Dreamfall Chapters

Dreamfall Chapters is a strong adventure game, held back only by the required knowledge base for entry. A fascinating game with interwoven tales, beautiful set pieces and believeable protagonists, Dreamfall is going strong and only getting started.

81%Game Brain Score

story, graphics

optimization, grinding

81% User Score Based on 2,753 reviews

Critic Score 70%Based on 8 reviews

Platforms

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About

Dreamfall Chapters is an episodic adventure game focused on choices and consequences, continuing the story of The Longest Journey Saga. Traverse parallel worlds of magic and science, where actions of the broken heroes will determine the future. New players can jump in, while returning players will find the conclusion they've been waiting for since Dreamfall's end.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

+42

81%

Audience ScoreBased on 2,753 reviews

story1.3k positive mentions

optimization41 negative mentions

Engaging and emotional storyline that ties up loose ends from previous games.
Beautiful graphics and immersive world-building, particularly in the contrasting settings of Stark and Arcadia.
Strong character development and excellent voice acting that brings the characters to life.

Pacing issues with long, unskippable dialogues and cutscenes that can feel tedious.
Gameplay is mostly walking and talking with minimal puzzles, leading to a lack of interactivity.
Some plot points and character arcs feel rushed or unresolved, leaving lingering questions.

story
3,673 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
35%
62%
3%
The story of "Dreamfall Chapters" is a captivating continuation of the saga that began with "The Longest Journey," blending cyberpunk and medieval themes while exploring complex characters and moral dilemmas. Players appreciate the depth of the narrative, though some note that while choices impact minor plot points, the overarching story remains largely unchanged. Overall, the game is celebrated for its rich storytelling, emotional resonance, and the satisfying conclusion it provides to long-time fans of the series.
- “The story shines when seen in its full great scope and very up close from the characters' point of view, but fails to gracefully connect in the middle.”
- “All characters have a strong background, the story is captivating, very well tied (no flaws as far as I can tell) and they use a lot of cut scenes to explain everything.”
- “The story is long and engaging.”
- “The story is dull and complete nonsense.”
- “The story has constant plot holes with random characters that randomly show up and can do exactly what is necessary when the plot needs it, but will never be mentioned or utilized again.”
- “The writing puts the story second or third, as the writers wanted specific situations that make zero sense.”
graphics
692 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
44%
6%
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many praising the beautiful art style and vibrant environments that create an immersive experience. However, some players noted that the graphics can feel dated and suffer from optimization issues, leading to performance problems even on capable hardware. Overall, while the visuals are generally appealing and enhance the storytelling, they are not without flaws, including occasional graphical glitches and inconsistent quality across different areas.
- “The graphics are amazing, I'm looking forward to where the story goes, just hope it isn't ruined by being split into episodes, which is becoming popular with many games these days.”
- “The graphics are beautiful, but just a bit glitchy.”
- “The graphics are astonishing, especially for a Kickstarter project; everything in this game is just breathtaking.”
- “The graphics are horribly unoptimized on the Unity 5 engine; I clocked my tanked-up GPU running at 80% just on normal graphics, so good luck to you folks trying to get it running on higher without setting your house on fire, and it doesn’t even look that amazing.”
- “The graphics are starting to show their age in 2022, but the world and characters still look beautiful.”
- “The graphics are unbelievably bad -- it looks worse than the first Dreamfall, all things considered.”
gameplay
630 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
71%
12%
The gameplay in "Dreamfall Chapters" has received mixed reviews, with many players noting its fluidity and natural point-and-click mechanics. However, it is often criticized for being overly simplistic, linear, and lacking in challenging puzzles, leading to a gameplay experience that feels more like an interactive story than a traditional game. While the focus on narrative and character development is appreciated, many players feel that the gameplay elements are insufficient and at times tedious, with a significant amount of time spent on cutscenes and dialogue rather than interactive gameplay.
- “Gameplay is fluid and the point and click feels natural.”
- “The gameplay is smooth and fluid, and the graphics hold up well, even by 2024 standards.”
- “The gameplay is enjoyable with a good amount of unique puzzles throughout.”
- “Despite the quest-like system for several of the tasks assigned to the player, there is very little actual gameplay and almost no puzzles throughout the game.”
- “The gameplay is an insult to anyone with intelligence.”
- “The gameplay is sparse but what's in there makes up for it.”
music
271 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
42%
3%
The music in the game has received widespread acclaim for its emotional depth and ability to enhance the storytelling experience, with many reviewers highlighting the soundtrack as a standout feature. While some noted that certain tracks may not be particularly memorable, the overall composition effectively sets the atmosphere and complements the game's visuals and narrative. The voice acting and ambient sounds also contribute to a rich auditory experience, making the music an integral part of the game's immersive world.
- “The soundtrack deserves a special shoutout for its distinctive sound and for doing what all the best soundtracks do: underscore the emotional tone of the scenes, while simultaneously driving the plot home.”
- “The music is amazing and gives me shivers every time I load up the game.”
- “The music, voice acting, and sound engineering are excellent, the graphics are beautiful, and the writing is top-notch.”
- “The music is awful and annoying.”
