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. 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 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    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.    … Expand
  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 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 versionsBeautiful 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.… Expand
  3. LetMeInPlease
    Dec 10, 2016
    4
    Inconsistent mess. Seems like the developers knew how to start the story and how to finish it, but in the middle they put a giant filler which they didn't even have resources to properly implement (some cutscenes are sub-par to Deadly Premonition).
    Parts that involve Kian are particularly unbearable and his storyline is just ridiculous. He joined a rebel movement that consisted solely of    Inconsistent mess. Seems like the developers knew how to start the story and how to finish it, but in the middle they put a giant filler which they didn't even have resources to properly implement (some cutscenes are sub-par to Deadly Premonition).
    Parts that involve Kian are particularly unbearable and his storyline is just ridiculous. He joined a rebel movement that consisted solely of women, children and older people. He ran some errands for them which any retard could do, but for some reason he got praised as if they were some glorious deeds. I simply can't buy his character. He is supposed to be some sort of a killing machine but he looks and talks like a 23 y.o. mama's boy. His plotline is a total failure. Zoey's part has a lot of problems too but is more decent overall.    … Expand
  4. Mandulum
    Aug 7, 2016
    8
    Five Word Review: A beautiful and grand adventure .
    Favorite Thing: The art style. I really like the look of this game.
    Least Favorite Thing: Animation quality varied heavy between excellent and terrible.

    Playtime: ~ 25h
    Enjoyment: 8/10
    Recommendation: Absolutely, and don't worry about not having played (or remembering) the previous games.
  5. daddyfriar
    Aug 24, 2016
    4
    this game would have been so much more enjoyable if I was completely apolitical or politically ignorant, but unfortunately I'm not. All the moral signalling and pro marxism **** i was berated by while walking through Zoe's city felt like a trip through a buzzfeed article. It's just sad that they felt the need to put their political agenda first.

    Maybe I'm a nazi sexist myself, but I    this game would have been so much more enjoyable if I was completely apolitical or politically ignorant, but unfortunately I'm not. All the moral signalling and pro marxism **** i was berated by while walking through Zoe's city felt like a trip through a buzzfeed article. It's just sad that they felt the need to put their political agenda first.

    Maybe I'm a nazi sexist myself, but I couldn't help but notice that men largely played a secondary role in every single way possible throughout the game - by making the deity of the Azadi a "goddess", the leader of the resistance being a woman, the main protagonist being a woman, the mole being a woman, women largely being the leaders of the azadi, women as the two "good" politicians in europolis, Hannah and queenie as two other important female leads, the list goes on. I also couldnt help but notice that the rebel army consisted of men and women, while the azadi soldiers were only men. I mean come on, throw me a bone here. I don't have a problem with female leads by any means, don't get me wrong, but when they go to such lengths it just feels forced.

    I don't even think I can name one female character that played the village idiot or token dimwit - no, those roles were all left for the male characters lmao. Actually, I don't even think I can name a single male character that seemed remotely wise to me except for maybe blind bob, and he was more of a buffoon.

    Again, it's so sad to me that they were willing to alienate probably a good chunk of their audience for the sake of their moral signalling and politics. The messages of girl power, anti-racism and pro-marxism completely spoiled this for me. If I wanted to see more liberal politics, I'd just log onto facebook    … Expand
  6. 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 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    Some 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.    … Expand
  7. D34THGR1PS
    Apr 6, 2017
    4
    A painful trip through childhood memories and nostalgia on the longest journey of quirky and cringeworthy writing, terrible performance issues and A to B walking simulator gameplay with no challenging puzzles, featuring the illusion of choice in a world of episodic modern adventure games. And I mean I spent a weak, trying to figure out on my own how to solve underwater puzzle in the firstA painful trip through childhood memories and nostalgia on the longest journey of quirky and cringeworthy writing, terrible performance issues and A to B walking simulator gameplay with no challenging puzzles, featuring the illusion of choice in a world of episodic modern adventure games. And I mean I spent a weak, trying to figure out on my own how to solve underwater puzzle in the first game, you don't find anything like that in Chapters, the solution to every puzzle lies within your reach all the time.

    Too bad the main plot is buried by the liberal PC agenda, with childish and questionable representation of politics, liberal values and equality. Almost every antagonist in the game is white/male or heterosexual that turns out to be fascist, power possesed maniac, pedophile or literally Hitler. Kian came out as homosexual, Zoe can literally cheat on her boyfriend and that's okay, Hanna and Abby are like 14 year old lesbians. It's a shame that it took 10 years to see how one of the most favorite game series ended this way. Though Saga sequenses saved a game a little for me.

