I'm writing this review with a sigh, as it's a sign the journey I began so long ago had finally ended. It took a long, long time, andI'm writing this review with a sigh, as it's a sign the journey I began so long ago had finally ended. It took a long, long time, and sometimes I felt like it wouldn't end at all.
My feelings are very mixed towards book 5, and while I'm going to give it a score of 8 out of 10 points, it mainly represents my "impulsive" response to this part, possibly the righteous and one that Book Five deserves. Not without doubts, though.
What am I trying to say, really?
Redux definitely 'delivers the package'. At least for me. With dramatic turns of events from the very beginning of book five up to its very end, all the big questions are finally answered, all knots are being tied together. Well, most of them.
With the revisiting of old and familiar locations to the discoveries of some new ones, Chapters keeps on rocking with everything that regards good atmosphere and environment, and sights which are pleasant to the eye. The superb voice-overs of the characters and the revamped soundtrack which seemed to have taken a completely different direction in Redux are all added to this cinematic masterpiece.
And indeed, throughout the entire book (which was also pretty long, mind you) I set tensed on my chair wanting more and more story, enjoying every moment, grinning at all the funny moments and holding my tears at all the heart-touching ones, and had such a powerful bittersweet satisfaction while the credits roll.
I guess that for making me feel all that, the game does deserve a very high score. There are still some things I find it hard to ignore, which I mentioned earlier as my 'doubts'.
Dreamfall Chapters wasn't perfect or anything close to it, unfortunately.
It provided a kicking-ass ending to Dreamfall, the predecessor. But it felt like it was mainly this. The ENDING. Felt like all the long wait was solely for the very last part of this episodic game, as if the first four books were not much more the fillers. All the answers and the conclusions are found in this fifth part, while previous ones contained mainly more riddles. Dreamfall Chapters didn't end properly its very own story, but rather the one that was told on Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. And it does feel a bit awkward.
Moreover, all the choices and consequences lectures we've heard in the beginning of Chapters seem to disappear completely, as most of the consequences were presented in books 3 and 4.
What's the point of talking so much about choices when in the end they tell you that the story was already written and we can't change it? Slightly awkward as well. Not that I expected multiple endings, but Redux had almost a complete lacking of any choice in it. At the beginning you'd get a review of almost ALL the decisions you've made throughout the game just to find out that they matter very little, if at all, in the grand scheme of things.
And last but not least, gameplay. Oh, gameplay. Seems like the developers insist on giving us an interactive movie rather than an actual game. Which is fine. But chapters awkwardly tries to incorporate puzzles and strange action elements to it, up to the very end of book five, and still somehow manages to become more and more of a walking simulator where you go from point A to point B to watch a cutscene.
That's a shame because there WAS a potential for much more.
And while Chapters is certainly not perfect, its above the average storytelling and cinematic feel gets the job done and takes your attention from anythings else, and The Longest Journey saga would probably remain my favorite within the video-gaming platform and possibly within any form of storytelling, as you don't encounter every day in a story whose plot and characters get so easily into your heart.… Expand