Dreamfall Chapters

 PC
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

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  1. rodericrinehart
    Jun 17, 2015
    5
    I think some people will like it, but I found it tedious and boring. I have really struck out lately with quite a few games. I read reviews on Steam, Amazon, and Metacritic, but I was still lead astray.

    The idea sounded good and the story seemed ok. But, the control scheme sucks. Their is virtually no explanation what to do. And it was boring and not fun.
  2. mickg1982
    Dec 14, 2014
    7
    Enjoyed the first "book" and looking forward to the next one. However I am not a fan of the episodic model that the developers have decided to take. I am sure there must be a valid reason for it.

    Longest Journey and Dreamfall were as people say, terrific, but feel that at the moment it is not living up to what came in the past. I am sure that this will be rectified in the next books    Enjoyed the first "book" and looking forward to the next one. However I am not a fan of the episodic model that the developers have decided to take. I am sure there must be a valid reason for it.

    Longest Journey and Dreamfall were as people say, terrific, but feel that at the moment it is not living up to what came in the past. I am sure that this will be rectified in the next books to be released. Great imagination and script though, look forward to future instalments.    … Expand
  3. braeden
    Jun 26, 2015
    6
    This game makes me sad and frustrated at the same time. Being third installment of great adventure series it has so much potential of being fantastic game. And it ends up being mediocre at best.

    To sum it up: 1) Nothing of consequence happens story-wise in Books 1 & 2. Most characters are uninteresting, dialog is mediocre, themes and story arc from original Dreamfall are not touched    This game makes me sad and frustrated at the same time. Being third installment of great adventure series it has so much potential of being fantastic game. And it ends up being mediocre at best.

    To sum it up:

    1) Nothing of consequence happens story-wise in Books 1 & 2. Most characters are uninteresting, dialog is mediocre, themes and story arc from original Dreamfall are not touched at all. Too much pointless running around with no apparent reason. Very little any real content.

    2) The facial and other character animations are just bad. Even when the narrative tries to convey some kind of emotion, the characters just stand still with blank expression on their face. The original Dreamfall had better animations 10 years ago. Also very little humor. No jokes, no witty dialog, nothing. The overall tone of this game is very monotone.

    3) Point & click problems. It's very easy to miss objects you can interact with. Often you know what you're supposed to do, but just can't figure the where to click or the correct order of clicking things.

    4) Slow graphics. Except the animations, the game actually looks quite nice. Unfortunately it has some performance issues. Even in high-end system it can have framerate issues and in many older systems it might be pretty much unplayable. This might be alleviated in future, if they decide to change to newer Unity version.

    To be fair, the Kian story arc has some interesting parts even in Books 1 & 2. Also, while Book 3 mostly has the same problems as the previous two books, the story starts to pick up some speed. The game starts to address the story arc from original Dreamfall and even the dialog seems the get better (and wittier) at times.    … Expand
  4. akarnokd
    Nov 3, 2014
    7
    Fantastic visuals and voice acting, light on story and puzzles. I'm quite interested in the "consequences", but until the whole thing is released, there is no point in replaying anything; it would just mess up the choices. On the technical side, it has several graphics options but no built in framerate limit and even forced vsync doesn't seem to work; my system can do lots of frames perFantastic visuals and voice acting, light on story and puzzles. I'm quite interested in the "consequences", but until the whole thing is released, there is no point in replaying anything; it would just mess up the choices. On the technical side, it has several graphics options but no built in framerate limit and even forced vsync doesn't seem to work; my system can do lots of frames per second at a cost of noise which I only accept from few games.… Expand
  5. Edstalker
    Nov 3, 2014
    6
    A decent game, while has its good moments, has its flaws. Played The longest journey Dreamfall before and loved it this game however got repetetive and pretty boring fast. While I have to agree with a lot of people that the voice acting is good, it lacks in other very important areas. First of all the graphics are fine, but has its fps drops, the game's pacing is super slow, didnt find theA decent game, while has its good moments, has its flaws. Played The longest journey Dreamfall before and loved it this game however got repetetive and pretty boring fast. While I have to agree with a lot of people that the voice acting is good, it lacks in other very important areas. First of all the graphics are fine, but has its fps drops, the game's pacing is super slow, didnt find the character interactions too intresting, you roam through a city endlessly using the same routes again and again and again. Ull have sort of an escrot mission with a robot which is plain boring. ull be running from point a to point b and back, running takes forever by the way. nothing intresting to keep me on toes happens. the beginning of the game had promise more. at the end theres not much to keeo me wanting to get back for more despite the fact i loved the previous games.… Expand
  6. M3ta
    Jan 11, 2021
    7
    FIrst - don't bother with this game if you haven't played and enjoyed the first 2 games in the series - you will be fairly confused, and I doubt you'd enjoy it.