    I suggest Ragnar Tornquist stay out of the politics in his further games and leave his polically correct liberal views for his twitter account, because the way they were shoehorned in this game, they don't solve any real problems of real people.    … Expand
  8. M_Alex
    Apr 21, 2017
    4
    I liked The Longest Journey. I loved Dreamfall. But I can't start liking this game. The story is OK, and it actually is one of the things that make me want to play. Some characters and their interactions are also well-written and keep be coming back here. However, the game itself is poor. There's a lot of running involved, and although the maps aren't that big, you will find yourselfI liked The Longest Journey. I loved Dreamfall. But I can't start liking this game. The story is OK, and it actually is one of the things that make me want to play. Some characters and their interactions are also well-written and keep be coming back here. However, the game itself is poor. There's a lot of running involved, and although the maps aren't that big, you will find yourself running in circles looking for a specific person with very vague instructions how to find them. At times certain tasks just seem like padding out the playtime of the game. The same goes for the child intermissions - a set of frustrating tasks that seem totally pointless. Furthermore, thy rely on you having played the previous games recently, and, for example, remembering the plot outline. I played TLJ over 10 years ago - how the heck am I supposed to remember which of to characters did I meet first?
    All these side tasks are frustrating, repetitive and do not bring the story forward. I have nothing against interactive movies (I love Heavy Rain), but this one plays like a chore, to the point that even the story does not seem rewarding enough.    … Expand
  9. TeaSong
    Oct 21, 2016
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. When I first played Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, I had no way of preparing for what I was in for. At first I was a little astounded at some of the seemingly meaningless tasks Zoe had to complete, but then the plot quickly grew treacherous. The world grew more and more astounding and rewarding and then it feels like the creator of the game could just reach out and touch you. Characters would die that you wouldn’t think should die, the story knows how to immerse itself in realism and then wonderment. It had an effect like no other.

    I don’t play games often. Most aren’t worth the time it costs to play them. But when I saw Dreamfall Chapters, I knew I had to play this game and fulfill a promise to myself: that if they ever made another game in that world, I would play it.

    I’m glad I played Dreamfall Chapters. Mostly. The story sprawled, dragged and then waved its hand vaguely over its most rewarding parts. (Who the heck are Saga’s parents? What are Songlines? What the h#$% is the Bloodless King? And who the fark came up with this prophecy that just saved the day?)

    Deus Ex Machina. That’s a big story no-no.

    I didn’t take the bad guys seriously. They all seem a bit vapid especially since the story sets you up to see the real bad guys. (Spoiler: it’s us. Society. And our human capacity to want things to be easy, to create lines between ourselves and to create a system where we or others can be exploited.)

    And most of what the game does is story, not gaming. The puzzles feel forced and not intuitive, they don’t write their way back into the plot. The skill they force you to hone is not resourcefulness but wandering around the screen with your cursor until something responds.

    That’s some bullsh*t.

    There are a lot of choices, and then the sense that there really isn’t any choice. The story goes much the same way in the end with a few broken eggs along the way.

    It’s unfun. There are moments that it’s brilliant and beautiful. But those are the exception, not the rule.

    Much of my enjoyment of this game came from the good rapport established with the previous game. If you’re a person who likes to complete things for the sake of completing them, enjoy.    … Expand
  10. katt-
    Jan 28, 2016
    4
    Why are you bringing us hatred and depression when you’re promising us dreams?

    That’s my question to Ragnar Tørnquist. That’s also Zoe’s question about people who created Dream machine in Dreamfall Chapters. I, much like others, was happy and I appreciated the game until Europolis. When I clicked on ‘J’ and started reading Zoe’s journal entries, it seemed like I was reading someone’s    Why are you bringing us hatred and depression when you’re promising us dreams?

    That’s my question to Ragnar Tørnquist. That’s also Zoe’s question about people who created Dream machine in Dreamfall Chapters.

    I, much like others, was happy and I appreciated the game until Europolis. When I clicked on ‘J’ and started reading Zoe’s journal entries, it seemed like I was reading someone’s Tumblr. I chuckled a little bit when Zoe made a comment ‘Boring Old White Dude’ when passing by some politician’s poster. Glad you checked your own privilege, Zoe.

