Dreamfall: The Longest Journey

aka: Drømmefall: Den lengste reisen, Mengyun: Zui Chang de Lücheng, The Longest Journey 2, The Longest Journey: Static
Moby ID: 22143
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

Dreamfall is the sequel to The Longest Journey and is a third-person adventure game with a few action episodes.

The game begins in Casablanca, 2219. Zoë Castillo is about to get involved in a conspiracy that spans across two worlds: the one she grew up in, and a mysterious magical realm. There has been static interference that is disrupting technology, and it seems to be linked to a little girl seen only by Zoë. As Zoë begins her search for a lost friend, she discovers the truth about the two worlds and the search is now on for the one person who may help Zoë unravel the dangerous web she has become entangled in: April Ryan.

Dreamfall puts the player in control of three characters. It also introduces the focus field feature, which allows the player to scan an entire visible environment as seen by the characters and also use it to eavesdrop into other people's conversations. There are a few fighting sequences in the game, and a few instances where the player can choose to fight a character or opt to solve the confrontation in a peaceful way. The game spans 13 chapters; like April in the previous game, Zoë keeps a diary of all the events that occur in the game.

Spellings

  • Dreamfall: Бесконечное Путешествие - Russian spelling
  • 夢殞:無盡的旅程II - Traditional Chinese spelling
  • 梦陨: 最长的旅程 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

333 People (317 developers, 16 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 77% (based on 73 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 93 ratings with 9 reviews)

More fall than dream

The Good
Unlike its predecessor The Longest Journey, which was more like a sleeper hit at its time, the release of Dreamfall was surrounded by big hype. It's obvious that the developers of this game came under much more pressure than when they were making The Longest Journey. The latter's success put Dreamfall into a difficult position. It had fairly large shoes to fill, it had to deliver a story that would match its predecessor in quality, and it had to do something about the dead end adventure games found themselves in.

The much-famed story of Dreamfall has a good pace, and the dialogues that advance it are well-written for the most part. The initial introduction of the mystery is indeed impressive, captivating the player from the very beginning. It's of those stories that doesn't let you go until you finish it. You'll want to play the game until the end. So many things in it annoyed me, yet I always kept pressing forward. If you compare Dreamfall to a book, it would be one in which you keep turning the pages feverishly, trying to swallow the whole story in one gulp - regardless of the actual quality of the narrative or its conclusion.

The short gameplay time is only very slightly compensated by the variety of locations. There are sharp contrasts between Stark and Arcadia, and also between different parts of them. The switch between the sunny Casablanca and the depressing Newport in the initial part of the game is just the beginning of location-jumping that will accompany you till the end. Dreamfall still feels like a journey.

The Bad
Everything you've heard about the thin gameplay of Dreamfall is unfortunately true. First of all, it has no puzzles. None at all - neither good nor bad ones. If I had to choose between cat mustaches and the barely existing, ridiculous kindergarden-level exercises you have here, I'd be collecting feline fur for the follicly challenged in no time. I admit that even Dreamfall's own predecessor had its awkward moments when it tried to impose old-school comical inventory item-juggling on the serious story. But that is still thousand times better than a game that basically plays itself.

The absence of puzzles is not the only thing that hurts the game badly. There's precious little interaction in Dreamfall, and I can't help feeling terribly disappointed when I think how enormously enriched the game would have been if the developers added more accessible locations. In Marcuria, there are three or four taverns, but you can only enter one. There are plenty of houses, but you can enter none. When you arrive to the Dark People country, all you can do is run in a straight line from the ship to the library. You can't do anything on your way. Mind you, the location is beautiful; you want to explore it, but you can't. Even as Zoe, you can't explore much; so what is left to say about Kian? The most enigmatic of the three game protagonists barely gets game time anyway. But when he is finally on stage, he is confined to tiny areas where cannot do anything but run to his next objective.

You can feel the developers' intentions behind many actions you must take in the game all too clearly, and that is a bad symptom. They might have discarded the typical complexity and lack of logic found in adventure game puzzles, but they haven't got rid of their artificial nature. And it became only more obvious since the tasks you have to perform in the game are now stripped of challenge to obfuscate their true nature.

Instead of enlarging its world, Dreamfall attempts to bring some variety into the gameplay with its fighting sequences. I think you've heard enough about those. But you must experience them to believe how bad they really are. They make absolutely no sense. If you can win a fight, you will win it. Just press the "strong attack" button several times. If you aren't supposed to win a fight, you won't, no matter how hard you try. The opponents' behavior is idiotic beyond belief. If, for example, you fight two people, one of them will patiently stand and wait till you hack his friend to death before he attacks you. You can't move normally during fights, and the awful camera doesn't help much, either. And yet, the fights you are supposed to win are still pitifully easy.

