Dreamfall Chapters

Honest, detailed and spoiler-free review
Dreamfall Chapters is a story-driven adventure game set in two parallel worlds. It is a game based on choices and their consequences. I must confess that this is the first game of the series that I played. I haven’t had a chance to play the previous two titles but I plan on catching up. I feel like this particular title is one of those games that are better played with a walkthrough guide because of how dreadful the gameplay was made. That’s how I played it and that’s how I recommend playing it. I decided to leave a recommended rating because I enjoyed the story that much but I do not completely agree with it. Something in between would be more suitable. The game is far from being perfect but it is still well worth your time.
The game mainly focuses on the story so it is only natural that I start with that. The story in this game is intriguing, deep, interesting, complex and out of the ordinary. I really liked discovering it. I was hooked from the start and the more I played, the more I enjoyed it. Despite the complexity of it, I believe it is well done. There are two main characters whose shoes we are going to step into in this title. One of them is a lady going by the name of Zoe. She is an interesting, intelligent and a nice character that’s hard not to like, however, her personality is not consistent. Allow me to explain, in general she is an extroverted person but sometimes she speaks and behaves like an introvert. It is followed by voice acting and animations as well. You can clearly see that she was written by more than one person. One moment she is confident, happy and a people person and the next, she is faltering and unable to express herself. It felt like her personality was questionable and contradicted itself. That was the impression I was getting throughout the first half of the game. In the other half it kind of faded away and everything got better. The other main character is Kian. He is a simple introverted man who used to be a soldier in command. Kian doesn’t speak much but he is one of those people who analyse everything thoroughly inside. Those traits stood out for me the most. Both main characters are likeable and you will likely root for them both throughout the story.
As for the other characters in this tale, those that are not important for the story were uninteresting and annoying to interact with. The world is filled with a lot of insufferable and lifeless characters. At the beginning of the game you are going to come across a lot of characters like that. The deeper I went into the story, the more satisfying interactions with citizens became. Those at the beginning of the game were often enforcing their political opinions on you without even asking. You would just start a conversation with them or even pass them on your way somewhere else and you will hear a monologue about what political side they are on and why. There are also quite a lot of Polish curse words being used to call other people names but none of those was done phonetically correct from voice acting perspective. That is coming from a native Pole. Before I wrap up talking about characters I must say, and this can be considered a spoiler, that I don’t understand the decision to make Kian be attracted to people of the same gender while there is more than one character to romanticize with from the opposite one. That is a waste and feels like a lazy approach. I was pretty disappointed to discover that.
The decisions in this game are tough. I often found myself being unable to decide whether I should do something or not because I was afraid of the consequences. I was often picking safer choices or those I fully agreed with. The game has shown that the consequences for your decisions can either be harmless or catastrophic. I feel like this part of the game has been done well. When you make a decision, the game informs you of the balance changing. There are plenty of choices and other ways to affect the outcome which makes this game good for replayability. If you replay the game making different choices you are there for a completely different experience because everything around your character will be different except for their main objective which remains the same. I couldn’t often tell if something was happening because it was simply a continuation of the story or a consequence. The choices are heavy and consequences are even heavier. That’s definitely a strong suit of this game.
When it comes to first impressions, mine weren’t particularly positive. I would even go as far as to say that they were underwhelming. The beginning of the game introduces the story and characters. That in itself is fine but the fact that we have to solve difficult puzzles from the very first scene is not. It already took me a couple of minutes to find a solution and leave the first location. It kept getting worse from there. Not long after that I was thrown in the middle of the city with a bunch of quests. This is where the dreadful part began. There is a ton you have to do in order to proceed with the story in this situation. The game enforces that on you. Problem is that those quests/puzzles get ridiculous in length and difficulty. Aside from that, we receive only scraps of information to go on. You can endlessly run around this big area trying to figure things out and I did. When I decided that I’ve had enough, I looked up what I should do next in a guide. I believe it to be the best decision I could have made. I continued to use the guide from that point and I feel like it saved this game for me.
While on the subject of gameplay, I don’t think it was well thought through. As I already mentioned, we are thrown into the middle of a big location (usually a city) with a bunch of quests and barely any information to go on. Those quests get ridiculously long in length and difficulty because it is up to us to figure out the next step. They get so complex that you can spend literally hours running around and come up with nothing. Even with a guide it was usually taking me the longest to overcome those huge location segments. The time it took me to complete them varied from 2 to 3 hours with a guide. It means despite knowing which steps to take next, there were hours of running around and talking with lifeless characters before we could get a small scrap of story again. I didn’t find it particularly entertaining. For a game that mainly focuses on the story, there is too much dreadful walking and figuring things out involved. It takes fun out of this game. I played mostly for the story and this is not the experience I was looking for. The gameplay highly affected my experience in a negative way.
To sum up, I played a game with an exceptional and very interesting story. This is definitely the strongest suit of this game. There are also two likeable main characters but others that are important for the story are not bad either. The other characters that fill the world are rather boring. The decisions you are going to make will be tough. Their consequences you may experience much later in the story and every detail missed can haunt you. When it comes to gameplay, I feel like it is a misunderstanding. I was unable to play this game normally without falling asleep or fighting the urge to quit. I decided to use a walkthrough guide and I believe it to be the best decision I could have made. Without it you can endlessly run around a big location trying to figure things out and fail miserably. After I picked up a guide, my overall experience strongly improved. The game is definitely worth trying for the story. If you will be struggling with gameplay, feel free to follow in my footsteps and use a guide. There is no shame in that.
You can find more detailed reviews on my curator page Malfour's Choice.