    Much of Europolis is inspired by Blade Runner. You’d think this could be a good idea, yet it is too much. It just seems like a world full of hateful, grumpy people. Each of them has their own opinion on this or that political. It should work, right? Here’s a futuristic European city yet there’s nothing hopeful or creative about it. In fact, this world seems too heavy, too hateful, depressed.

    Newport from TLJ seems much more futuristic and forward-thinking compared to Europolis.

    Why create a city in future where there’s no hope or nothing new and interesting?

    Why would you choose to create a world which is basically a reflection of today’s social media? Why would you create a world that’s ugly and hateful and nasty when creating point and click adventure game?

    I used to like Zoe in a previous installation. I used to like April even more. It’s good when a game has a character you enjoy spending time with. Being a little naïve also means being hopeful and adventurous – which is a good thing for an adventure game. I never liked Kian but I guess Kian gets a hall-pass because Kian is black, even though, as many others have said, Kian seems to have no personality. Zoe seemed more like a parody of today’s Tumblr-infested world by endlessly musing and thinking about herself. We viewed things from her lens, and that lens was of ‘Spooki’ by Ikea and ‘How Very Hero’s Journey’.

    Who wants to watch a movie or play a game where the main character obsesses, in a very narcissistic way, about Herself/Himself All the Time? Where does that leave actual people who PLAY the game? Where’s room for us? Did anyone think about leaving some space for our thoughts and dreams?

    Ragnar Tørnquist is a human being just like the rest of us, and I wouldn’t use ‘Typical Boring Old White Dude from Norway’ to describe him because:

    there’s one thing about Dreamfall Chapters that’s brave, and that is bringing up Dream Machine as an addictive machine that’s shaping Stark which is very much so what Facebook, Tumblr, Skype, Whatsapp, Instagram and Google Plus are doing.Ragnar Tørnquist knows that the world we live in today’s is toxic, full of hate and anger and that is doing us more harm than good and disconnecting us all. Perhaps the world was always full of hate, fear and anger. Social media is just good at making us asocial and spreading fear, hate and anger very quickly and efficiently.

    Just, why do we have to put up with this in our games? Is there no escape from other people’s opinions and depression and negativity and anger and hate?

    It’s very brave, even to hint how social media might be changing the world for the worse, when you’re such a well-known man on the top.

    And for that, which is very important and valuable, this game gets massive points.

    I just didn’t have much fun, hope, inspiration or joy when playing it so I stopped. Last I heard, games were supposed to be fun.    … Expand
  11. mikej95
    Dec 11, 2015
    1
    First of all just why?

    I'm a great fan of The Longest Journey, and I think Dreamfall: The Longest Journey wasn't that bad. I mean the gameplay was "experimental" at best, still it delivered a nice story. Now what do we have here? The gameplay is way below average. 80% of the game is walking from A to B, most of the time it lets you "run" which must be in bullet time, because it    First of all just why?

    I'm a great fan of The Longest Journey, and I think Dreamfall: The Longest Journey wasn't that bad. I mean the gameplay was "experimental" at best, still it delivered a nice story.

    Now what do we have here?

    The gameplay is way below average. 80% of the game is walking from A to B, most of the time it lets you "run" which must be in bullet time, because it doesn't make a difference at all. The puzzles are mostly fetch quests and trial and error labyrinths. So there are no real puzzles the ingame time is artificially lengthened. The dialogue system is good, they have at least that going. Yet you can't skip most of the animations and text.

    The music is good at least.

    The controls haven't changed much. Inventory is much the same. At this point after Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Telltale games, Indigo Prophecy and HeayRain it is safe to consider them garbage.

    The graphics are behind a generation and the optimization is poor.

    So there are only a few things left that can save this game: characters and the game world, the story or mindless fanboys. Dear reader you can guess which one will save the day.

    The game world is dystopian cliche in Stark. All the necessary police state elements, political corruption and syndicate influence. But this rabbit hole goes even deeper.
    The city is called "Europolis". So it is natural that half of the women wears burka and 70% of the people are Arab and Chinese. It is not a coincidence. Later you meet underage lesbians connected to the plot, because why not?