Which brings me to the next point: why let the player choose if all the choices lead to the same result anyway? You'll be often given several dialogue options, but they are merely cosmetic. No matter what you choose, the result will be the same. Only on one or two occasions, you'll have a "wrong" dialogue choice that will lead to a fight you won't be able to win. Which is just a fancy way of saying "Game Over". I was really angry when I saw how blatantly unimportant those choices were. I could have halfway accepted it if Dreamfall was honest in its linearity, but why deceive the player like that? The most infuriating "dialogue choice" came near the end of the game. You must decide whether to kill a certain character or to spare his life. Out of understandable curiosity, I selected the "kill" option. The protagonist said something like: "Yes, I'll have to kill you", and after a short break: "No, I can't do that!". Really, I'm not joking. And this is supposed to be a choice?! It's like in Japanese RPGs, where you can select "No" as much as you want, but will still be forced to accept every quest you're given.

As for the story, I didn't find it great at all. Good, but definitely not enough to make up for all those gameplay deficiencies. Many times I felt that Ragnar Tornquist was suffering from a "Hideo Kojima syndrome". You know what I mean - when the writer can't resist the temptation of using his story as a receptacle for his ideas. Many times these inclusions are too obvious, and then the quality of the story suffers greatly. What happens in Dreamfall is that its message is too obvious. The writer makes the common mistake of spelling out things for you instead of just indicating them. He tries very hard to convince you that religious intolerance is bad and that you shouldn't trust big corporations - messages that have been done to death in various works of fiction. But even those messages would have had more weight if the writer let the players come to conclusions instead of putting them in plain view.

The story is also blatantly underdeveloped and lacks detail. What do we learn about the Six? Nothing. We just realize that they are obviously evil. But what is their motivation? We don't know. Much of the characterization is flat, descending into cliches, generalizations, and trivialities that even Japanese RPGs try to stay away from. The motives of the characters are often poorly explained; for example, there is nothing convincing in Kian's ideological changes, and the whole thing feels awfully rushed.

The writing can get corny. I found the comic relief largely inappropriate, especially the pop culture references in Crow's dialogues. Anachronisms should also be done with style, as early Monkey Island games showed.

The story of Dreamfall is also clearly unfinished. It's true that Zoe's story is more or less resolved in the end, but we are left with so many unanswered questions that you want to scream "Where is the second part?!" after you finish the game. You'll begin doubting whether they sold you all the game discs when you have completed it.

The Bottom Line
Dreamfall is a disappointment on all fronts. Its gameplay is disastrously shallow and unsatisfying. Despite the strong beginning, the story fails to reach the expected quality. Any adventure classic of the past will provide more compelling gameplay; and if you are interested in "philosophical", larger-than-life melodrama... well, there are always Japanese games out there.

Windows · by Unicorn Lynx (181780) · 2014

The story continues, and it's a pretty decent sequel.

The Good
April Ryan returns in the sequel to The Longest Journey, along with two new characters to control, Zoë Castillo and Kian. You'll actually be controlling Zoë for about half the game. There's several characters and locations that will be familiar if you played the first game, but a lot has changed in the ten years since the first adventure, the story however is as developed as ever and the gaps will be filled in as you meet old friends and foes, and that's what this game is essentially all about, story, it's a game excuse for telling a reasonably long story, and it's told with a bit of film style directing.

And it's fun, sitting back and relaxing and listening to the conversations and watching the cutscenes is, well, relaxing. There's conversation options, which affect what you say or how you say it, they’ll be a descriptive sentence telling the thoughts of the character you happen to be controlling under each option, which is typically one word, such as a persons name or a reaction. It's not too involving, and everything ends up in the same place, Dreamfall is an extremely linear game, but it adds a flavour of variety.

There's the obligatory spooky girl ala The Ring / F.E.A.R. who visits Zoë via visions and TV screens, she has seemingly infiltrated ‘The Wire’, which is a worldwide network that everything is connected to (undies, toasters etc), the concept is certainly feasible, you'll even be using a mobile phone to keep in contact with friends and family (and hack corporate security systems).

Tapping the right mouse button lights up a blue line of sight beam from your character's toes to the top of the screen which can then be swept left and right highlighting any objects of interactivity or comment-worthiness.

The sets can be large and are usually quite pretty.

There’s combat, a strong attack, a normal attack, and the ability to block. Dreamfall’s combat has received a lot of criticism, or at least some people may be questioning it’s inclusion, and I can see why. I did however enjoy knocking out that secretarial security woman near the beginning of the game, and afterwards was as surprised as Zoë that the whole thing had actually happened!

The Bad
Although the sets can be large and usually quite pretty they're not very interactive, for example there’s only one pub that you can actually enter in Marcuria, despite their being several other establishments as just scenery with signs and front doors and all the indications of something actually being there, but with no way of interacting with them.

Like in the first game the conversations can drag a little and seem a little ordinary on occasions, though there's a decent story here too - and one that's told from perspectives of several characters (player and npc's alike).

The voice acting for Zoë is very bland with only the slightest hint of occasional emotion, I kid you not, I began to think that maybe it was the script, but other characters, some returning from the first game, do a much better job.

