Dreamfall Chapters

 PC
Metascore
71

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Riot Pixels
    Aug 12, 2016
    80
    Boring puzzles and at times jarring low-budget visuals stir a lot of negative emotions, but all this anger and frustration will be wiped away by the narrative tide of sincere emotions and soothing nostalgia. Ragnar Tornquist creates colorful character, and writes witty dialogue; he knows how to carry on the intrigue, make you laugh and, when the gods of drama demand it, sucker-punch you with full force.
  2. Gamer.no
    Jul 5, 2016
    80
    You have to run a lot in Dreamfall Chapters, but it is still an enjoyable story and an ending to a long journey. The story elements are in focus as the puzzles are usually rather simple and straightforward.
  3. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Aug 23, 2016
    78
    Last chapter of a game shouldn’t be “just another adventure”, but a final that nicely ties up all loose threads. Unfortunately, Dreamfall Chapters’ ending leaves enough of those to knit a whole sweater for Christmas. [Issue#211, p.65]
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  5. RPG Fan
    Jun 24, 2016
    78
    Chapters is a solid game, but the gameplay rarely engages and the ending of the story leaves too much unsaid. Still, there is plenty of intrigue and a fantastic cast of characters driven by a superb script and delightful voice acting.
  6. Meristation
    May 7, 2017
    75
    The characters, along with the story, are the strong point of the title, returning many of the classics we could see being a jumble of pixels in 2D so many years ago.
  7. Pelit (Finland)
    Sep 28, 2016
    73
    Dreamfall Chapters is a mess of a game, with both story and gameplay segments varying wildly in quality. That said, it is still a must-play for all fans of the series. There are very few games that attempt to weave such an ambitious narrative. [Aug 2016]
    All this publication's reviews
  8. CD-Action
    Sep 17, 2016
    70
    Dreamfall Chapters is a satisfactory successor to The Longest Journey and Dreamfall, but not a good enough game in its own right. [09/2016, p.46]
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  9. Games.cz
    Aug 11, 2016
    70
    Successful adventure offers a satisfactory ending of a saga. Its advantages include excellent atmosphere and screenwriting, fantastic dubbing and an interesting story. Pity there is also wrong pace of the game in its first half, a lot of unnecessary running, and some not-so-imaginative puzzles. Even though the positives far outweigh the negatives and game can be recommended to adventure fans.
  10. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Sep 14, 2016
    60
    You must forgive this whole game so many things, but its strong moments will pay you back. The answers to the burning questions from the past, unfortunately, don´t belong among them. [Issue#266]
    All this publication's reviews
  11. GRYOnline.pl
    Aug 17, 2016
    60
    Dreamfall Chapters is a good game that requires following the series from the beginning. You have to really know the characters and their worlds. Without it you get a game full of outdated gameplay solutions with mediocre technical side and occasional extremely boring parts. If you do not love The Longest Journey focus on something like Life is Strange, it'll be better for you.
  12. Adventure Gamers
    Jul 1, 2016
    50
    An ambitious sequel to 2006’s Dreamfall, Chapters is worth playing to see how the saga ends but doesn’t hold up as a standalone adventure.

Awards & Rankings

52
#52 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 374 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 261 out of 374
  2. Mixed: 46 out of 374
  3. Negative: 67 out of 374
  1. Sjalka
    Oct 22, 2014
    10
    Not much of a review, because i am too biased.

    The longest journey is the best adventure i played, Dreamfall is my favourite storybased    Not much of a review, because i am too biased.

    The longest journey is the best adventure i played, Dreamfall is my favourite storybased game, and chapters just continues.

    To be more objective - it is less a "game" and more a "story" - or lets say - game elements won t get in the way of the story too much. TLJ was a better "game" than Dreamfall for sure. - Chapters tries to mix it up a little bit - offering more gameplay than "go from A to B and watch the next cutscene".

    chapters looks great, has a great soundtrack and feels very good. If you loved Dreamfall, i am sure you love chapters, too.    … Full Review »
  2. expellite
    Oct 21, 2014
    10
    Beautiful game. Beautiful world. Beautiful characters. It's got a heart inside of it which beats constantly and stops never. I haven't playedBeautiful game. Beautiful world. Beautiful characters. It's got a heart inside of it which beats constantly and stops never. I haven't played the previous titles but this one looks good enough to impress me when there haven't been too many beautiful games (mostly craps) since 2014. You gotta give it a try and it'll take you down, deep deep down, into its heart. I wish the upcoming versions were as good as this one or even better.… Full Review »
  3. JustMy2
    May 13, 2015
    3
    Some things in life get an undeserved high score on metacritic just because they have a small clique of zealous supporters, while people withSome things in life get an undeserved high score on metacritic just because they have a small clique of zealous supporters, while people with a more balanced opinion don't even review it, since the thing in question just isn't important enough to merit their attention.