    At the beginning the another protagonist in Arcadia not only had all of this personality sandblasted off during his training, but his sexual identity as well. Later after a specific set of decisions he starts a SWAG movement with his mortal enemy. Just like that. Then you find yourself in a middle age nazi deathcamp with extra added cruelty distilled form the Soviet Gulag and Khmer Rouge, bottled by childworkers. And biological warfare because they had to compete with Call of Duty Black Ops.

    And this is just the tip of the iceberg. There is a book to go and I wasn't really paid attention.

    Here you have the game world, a tasteless, politically correct pile of crap. No soul, no creativity, complete lack of common sense and dignity. Plus they want to shove it down your throat. A real magical experience.

    At last the story: without spoilers the game is about Zoe have to do things that she couldn't possibly do, then the writer appears as a deus ex machina and everything sorts itself out. End of story. We have Wizard of Oz level of writing here.    … Expand
  12. hoohoo
    Jun 25, 2015
    1
    Correct average user score is probably about 3, if you discount people who give 10 for anything set in this world. I was a fan of The Longest Journey but this is a huge disappointment. A malfunctioning click-through video. The most difficult thing is to figure out where to click in the environment - even when you know what you are supposed to click. The puzzles are proper level forCorrect average user score is probably about 3, if you discount people who give 10 for anything set in this world. I was a fan of The Longest Journey but this is a huge disappointment. A malfunctioning click-through video. The most difficult thing is to figure out where to click in the environment - even when you know what you are supposed to click. The puzzles are proper level for pre-school kids. What happened? This can't be the same team who was behind TLJ.… Expand
  13. moonlight_shado
    Aug 15, 2016
    8
    Beautiful graphics, outstanding and amazing voice acting, accompanied by equally beautiful music that builds the atmosphere perfectly. Unfortunately ruined a little by stupid puzzles. I've never meet with such an unclear and confusing quests/puzzles in my whole life. There should by given clues for the player, by either our protagonists loud thinking or some other elements. I think I'veBeautiful graphics, outstanding and amazing voice acting, accompanied by equally beautiful music that builds the atmosphere perfectly. Unfortunately ruined a little by stupid puzzles. I've never meet with such an unclear and confusing quests/puzzles in my whole life. There should by given clues for the player, by either our protagonists loud thinking or some other elements. I think I've played half of the whole game looking for answers online, and i know i'm not alone in this. Just some parts of the game was like unconsidered to me, or simply unfinished.
    But still I HIGHLY recommend this game to any adventure games fans. Or deep story fans, cuz the story is goooooood! And the sense of humour? Oh God! Absolutely amazing. This game is not for people with no patience tho, or shooter fans.
    Oh, and that ending... ;)    … Expand
  14. Klewer
    Jul 16, 2017
    9
    This is a game that you have to have played the earlier games in the series to truly enjoy. It is slightly clunky and game play is limited, but the story and characters really pull you through. A fantastic end to a series well wroth playing.
  15. Stuntman312
    Apr 2, 2017
    10
    Great game, great characters, great story and… mediocre technical realization. Still this game is an outstanding masterpiece! Thanks to the people who made this possible.
  16. Loki79
    Mar 31, 2017
    8
    Long story short: Dreamfall Chapters is more of an interactive movie (or choose your own adventure book) than a traditional game.
    The balance between exploration and exposition isn't always perfect, and especially in book 1 and 2 you have plenty of (boring) walking/running to do to find out tiny bits of informations needed to further the story.
    Luckly it picks up the pace on book 3 and    Long story short: Dreamfall Chapters is more of an interactive movie (or choose your own adventure book) than a traditional game.
    The balance between exploration and exposition isn't always perfect, and especially in book 1 and 2 you have plenty of (boring) walking/running to do to find out tiny bits of informations needed to further the story.
    Luckly it picks up the pace on book 3 and 4, leaving book 5 as a grand finale where you watch more than you play, but after having gotten there you wont mind, as you'll crave answers.

    Answers that are a tad too reliant on deus ex machina and inconsistent explaination, on par with the otherwise intriguing balance between fate, casuality and choices. Perfect? Surely not, but satisfying enough and with plenty of swerves.
    Some twists are rather easy to foresee, but others are well-done and surprising. And it all ties up in a rather satisfying way, with a final touch that closes the trilogy.

    The "choices and consequences" system works well, and it really makes you (over)think some of the key decisions. Big news is, those choices DO MATTER, even though the journey has one end, the paths and the ways to get there are indeed different depending on what you choose.