The Bottom Line
Dreamfall ends on a cliff hanger, it's essentially half a story, and half a story I enjoyed very much, I've had my Sunday roast now I want my crumble and custard and coffee by the fire, and a tale or two to finish the evening off. What I mean to say is that there are very few loose ends tied off, if any, there's going to be a sequel, and I'm looking forward to it.

P.S.

Make sure you let the credits roll, as there’s a final scene at the end.

Windows · by Jack Lightbeard (2685) · 2006

Where is the Game?

The Good
The story was interesting. Not quite as epic as The Longest Journey, nor as long. It was a valiant attempt to expand the universe beyond the first game, which told a self-contained story. The graphics are excellent for both the fantasy world of Arcadia and high science world of Stark. They also brought back of the original voice actors for the English release of The Longest Journey, April in particular. The music is top notch and the voice acting generally is professionally done.

The Bad
The story "has a message", wants "to be relevant to our times" and drives it home in a very unsubtle fashion. The game's length is heavily extended due to the all the voice acting. It would be a lot shorter if you only read it.

The actual gameplay is very weak. The adventure gaming is mostly of the walk and talk variety with few puzzles. I recall there was one chapter without any actual puzzles. None of the puzzles are as intricate or as maddening as The Longest Journey.

Before the game's initial release, there was some controversy as the developers included fighting and stealth elements into the game. Some of these can be avoided, but these features are amateur hour at best. The fighting is only slightly more complex than the game Urban Champion for the NES, and the stealth elements are scarcely more advanced than the original Metal Gear for the MSX/NES. In 2006, these felt like such an afterthought or a weak attempt to get the game onto consoles where a pure adventure would have no chance.

Almost seven years later and this game with its cliffhanger ending still has no sequel. One does feel cheated after spending a not inconsiderable period of time with this game. However, thanks to Kickstarter and the Norwegian Film Institute, a sequel is finally going to be made.

The Bottom Line
A fine example of digital storytelling, with the occasional nuisance of actually having to do something.

Windows · by Great Hierophant (559) · 2013

[ View all 9 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Nooooooooooo where's the sequel?!?!?!? Matt Neuteboom (976) Jul 1, 2008

Trivia

666

Curiously, four out of the seven *.CAB file archives located on the game CDs (2, 3, 4, and 5) are 666,000 kB large and the total size of all files on the first CD is also very close to that number.

1001 Video Games

The Xbox version of Dreamfall: The Longest Journey appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Azadi

The Azadi culture in the game is based on the real world Persian culture (today's Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan). The word "Azadi" itself is a name of a tower in Tehran, the capital of Iran, which was built in 1971 and has since become the symbol of the city. Ironically, the Persian word azadi means "freedom", which doesn't exactly fit the fanatical nature of the Azadi in the game.

Damien's apartment

The two Chinese characters which can be seen on the background during the cut-scene in Damien's apartment are 平和, which are pronounced heiwa in Japanese and mean "peace".

Funcom

Dreamfall is an anniversary game for Funcom, as it is the 25th game they developed.

Sexual references

Intentional or otherwise, the two closed taverns that Zoë can see when she is first in Marcuria are "The Cock and the Puss" and "The Salty Seaman", which both have ambiguous sexual undertones.

References

  • There are several references to Funcom's Anarchy Online series in the game. A copy of the Anarchy Online novel is visible in Zoë's apartment, and the music that plays on the first floor of Reza's apartment is also a track from the MMORPG.
  • There are various Dreamfall and The Longest Journey boxes throughout the game. Such as in Reza's bathroom shelf, Zoë 's floor near the TV, behind the Merchant at the crossroads, as well as many other places.

Technology

Although the game's minimum requirement on the box and "readme" file states that you need a GeForce FX 5700 or a ATi Radeon 9550 display card to run it, the game is playable on older cards such as GeForce 3 or Radeon 8500. In fact, it only uses pixel and vertex shaders version 1.1 not version 2.0 and beyond. However just like every shader model 1.1 powered game it won't work with GeForce 4 MX.

Awards

  • GameSpy
    • 2006 – #3 Xbox Game of the Year
    • 2006 – #8 PC Game of the Year
    • 2006 – PC Adventure Game of the Year
    • 2006 – PC Adventure Game of the Year (Gamers' Vote)
    • 2006 – Xbox Adventure Game of the Year
    • 2006 – Best Music of the Year (PC)
    • 2006 – Best Story of the Year (PC)
  • PC Powerplay (Germany)
    • Issue 02/2007 – The Most Interactive Movie in 2006

Information also contributed by Karthik KANE, Sciere and Unicorn Lynx.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Tom Murphy.

Xbox 360 added by Parf.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, POMAH, Sciere, Игги Друге, Robin Ferreira, Paulus18950, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack.

Game added April 26, 2006. Last modified March 12, 2024.