Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey Book 3 Review (PC)

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

Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey Book 2 Review (PC)

The first book in the returning Dreamfall series reintroduced us to dreamer Zoe Castillo and apostle Kian Alvane. Zoe certainly had the more interesting story to begin with and Kian’s sections was both a bit clunky and generally uninteresting. 

Book 2 starts with Kian in the rebel’s base. From here he must decide whether or not to join them and then proceed to carry out various missions to strengthen their resistance in the capital city on the magical side of the coin. On the futuristic side of that same coin Zoe is about to uncover something huge that will change the course of the future.

It’s almost impossible to go into much more detail without beginning to ruin the twists and turns that happen. This is one of the problems for reviewers with episodic content as the plot develops continually and in story based games giving anything away will completely ruin the experience.

What we can look at is the elements of the game. This time around the game mainly gives you fetch quests to do. Most missions boil down to ‘go to here’ or ‘speak to this person’. Luckily the characters and dialogue are strong enough to keep the story moving without turning the player off. Zoe at least gets a new gadget or two to try and hide the wandering around from point to point.

Thankfully, Kian’s side of the adventure is much stronger this time with new characters and plot twists making him seem a more interesting proposition to play. Zoe’s story stays pretty much rolling along on an average level but her world is always interesting and it certainly gives you a payoff at the end.

The choices are also back and in full effect with some that will really have players thinking and some that have a strict countdown before choices are taken away. Most importantly it still works as a story and the intensity has been nicely ramped up since the first book.

Overall, there is nothing really new here that wasn’t in the first game in terms of mechanics but the story is getting stronger and the new characters and excellent voice work continue to draw you into the world. It’s still a bit rough around the edges in terms of controls and mechanics but Dreamfall Chapters continues to work as a story telling device and an interesting one at that.

Overall 7/10

Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey Book 1 Review (PC)

It’s been a very long time coming for fans of the series that started with The Longest Journey way back in 1999. Finally, the last instalment of an adventure that started out as a classic point and click game before moving into the realms of 3D in Dreamfall is here in a new episodic format.

The story follows only two of the three characters present in the previous game. Zoe Castillio, is trapped in a coma in Stark and must struggle to reconnect with the real world.  Klan Alvane, a soldier in Arcadia, is imprisoned after turning on his former masters. There are hints at another character but at this stage it seems unlikely that April Ryan will be returning anytime soon.

The game has removed the fiddly combat and stealth sections of Dreamfall and is now a fully-fledged 3D version of a point and click adventure game. You guide you character around and when they see something of interest icons will appear to allow you to interact with it in various ways such as looking or using an item. It’s a smart approach as the previous game was only ever hindered by anything that broke the flow of the story.

In their place is a new choice system which see’s certain decisions remembered by characters in the game. Whether these choices will make any grand difference or merely provide an illusion in the vein of The Walking Dead we’ll have to wait and see. You can also check to see the choices other players have made throughout the game at each section.

The game looks beautiful and there is a clear distinction between the scientific world of Stark and the high fantasy of the world of Arcadia. The real strength of the game though is the writing and there is some of the best we’ve seen here. It can be a little uneven at times by Zoe Castillo is a beautifully realised character and her voice actor has nailed the role as well. Klan Alvane is sadly a bit lacking in comparison and this creates a slightly unbalanced game. There’s also a fair few repeated sound samples that we could really do without.

Other multiple character games have suffered with this in the past and it is clear that Dreamfall Chapters currently has one character who is much more interesting than the other. Zoe wipes the floor with Klan currently in terms of her world to explore, her character and how she is written and as a result whenever you are moved over to play Klan interest does drop. This isn’t helped by the fact that the first section featuring Klan is incredibly drab and also very fiddly to navigate.

Luckily, the first chapter seems to spend more time with Zoe and allows us to explore her world and her as a character much more fully. Hopefully Klan will develop as the story goes on as he was an interesting and conflicted character in the last game. We have a sneaking suspicion though that the most interesting part of his life may have already taken place as it will be hard to top the story arc which leads him to become a traitor to his cause.

It’s only a fairly minor issue though as the game is a lovely re-introduction to the two worlds. There is certainly a lot of promise here and Zoe especially shows signs of turning into a wonderfully realised character as she progresses. There are some performance issues and we did have to do quite a bit of fiddling to get the game to run at a half decent speed but all in all any fan of the original games should be very happy with what they have here.

Overall, this is a highly promising start of the new episodic format. It may not be one for newcomers to the series as very little of the back story is explained and at this point there’s about one hundred hours of it. For fans though it’s like meeting an old friend and their slightly less interesting cousin. Zoe is simply magnetic and once you’re drawn into her story there’s no way you’ll be leaving before you reach the end.

Overall 7/10

 L3056