    The cast of characters, old and new, is simply stellar, with plenty of memorable and endearing personas (seriously, Enu is simply adorable). Zoe, much like April in TLJ, is quirky enough to be interesting, but realistic enough to be a believable "average-special girl". Even Kian shows a better personality compared to the somewhat dull showing in Dreamfall.

    As a minor annoyance, the socio-political message is too heavy-handed at times, especially the elections in Europolis and the prison camps in Arcadia. Not to mention same-sex relationships.
    Odd how a generally well-crafted piece of fiction like the TLJ trilogy resorted to unnecessary exaggeration, while subtlety would have conveyed the same message in a classier way.

    All in all, an enjoyable adventure, more than a game, but not entirely a game. TLJ-aficionados will find it good or even great, while its flaws and its atypical playing mechanics will frustrate, or bore, those more used to action-packed games.    … Expand
  17. passionne
    Jul 25, 2017
    8
    I just finished the 5 books and played the 2 previous episodes many years ago.

    Pros : - awesome story - unforgettable characters (Enu, Zoe, Crow, Mira) - voice acting - art design - universe : science-fiction and fantasy/magic - choices along the story - easy riddles Cons : - point and click gameplay I don't like much - technically average : animations are rigid,    I just finished the 5 books and played the 2 previous episodes many years ago.

    Pros :

    - awesome story
    - unforgettable characters (Enu, Zoe, Crow, Mira)
    - voice acting
    - art design
    - universe : science-fiction and fantasy/magic
    - choices along the story
    - easy riddles

    Cons :

    - point and click gameplay I don't like much
    - technically average : animations are rigid, environments and characters textures can be excellent or ugly, bad optimized (a GTX 1080 TI SLI is required to play in 4K, everything maxed without AA)
    - 5 books launched months after months : not tailored to video games because it breaks the immersion
    - too much time between this one and the 2 previous games : a brief recap is given but is insufficient.

    In spite of a few defaults, this saga is one of the best video games stories. What a pity that the 3 games The Longest Journey, Dreamfall the longest journey and Dreamfall Chapters were not launched as a single one : the immersion would have been far increased.

    It is strongly advised to play the 2 previous games before this one.    … Expand
  18. MagicGuitar
    Dec 9, 2015
    3
    If you are a fan of the previous games, you will be disappointed. If you haven't played the previous games, you won't have any idea about what is going on. They're talking about Dream Machines, Arcadia, The Syndicate...What? There's no explanation for anything.
    And the game play is utterly boring and tedious. Right off the first episode bores you out with ridiculous puzzles, tedious slow    If you are a fan of the previous games, you will be disappointed. If you haven't played the previous games, you won't have any idea about what is going on. They're talking about Dream Machines, Arcadia, The Syndicate...What? There's no explanation for anything.
    And the game play is utterly boring and tedious. Right off the first episode bores you out with ridiculous puzzles, tedious slow walking sections and stretched mini games. The dialogue is so poor, a waste for the generally good voice acting.
    Of course there are important and exciting moments, but far too few and your choices don't really matter.

    The graphics suffer from horrible performance and aliasing, despite anti-aliasing. And everything that isn't in a 10 m radius looks very blurry. Maybe a try for fake DoF, but it is very exhausting for the eyes.
    The controls will let you suffer, too, especially in certain sections of the game, which you have to do over and over again.

    In the end it just isn't worth it.    … Expand
  19. odintsaq
    Jun 28, 2016
    1
    A real shame and disgrace of a once great storyline and gameplay. One of the few times I regretted having backed a game on KS.
    Painfully slow... The most faithful and convincing character is the "WELDING!!!" robot.
  20. doughnutsfan
    Oct 22, 2014
    10
    Dreamfall is back in all it's adventure - exploration glory, the game dropped the unnecessary stealth and combat mechanics of it's predecessor and turned into something truly magical and exciting. Characters are great and charming, and, like always, are infinitely quotable, but of course most praise goes to Zoe Castillo: it's hard to find more alive, sincere, flawed, real human being inDreamfall is back in all it's adventure - exploration glory, the game dropped the unnecessary stealth and combat mechanics of it's predecessor and turned into something truly magical and exciting. Characters are great and charming, and, like always, are infinitely quotable, but of course most praise goes to Zoe Castillo: it's hard to find more alive, sincere, flawed, real human being in video games (apart from her franchise colleague April Ryan), and the new voice actress does an amazing job in delivering the depth of her character, The world of The Longest Journey have never been more awe-inspiring, and I can't wait for the second Book.… Expand
  21. kozelet
    Oct 23, 2014
    10
    The developers should be commended, just because of the scope they are aiming for. Sure, because they are aiming so high, there are some technical issues - occasional stiff animations, lip-synching issues and performance problems, especially on higher graphical settings (which Red Thread have already promised to fix in future updates).