    Dreamfall Chapters is such a thing - it's a fanboy magnet.

    I may have enjoyed the predecessor games a lot, and I may have helped crowd funding Dreamfall Chapters hoping for an enjoyable continuation to the franchise. But I was let down. More than anything else, Chapters is a snorefest.

    It does take a long time to play, but that time is mostly spent running around endlessly in the same few dull environments. Sorry, I meant *walking* around, because the developer seems afraid we might hurt ourselves if we were allowed to move from point A to point B without watching our steps carefully. You can shift to a very leisurely jogging speed most of the time, but even this is denied in certain places.

    The environments are graphically pretty though. Sure the game is pretty in a two-generations-behind-the-curve kind of way, but that's not so bad. What's bad, is that there is so very little to *interact* with. There is practically nothing more than the bare minimum clickable content here. Even when you're solving puzzles, you sometimes just can't find ANYTHING nearby that even responds to your touch!

    Yes, the hardest part of the "puzzle solving" is walking around all over the map scanning the environment with your mouse cursor until you find an item that actually acknowledges its own existence in the game world and lets you interact with it. Grab that item, and you half solved the puzzle already. All that remains, is finding a spot where the item will do something. More walking around, and more random mouse exploration.

    A *good* puzzle solving game has entertaining and quirky puzzles that makes you use your creativity, and rewards you with a satisfying "of course, why didn't I think of that!" feeling when you finally figure it out. A good game also makes sure to keep you well entertained with quirky humor while you're futzing about trying to solve the puzzles.

    Dreamfall Chapters is not that kind of game - it is stiff and dull and unimaginative. If you want a *fun and enjoyable* puzzle solving adventure game, go play The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 or something.

    I just said Chapters is "unimaginative", and for a fantasy adventure game that's about the worst possible sin to commit. And yet it is true. Most of it is trivial, banal, and focused on just the kind of boring everyday minutia you play fantasy adventure games to get away from for a while. Where is the sense of *adventure*? Where is the sense of moving to another world that works by different rules?

    Even in the supposedly magical world of Arcadia, the "fantasy" is just a thin veneer for a carbon copy of our everyday world. It's a world of magic, but no-one seems to ever *use* magic. And it is steeped in the exact same ideological mold as our world today, in the most uninteresting way.

    Do you really want to travel to a magical land, only to be preached to about the evils of racism and prejudice? Isn't that experience available to you pretty much 24/7 in the real world just by turning on the TV or opening a random page of a newspaper? Isn't it kind of boring and lame to drag boring and lame crap like that into a fantasy setting?

    The game is *preachy*. It has a clear social justice warrior agenda, and never misses an opportunity to tell you what's The Right Way To Think. Just in case you didn't know, *pedophilia is bad*. This game makes sure to tell you, because it just can't leave depressing real-world issues like this alone and tell a compelling story about something fresh and inspiring. As a fantasy game should.

    Sorry, that's not "Arcadia". That's the modern PC-infested world anno 2015, where you can't swing a cat without hitting something that nags about how swinging a cat is animal cruelty, and somehow at the same time a blatant expression of White Male Privilege.

    And that's why you must play as a young Nazi who figures out being a Nazi is bad in this game. Sure, this is "fantasy", so they changed the name a little - "Nazi" became "Azadi". But it's still the same thing. You're a Nazi, and your task is to realize that Nazis are bad and you must make amends. That's the story.

    If you already figured out for yourself being a Nazi is bad, then this game leaves a sour taste. Preachiness is annoying even when you need to hear it, and it's even more annoying when you don't, so it's really not the way to go when you wish to spread your favorite religion. The first religion that figures this out will dominate the world! :-D

    My last pet peave is that the game yells *THIS WILL HAVE CONSEQUENCES!!!* in your face when you do stuff, and then it shouts *THIS WAS A CONSEQUENCE!!!* when something happens.

    Face. Palm.    … Full Review »
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