategy over the planet, with a point-and-click adventure component which unlocks more of the game as you progress through it. It works well and is enjoyable to me.
The art style is wonderful, that gorgeous French Cryo feel with some visuals taken from David Lynch’s Dune film.
One of the ScummVM developers is currently reverse engineering all the animations on Mastodon and it’s fascinating to see.
I got into casually speedrunning the game when the Upper Memory Block podcast covered it all those years ago. I managed under 100 game days, another podcast listener got under 50 days, and someone on YouTube has something like a 24 day completion.
The music is also great. Remi Herbulot’s HERAD music system used parts of Yamaha’s OPL synth which literally nobody else did, it is easily the most advanced FM synthesis engine for DOS, and composer Stephane Picq took advantage of it to make a beautiful soundtrack.
Stephane released a CD quality album version called Dune: Spice Opera which is my favourite album of all time, of many musician ever, and is one of my most prized possessions.