    But these are all because of the no-compromise    The developers should be commended, just because of the scope they are aiming for. Sure, because they are aiming so high, there are some technical issues - occasional stiff animations, lip-synching issues and performance problems, especially on higher graphical settings (which Red Thread have already promised to fix in future updates).

    But these are all because of the no-compromise approach they have to immersing you in a real, breathing environment you can relate to and freely roam in - full with actual people, stories, and events. Finally a story-heavy game which tells its narrative through live, interesting and meticulously scripted conversations in a living, breathing world. I'm tired of the supposedly "story-heavy" indies that feature nothing but an empty world and a set of letters to read, or ones that feature only closed underground corridors, just to have good performance. Sure, these other games' approach is cheap and "technically perfect", but misses out so much on the potential of the gaming medium.

    So if you, like me, have been waiting on a game that strives to fully immerse you in its world, and makes no compromise in representing that actual living world, inhabited by actual relatable people, just to look superficially perfect, you can totally look beyond issues like imperfect lip-synching and admire the good time you'll actually spend discovering Europolis's locations, characters and secrets - and they're all pretty admirable in their own right and are so obviously a work of love and passion.

    Now, if you're not familiar with the Dreamfall/Longest Journey universe, does Book One work as a good introduction to the series? Probably not, I'd advise either starting at one of the previous full-length games or waiting for the full 5 episodes to be available. While Dreamfall Chapters is setting out to look like it will be a fully self-contained package in the end, just one episode (regardless of it being relatively long in running time for an episode) is just too small of a dip in this complex and highly political universe to be able to fully appreciate it on its own.    … Expand
  22. Stargax
    Oct 21, 2014
    10
    Lets start this review by saying the story of the first 2 games influenced me both professionally and spiritually.. it opened my eyes on how to view science fiction and fantasy story telling, the atmosphere perfect, the soundtrack perfect.. both the games did a wonderful job at developing and engrossing you in the story.
    Dreamfall Chapters is exactly the same, it is THE best Scifi Fantasy    Lets start this review by saying the story of the first 2 games influenced me both professionally and spiritually.. it opened my eyes on how to view science fiction and fantasy story telling, the atmosphere perfect, the soundtrack perfect.. both the games did a wonderful job at developing and engrossing you in the story.
    Dreamfall Chapters is exactly the same, it is THE best Scifi Fantasy ever conceived.. it has better atmosphere even than Mass Effect or Half Life.. this game is a masterpiece in my book!    … Expand
  23. TapTwo
    Oct 21, 2014
    8
    Great Game not as amazing as its predecessors in terms of puzzle but the story, setting, and content is rich just wish they would release the next chapters already
  24. Brogmar
    Oct 22, 2014
    10
    Beautiful, mature game, so deep, and so overwhelming of its beauty. I'm in love, and truly happy, that it's even better than 1st one. Reminds me art made by Tale of Tales studio.
  25. phildog
    Jun 19, 2016
    4
    The dev team behind this through everything they had at this and it shows. No matter what you say about it that's the truth. It has a great commitment to diversity and exploring interesting themes like genocide, fanaticism, and genocide. Unfortunately it's genuinely one of the worst stories I've ever encountered. The first two games had a much greater understanding of character and plot...The dev team behind this through everything they had at this and it shows. No matter what you say about it that's the truth. It has a great commitment to diversity and exploring interesting themes like genocide, fanaticism, and genocide. Unfortunately it's genuinely one of the worst stories I've ever encountered. The first two games had a much greater understanding of character and plot... but this is just a mess and by the end of the 5th episode you're just astounded by how needlessly convoluted and pretentious the whole thing has become. This would be forgiveable if the game-play were halfway-decent, but as a puzzle game it is not. Oh hell no it definitely is not.… Expand
  26. fubenalvo
    Jul 26, 2015
    3
    I really like adventure games, but after I played through the first two books, I've just forgot the game. Today I sought the shortcut. Ok, let's update it I said, but after starting the game, I clicked the quit and un-installed it.
    Why? This game is annoying, boring and a five year old kid writes better dialogues then these.