- “Music is far too simplistic, forgettable, used incorrectly or not at all in places - this is surprising considering music is such an integral part of an atmospheric and story-driven experience.”
- “Throughout the rest of the game, it was usually a recycling of the soundtrack from book one.”
emotional
166 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
98%
2%
The emotional aspect of the game is widely praised, with many players expressing deep connections to the characters and story, often resulting in tears and heartfelt reactions. The narrative is described as a powerful emotional rollercoaster, blending humor, sadness, and nostalgia, particularly in its conclusion, which provides a satisfying and poignant send-off to the series. While some critiques mention a loss of emotional depth in certain character arcs, the overall sentiment highlights the game's ability to evoke a wide range of emotions, making it a memorable experience for players.
- “I cried here and there because of the emotional connection with the characters and what is happening to them.”
- “This game has an emotional, incredible story that builds and builds the further you play.”
- “The story is engaging, emotional, and exceptionally well put together.”
- “This is not a game, but a long-winded, artfully boring story experience.”
- “Only played book 1 and am disappointed by the bad graphics, boring story, and glitches.”
- “Being such a long game, averaging around 20-30 hours for the first 4 books, it really draws out and explores everything that it can, without it seeming like a bland and boring story.”
optimization
148 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
59%
28%
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting significant performance issues, including frame drops and stuttering, even on high-end hardware. While some users noted improvements following patches, the consensus is that the game is poorly optimized, particularly due to its reliance on the Unity engine, leading to inconsistent performance across different systems. Overall, while the visuals are praised, the optimization shortcomings detract from the overall experience.
- “It's good, well written, engaging and relatively stable performance-wise.”
- “The release of the first two episodes were plagued with bugs and performance issues; however, this has all been fixed now.”
- “The glitches have been rectified, and the switch to the newer version of the engine was spot on, with even better looks (even on the lowest settings) and added optimization that made playing this game a real treat.”
- “The graphics are horribly unoptimized on the Unity 5 engine; I clocked my tanked-up GPU running at 80% just on normal graphics. Good luck to you folks trying to get it running on higher settings without setting your house on fire, and it doesn’t even look that amazing. I think the development team just cranked up all the post-processing steps and crossed their fingers.”
- “This could be a true masterpiece, but with such poor optimization, it is wasted potential because the game works very slowly and is unstable.”
- “To say this had 'performance issues' would be like saying the sun is a 'bit warm' - the engine choked and groaned under its own weight, often crippling itself in the process, and suffering from janky animations, poor facial expressions, missing audio effects, and other not-so-niceties to boot.”
humor
144 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
99%
1%
The humor in the game is a standout feature, blending clever writing with a mix of light-hearted and dark comedic elements. Players appreciate the witty dialogue and memorable characters, such as Crow and Mira, who deliver both funny and endearing moments throughout the story. However, some critiques point to instances of forced or cringe-worthy humor, suggesting that while the game often succeeds in being funny, it occasionally misses the mark.
- “In short, it's clever, it's emotional, it's brilliant, with good writing and a lot of humor.”
- “The humor in the game is also great, without outstaying its welcome.”
- “The writing is impeccable, hilarious, and at times moving.”
- “Terrible humor that's absolutely not funny (meet the sand-witch that sells sandwiches).”
- “You get to play as a semi-depressed, fully apathetic Zoë Castillo, who aimlessly walks around a metropolis doing mundane chores, such as following a silly (and awfully unfunny) robot around.”
atmosphere
139 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
64%
31%
5%
The atmosphere of the game series is widely praised for its rich storytelling, captivating visuals, and immersive sound design, creating a unique and engaging experience. Many reviewers highlight the combination of beautiful graphics, atmospheric music, and well-developed characters that enhance the emotional depth of the narrative. However, some critiques mention a lack of interactivity and a sense of emptiness in certain entries, which can detract from the overall immersion.
- “If you enjoy story-heavy games with a great atmosphere, do yourself a favor and play all of them, in order.”
- “The atmosphere of each era is presented really well, and it's through these little 'pointless' things that make it more distinguishable.”
- “The storytelling, characters, environments, atmosphere... it's amazing!”
- “The art direction and many of the characters are interesting, but the game massively lacks atmosphere due to its feeling of emptiness and lack of interaction.”
- “I found the overall atmosphere of the game to just be depressing; I don't know if they were going for a melancholy tone overall, but it just seemed like everything and everyone was miserable.”
- “The expansion from point-and-click 2.5D static background in TLJ to the simple 3D corridor in Dreamfall survived decently well, but Dreamfall Chapters just drops the ball on the atmosphere as far as I'm concerned.”
grinding
78 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
1%
97%
The reviews overwhelmingly describe the grinding aspect of the game as tedious and frustrating, with many players expressing dissatisfaction with the excessive cutscenes, repetitive tasks, and slow-paced navigation. While some appreciate the story and puzzles, the overall gameplay experience is marred by a lack of engagement and enjoyment, leading to a consensus that the game feels more like a chore than an entertaining experience.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “Dreamfall Chapters: The Final Cut Edition promised a captivating story, but instead delivered a tedious slog.”