The best game nobody knows

I can't believe this game isn't more popular. As a fan of story-rich games, I can safely safe this is one of my most favorite games. The characters are incredibly well-written and the world-building is exceptional. I will try to stay objective in my review, but I don't think it's possible cause I just love this game too much.

The best features:
- well-written characters, especially main protagonists (Zoё is my favorite protagonist in any media)
- world-building is top level from language and culture to design and environment
- choices matter, maybe in the way you might expect, but they do have consequences
- music and sound design
- a mix of emotions, you will be teary (if not sobbing) and you will laugh
- a huge respect for people who played previous two games (The Longest Journey & Dreamfall: The Longest Journey), there are a lot of nods to previous games

Good for some, bad for others:
- puzzles can be difficult sometimes, I couldn't solve several of them without guides
- game touches upon politics quite a bit (imo it's done very well)
- it's slow-paced, you have time to explore the world and there are a lot of big cut scenes

Weaker points
- characters movements are a bit slow, sometimes you wish you had a mount for certain puzzles
- the game is a bit glitchy, it doesn't interfere with gameplay but you might occasionally see a random black or white square somewhere it doesn't belong
- I couldn't play the game without disconnecting it from the internet, it's a known bug, but it's a shame, it's still there

As mentioned, it's one of my favorites and I believe it deserves more love and attention, 10/10 for me

One of my favorite games of all time (alongside the Syberia series) fantastic female characters. Feel like this game shaped me as a person and It’s amazing!

Weird little hidden gem of a game. Do I understand the wider lore? Nope. Did I get stuck a few times wondering aimlessly? Yep. Do I weirdly enjoy this game for what it is? Also yes. Worth a try on sale.

This game is amazing, it didn't get the recognition it deserves. Truly amazing story writing and i'm reviewing it without seeing the other games yet and just going off by what was written in the journal. This game had me and my friend sit in silence after the ending in awe.
I wholeheartedly recommend it and sincerely thank my colleague for suggesting me such a masterpiece...and many other bangers
That-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, if you're reading this; you rock dude, great taste, and will miss your recommendations.

I love the story of this game, cyberpunk, fantasy, fairy tale, current world problems. The ending of the game is surprising.

1999 The Longest Journey(and to a lesser degree, 2006 Dreamfall) holds a special place in my heart. There's something about an melancholic art student getting lost in a futuristic city that's appealing to me.

Two sequels down some magic was certainly lost, but it's comforting to see the story completed.