    I'm sad about it, but this game is just not worth it's price.
  27. zamtin00
    Oct 23, 2014
    9
    Absolutely fantastic follow-up to Dreamfall and TLJ. If it were up to narrative, imagination, character, and heart alone this is an easy 10.

    To be fair, this game SORELY lacks a tutorial (not speaking for myself so much, but I can't let it slide when it will alienate many new or old players). Next, it's too bad the frame rate drops are present on my admittedly PS3 Era machine in most of    Absolutely fantastic follow-up to Dreamfall and TLJ. If it were up to narrative, imagination, character, and heart alone this is an easy 10.

    To be fair, this game SORELY lacks a tutorial (not speaking for myself so much, but I can't let it slide when it will alienate many new or old players). Next, it's too bad the frame rate drops are present on my admittedly PS3 Era machine in most of Propast, but the rest of the game ran flawlessly and what was there was gorgeous and imaginative.

    What gets me about this game, is just how good these guys are and how sad it is that story, characters, and narratives have taken a back seat to spectacle and outside of games that really try to do both like most Bioware games, the AAA adventure and console RPG have died a slow death.

    I'm bias and this game is near my heart, but if you can overlook these flaws, run, don't walk to grab a copy. The developers DESERVE it and I have confidence the full arc will be satisfying. It is too bad this one is episodic, but we've all waited so long for more Stark and Arcadia that I can deal with it.

    This is easily my favorite kickstarter. I was a sucker for Tex, because I love him, but this is a different beast. This could truly be a good modern game that isn't just for the fans. I guess it's time to hope and wait.

    Thanks kickstarter. I'm compelled to replay Dreamfall on my week off now to remember every little detail.    … Expand
  28. JAGUAR10
    Nov 9, 2014
    1
    Anyone who has given this game a 10 has to be out of their mind. I believe they are basing it on their hopes of upcoming chapters and the past TLJ games. It is not based in reality. Chapter 1 was so boring, I couldn't stand it. I loved TLJ and Dreamfall but this is nowhere near as good. Characters are boring, politics are boring, gameplay is boring, graphics are old-fashioned, hardlyAnyone who has given this game a 10 has to be out of their mind. I believe they are basing it on their hopes of upcoming chapters and the past TLJ games. It is not based in reality. Chapter 1 was so boring, I couldn't stand it. I loved TLJ and Dreamfall but this is nowhere near as good. Characters are boring, politics are boring, gameplay is boring, graphics are old-fashioned, hardly any puzzles, no humor like in other games, voice-acting is boring, etc. etc. etc. Extremely disappointed.… Expand
  29. SemiClasmatic
    Oct 22, 2014
    3
    Disappointing Sequel.
    As a Longest Journey fan I found this, by far, not good. They're a lot of bugs in the game, the first installment shows very little conflict, bad "Puzzles" and extremely short with a very poor story. I didn't realize this game was episodic until I actually beat the first ep, and became really put off. Currently, I do not recommend this game, but I hope it pans out great.
  30. sebarra
    Oct 23, 2014
    3
    I just signed up to metacritic to write this comment because I had such a big disappointment with this game.
    I'm a big fan of the original The Longest Journey because of the really entertaining story. I also liked the sequel Dreamfall. But this third installment really isn't worth playing.
    As it has been said the voice acting is great. Beyond that Dreamfall Chapters has a dull story,    I just signed up to metacritic to write this comment because I had such a big disappointment with this game.
    I'm a big fan of the original The Longest Journey because of the really entertaining story. I also liked the sequel Dreamfall. But this third installment really isn't worth playing.

    As it has been said the voice acting is great. Beyond that Dreamfall Chapters has a dull story, uninteresting with cliched characters. It advances very very slowly and the activities you are doing are boring as hell.
    The gameplay is clunky and slow, moving around takes forever in a boring city with no auto-run function (need to keep pressing shift all the time).

    Animations are mediocre at best. The graphics are so-so even on max settings, character models look terrible and faces are ugly. I'm playing on dual 560ti's and had to disable sli and lower the graphics quality because the game is VERY badly optimized, so you'll get fps dumps all the time even on a good pc.

    All my trust on the makers has been shattered. This game feels like it was made in 2006 by an amateur studio.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

52
#52 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
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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