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Falling into a dream

Fans of Ragnar Tornquist's 1999 adventure game, The Longest Journey, won't be disappointed in Dreamfall. This time around, April Ryan, our intrepid adventurer from the first game, is joined by the mysterious assasin Kian and the rudderless, but loyal Zoe Castillo. You will be able to play as all three characters throughout the game. As you follow the metaphysical and literal journeys each of these characters make, you begin to unearth the secret world that ties dreams to reality.

Tornquist is a master storyteller with enough imagination to fill two worlds -- the futuristic and the fantastic. As you shuttle between Stark and Arcadia, you begin to catch glimpses of how the two worlds are tied together even as you occaisionally stumble upon a vague inbetween world that may hold the answers to the strange forces that threaten to unravel both worlds.

The gameplay is pretty straightforward, and the puzzles are much more intuitive than The Longest Journey (not a rubber duck, band-aid, or rubber tire to be found). If you're like me, you won't be troubled by the large amounts of dialogue. I loved that about the first game; I loved learning as much about the back story as well as the character backgrounds as possible. There were parts, however, when a little more interaction and choice would have been appreciated, but for the most part, I found the balance between interaction and story to be just right.

A gorgeous game with an intriguing storyline -- Nelliegamer says play it now.



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