- “I love the story world, but the gameplay was tedious—you spend a lot of time running errands across the same areas over and over again—and some of the characters/story feel inconsistent, like the writers changed their minds between chapters.”
- “The gameplay is very tedious and unrewarding, which is the main reason for me to not recommend the game.”
stability
61 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
97%
The stability of the game has received mixed feedback, with many players reporting various graphical glitches and bugs, particularly in animations and environmental interactions. While some users experienced minor issues that did not significantly disrupt gameplay, others noted more severe problems, including crashes and performance drops, especially on certain platforms. Overall, while the game shows promise and has been improved through patches, it still feels somewhat unpolished and in need of further optimization.
- “Otherwise a flawless experience; runs great on deck using the highest visual settings.”
- “The developers are trying really hard to squash the bugs, and my gameplay was pretty much bug-free.”
- “The gameplay is often confusing and counterintuitive, and there are a number of glitches and bugs, mostly graphical.”
- “The optimization of the game is also kind of poor; my system was capable of running the game, yet the frame rate was all over the place and there were some graphical glitches to be seen.”
- “I wanted to love Dreamfall Chapters or at least like it, but besides being very buggy (it crashes a lot, some strange things happen to people, they get stretched while talking to them or disappear), the running is annoyingly slow.”
character development
52 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
50%
6%
Character development in the game has received mixed reviews, with some praising its depth and the emotional impact of choices, while others criticize inconsistencies and a lack of connection to certain characters. Many players appreciate the rich storytelling and character arcs, particularly for protagonists like Zoe and April, but some feel that the new designs and voice acting detract from the experience. Overall, while the game excels in narrative and character exploration, it struggles with maintaining continuity and engagement for all characters.
- “It is a captivating and immersive adventure game that masterfully combines compelling storytelling with rich character development.”
- “The storyline throughout is very captivating and the character development makes it more engaging.”
- “There is good character development, and you'll start to see the impact of previous decisions.”
- “Unfortunately, the new voice actors and character designs for existing characters are a jarring downgrade from Dreamfall, especially when going from Dreamfall to Chapters immediately.”
- “There was no player-controlled character development for him; he was a preprogrammed storytelling device, not a character.”
- “While the pacing can be a bit odd since you switch between characters and worlds, it also has some really poor character development, and I found myself not caring for most of them, especially Saga. It seems like they want you to have a connection with her, but it's so poorly done that I couldn't attach to her at all, especially when she's one of the main characters. You don't get any real answers about who and where she is from, and you are left frustrated at the lack of lore regarding her.”
replayability
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
65%
9%
Overall, the game offers a solid level of replayability, primarily due to its choice and consequence mechanics that significantly impact the story and unlock different outcomes. Many players have expressed enjoyment in replaying the game to explore alternate paths and decisions, although some feel that the linearity of the narrative may limit the extent of replay value. While opinions vary, the consensus is that the engaging story and multiple decision points provide enough incentive for players to return for additional playthroughs.
- “This makes the replay value pretty good: I've played all the way through twice, logging about 65 hours, and am still looking forward to coming back for more in the future.”
- “The story is very engaging and with your choices actually changing things, there's more replayability than has traditionally been associated with these sorts of games.”
- “Multiple stories unlocked by individual decisions add to the replay value of the game, and the ending does not disappoint.”
- “I guess this was mainly formulated to increase replayability, but even though I have a lot of affection for the story world, I don’t feel like replaying the entire game just to see what would have happened if I hadn’t allowed Brian Westhouse to stay behind in Abnaxus’ home.”
- “The new choices system, which lets you slightly alter certain story elements, adds some replay value, but its implementation could have been more subtle and organic.”
- “This clearly provides some replayability, although the game and how the story unfolds remain fairly linear even when you are allowed to wander around the environment, which can honestly feel a bit challenging to navigate through at times.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization aspect of Dreamfall Chapters is criticized as a cynical cash grab, with some players feeling that the game exploits inclusivity for marketing purposes rather than genuinely representing diverse characters. While the story and choices may be engaging, concerns about the authenticity of character representation and the overall value of the purchase have left some players regretting their investment.
- “Dreamfall Chapters feels like a cynical cash grab.”
- “Disclaimer: I am only in book two and I wonder if I'll bother to finish this. I bought this game only because I heard it was brave enough to have a gay main character. However, when they write such a character, there is nothing of it, and you only get a choice to kiss the opposite sex multiple times. What's the point? If that's true, then it's inclusivity used for advertisement without risk, and it should not have been rewarded. I'm regretting purchasing this game right now and potentially rewarding such cheap exploitation.”
- “The monetization strategy feels exploitative, making it hard to enjoy the game without being constantly bombarded by ads and in-game purchases.”