    The good: - finally, some sort of conclusion to the series - looks great visually - return of old characters (some of which retain the same voice actors) - on the whole, excellent voice acting, that - combined with knowledge    FIrst - don't bother with this game if you haven't played and enjoyed the first 2 games in the series - you will be fairly confused, and I doubt you'd enjoy it.

    The good:
    - finally, some sort of conclusion to the series
    - looks great visually
    - return of old characters (some of which retain the same voice actors)
    - on the whole, excellent voice acting, that - combined with knowledge of the previous games - really makes the main characters come to life
    - new locale of Provost, set in the future, is cool

    The bad:
    - very light on actual gameplay/ puzzles; the gameplay/"puzzles" can get a bit tedious (e.g. running around a map with random barriers; searching a house for pictures that are hidden in increasingly improbable places)
    - the Choice and Consequence feature is very overblown - most of your choices don't have a big impact - despite huge text notifications saying so
    - yes, there is an "ending" - but lots of questions are left unanswered, and some of the answers don't quite make sense (or would have benefited from further explanation)
    - some new characters are introduced in a bit of a rushed way
    - whilst it did meet the minimum specs on my PC (not designed for gaming!) it ran slow at times even on lowest settings

    All in all, if you can get it for a reasonable price on Steam, and played the first 2 games and want an end to the saga, it's worth playing. I re-played the first 2 games to remind myself of the story etc, and the differences between all 3 games are quite striking. Chapters is definitely more of a playable story.    … Expand
  7. aidan0
    Nov 19, 2014
    7
    This game... As someone who played the originals I was overjoyed to see they were able to fund the continuation. Insta buy. Having played it I can say that the art is great, story telling is great, setting, voice acting, script all great. Didn't have any crashes, some performance issues but nothing game breaking.

    But that being said. It's very short. I took my time and it only took 4.5    This game... As someone who played the originals I was overjoyed to see they were able to fund the continuation. Insta buy. Having played it I can say that the art is great, story telling is great, setting, voice acting, script all great. Didn't have any crashes, some performance issues but nothing game breaking.

    But that being said. It's very short. I took my time and it only took 4.5 hours to finish. I... must have missed something... I must have. I will still recommend this game, giving the history of this game. But 4.5 hours is a little disappointing. It will potentially have great replay value. Once you get the complete game. I might give it another go, to explore the other options, but I can't seem to put my original run in a separate save file. So I'd probably have to rerun it 2 times to get everything set for book 2. Which seems like a waste of time.

    I hope they can make the funding last... for now this get a 7.    … Expand
  8. MattBarker
    Oct 23, 2014
    7
    Dreamfall Chapters form the begin it's a good game
    Voice acting was good
    The Jokes was Great
    Good story And The city It was awesome
    But There are no consequences you have to Wait To The next Chapters to know
    In the end the game is worth trying if you have time
  9. crazymurdock
    Aug 17, 2018
    7
    The acting is all over the place (some good, some horrific). Having not played the first 2 games, the storyline very odd, and so far fetched, it is bordering on the ridiculous. However there is something about this game that keeps me coming back for more. I am somewhere in book 2, and thoroughly enjoying myself. I'm just not sure why.

    Edit... for to about book 4, then got bored.    The acting is all over the place (some good, some horrific). Having not played the first 2 games, the storyline very odd, and so far fetched, it is bordering on the ridiculous. However there is something about this game that keeps me coming back for more. I am somewhere in book 2, and thoroughly enjoying myself. I'm just not sure why.

    Edit... for to about book 4, then got bored. Still worth the entry price.    … Expand
  10. Babutto
    Jul 3, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I rarely write big reviews but it is the moment when I should do it. First, let speak short.

    Pros.:
    1. New graphics and design.
    2. Broader narrative than in the previous game.
    3. Answered questions of the plot of the previous games.
    4. The system of choices - something new in the franchise.
    5. Bigger world and more complex mechanics than in the previous game.
    6. May be called "the end" of the story.

