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)

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

Too much bad gameplay ruins a decent story

The Good
The biggest (and arguably the only) strength of Dreamfall is the same as in The Longest Journey: the worlds of Stark and Arcade are absolutely fascinating and the characters are likeable and occasionally funny. It is a delight to learn more about them, especially because the dialogue is mostly more condensed than in TLJ. I also liked the switching between protagonists which allowed Funcom to show different perspectives on Arcadia and was used for a few clever sequences.

The Bad
Unfortunately Dreamfall also inherits the gameplay weakness of TLJ. It tries to be varied and introduces four gameplay pillars which all fail: puzzles (most of them don't deserve the name and the few which do are badly implemented), mini-games (both the too easy lockpicking and the too hectic hacking mini-games are only used a few times), fighting (the controls are clunky and the enemies brain-dead) and stealth (clunky, but at least easy). All those gameplay mechanics add absolutely nothing to the game or the narrative and could have been cut without losing anything substantial.

I also did not like the environments. Especially the outside areas look very pretty, but they also feel cold and sterile and are frequently interrupted by loading screens. Dreamfall manages to build its areas both too small and linear (there is mostly only one way to go and nothing interesting to find which isn't part of the plot) and too vast (some areas are bigger, but almost completely empty, and there is too much backtracking).

While my last point is a bit moot since the release of Dreamfall Chapters, I also have to address the non-ending. It cuts off right in the middle of the story: there is nothing gained and almost nothing resolved. The game opens up way too many story threads which lead to nothing or cliffhangers. While open endings or even sequel hooks are fine, a game has to wrap up at least the main story in a satisfying way.

The Bottom Line
On first glance, Dreamfall is a completely different game than The Longest Journey: different protagonist, different game mechanics, different perspective. But a closer evaluation shows it has the same strengths and weaknesses: the characters and the world are good, the plot is decent, and the gameplay sucks. It is a shame this game was made before the rise of narrative games: it probably would have profited by cutting the bad gameplay and focusing on better storytelling instead.

Windows · by Patrick Bregger (298879) · 2021

A great....interactive story.

The Good
Dreamfall has a great atmosphere, just like in The Longest Journey which I love. Deep into the game when the story gets darker, the music and environment perform a fantastic job, and you really get inside the rotten events in both Stark and Arcadia.

It's great to see some old characters return and find out what's been going on with them. It helps keep a familiar environment that could have been lost since Dreamfall doesn't let you exclusively play April Ryan.

The story is fascinating and really sucks you in, you experience a rich world (or perhaps I should say "worlds") with colorful environments as well as gritty locations.

The Bad
The game doesn't feel much like a game. The player is just a person turning the pages in a story by solving extremely simple puzzles and running from one place to another. The puzzles are so simple that you hardly have even 3 objects in your inventory at a time, and each problem can be solved somewhere in the surrounding of where it has originated. To make it worse, the game tends to send hints about the solution (or just tells you the solution) before you even have a chance to feel like you're actually giving the puzzle some thought.

There are action bits that aren't ripe yet, the fighting system is simple and sluggish, you don't feel like you're really controlling your character during a fight. Once you get the trick and don't try to rush things up, you can come out of each battle without a scratch.

Without saying much, the ending is quite a cliffhanger. The game feels more like an exposition for one big story that would truly make one of the longest journeys out there.

The Bottom Line
Overall it's a great story to listen to and the gameplay isn't bad, just simple and unsatisfying. It's worth playing just to get sucked into a fascinating tale and expand the world you've experienced in the first game of the series.

Windows · by Solid Flamingo (1432) · 2006

[ 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.