So far the story of Zoe and Kian has been an interesting one but to this point it hasn’t been a story of real highlights. The first two books of the five planned have been solid but nothing has really approached the magic of the previous two games in the Longest Journey series. Book three hopes to change all that.
We start playing as a young Saga as she is tasked with
walking around her house picking up drawings. It’s a slow start and one that
goes on a little too long. However, it does give a great insight into the role
she will play in the story and how she relates to the other characters and
events which have happened in the past. Once that is over we are back with
Kian.
In the aftermath of book two’s events the rebels are looking
to find more information on what the Asadi are up to with their ever expanding
pipe network. This question will be answered by the end of the chapter but
there are a few puzzles which require objects to be found before that happens.
The first Kian section isn’t the best due to objects being hard to stumble upon
in the gloom (especially as you don’t really know what you are looking for),
but the Kian sections certainly pick up before the end.
Zoe is dealing with the consequences of her own actions as
well. More of her past and purpose is revealed and her section is rather good
with the oppressive environment she now lives in giving a thick and foreboding
atmosphere for events to come. There’s some great humour in there as well and
the story moves along revealing greater twists at every turn. It’s gripping.
There’s nothing new here in terms of play mechanics but the
two main characters have had a slight redesign which works well. The voice
acting remains at an excellent standard and as usual we preferred being in the
company of Zoe than Kian. That said, the last Kian section is excellent and he
is seemingly finally developing some form of personality. There are less big
decisions to be made by players in this book and instead it answers a fair few
questions which have been set up in the previous books.
Things really get moving in this book as well and new (and
old), characters are introduced to players. It’s hard to say much without
giving it all away but Zoe especially takes massive steps here in terms of the
overall plot.
Overall, Dreamfall Chapters: Book 3 is finally starting to
turn the series into what we hoped it would be. There’s a lot of high impact
drama here and a lot of big events for players to experience. The final two
books are going to have to pack a lot in to get the game close to its two
predecessors in terms of overall quality of the story but it continues to move
in the right direction and improve with each new part. We can’t wait to see
what the next chapter has in store.
Overall 8/10
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