    Cons.:
    1. The way the questions were asked.
    2. If we analyze the game as a whole it is more the continuation of the previous game, not the first one.
    3. Music is much less atmospheric than the first one.
    4. What they did to the characters.
    5. Too much of an "agenda" in the game.
    6. This game just proved that the change of the gameplay mechanics "killed" The Longest Journey.
    7. Too much of lost opportunities.

    The plot is a mere disaster.
    If we check the Longest Journey, we know there was a clash about Balance, the history of the world. When one faction tried to brainwash people o Arcadia with the ideas of Stark, to unite two worlds using the Keeper of the Balance.
    Then, in the second game, mysterious corporations with the CEO in the best traditions of the vampire from Blade (the movie) appeared. Then Faith aka hello from F.E.A.R. and Japanese horrors. Then the main and loved by everyone April Ryan was just eliminated from the plot to help Zoe to advance.
    It felt like the developers tried to destroy their own heritage. For what?

    When you play Dreamfall, there is almost nothing resembling to the complex story of the first game. Where did the corporation, the church disappear after the failure in the first game? What happened to all servants of the Balance? There is no answer to that. New nation conquered Mercuria, some mysterious corporation took over Stark trying to create dream tech. Mysterious man in the hood walks here and there without any limits. Something strange if we played the first game.

    Then we see the mashup of Total Recall, history of Nazi Germany with their camps, Mass Effect with it's suicide mission, overview of the slavery issues of the U.S., some sesame of Deus Ex, Matrix, Avatar: The Last Airbender (masked villain Amon), etc.

    The whole story is not convincing at all. In the second game there were so many loop holes, that the developers tried to patch. One of the worst twists ever, that doesn't even explain how was it possible from the beginning. As a patcher the developers used Saga.

    Maybe there was an intention to show that there are multiple universes, not only Stark and Arcadia, Draik came from somewhere, so, there should be path there. However, the story only presents the beginning of everything, some slight annotation of other dimensions, embodied in Saga. And that's it.

    Powerful Draik? Just erased from the story. April? Same. Brian? Same. Crow? Same. But we see so much effort to create inclusive agenda in the game. I do think in this particular game it looks more or less organic, less organic, than in The Longest Journey, but better than in Mass Effect. Unfortunately, it should have served the story and helped deliver it better. If the solid story at least could be there.

    The best idea would be to stick to the plot of the first game, showing that the church and intentions to shift the balance and unite the world through the Keeper did not just disappear. Then show in the best traditions of Arcanum the counterproblem - the change in balance of magic and technology in Arcadia, that allows stark to leak through the breaches. Not some nonsense of Purple Mountains and underground people that is THE SAME things as mermaids and bird people from the first game.
    At the same time deliver better motivation of the characters and their personal issues. April's and Apostile's personalities were very flat.

    I recommend the game to the fans, just to see WHERE the game was going. Unfortunately, I may assume we will never see The Longest Journey again. Maybe a remastered version (thanks to the fans for the graphics updates). But better leave the story and let it go. There will be nothing like first visit to Arcadia, first dialogue with Cortez, conversation with the White Dragon, maestrum... That world is gone. And more practical, commercial one is here. Even though Zoe is really good, Saga looks great, this game lost its fleur on me. I would rather stick to the OST of the first one dreaming of the better reality where April could be alive and have better fate and journeys with the Crow.

    Farewell. Time to wake up.    … Expand
  11. Antictra
    Mar 12, 2021
    5
    Kind of boring, contrary to other people around here I have not played earlier games in that series (the longest journey). Dreamfall chapters has uninspired graphical direction, uninspired dialogues, scenario events, gameplay is very slow, and artificially slowed down by slow displacement of characters. The story does not really engage the player, frankly I have a difficulty to understandKind of boring, contrary to other people around here I have not played earlier games in that series (the longest journey). Dreamfall chapters has uninspired graphical direction, uninspired dialogues, scenario events, gameplay is very slow, and artificially slowed down by slow displacement of characters. The story does not really engage the player, frankly I have a difficulty to understand what is all the hype about after playing that game. It is a walking simulator without much to make it stand alone as a game.… Expand
  12. Uarabei
    Feb 21, 2022
    7
    continuation of one of my favorite adventure games. The game looks beautiful. The story continues, which I love so much.

    But I did not like the abrupt narrative, which was divided into chapters.

    As a result, I don’t remember where I left off and I don’t even want to return to this story. But it’s very disappointing, because this story began for me about 20 years ago.

Awards & Rankings

52
#52 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

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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. 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.
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  2. 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]
  3. 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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