Ending a trilogy is never easy. Heck, ending a story is never easy. Both gaming and cinema have had a long and messy history of not being able to stick the landing with the final act. However, despite certain reservations I'd had going in, I'm happy to report that Dreamfall Chapters brings everything to a wonderful close, giving closure to nearly every lingering plot thread or absent character from the previous two entries.
I can very easily see why many find the end result of this finale convoluted and messy; however, when you play each entry in quick succession, as I just did this past week, it's truly impressive to see just how much series creator Ragnar Tørnquist and the team at Red Thread Games manage to address and wrap up in just under 20 hours.
It's not all sunshine and roses, though; there are a few key underlying problems with Dreamfall Chapters.
For one, it takes quite a while to pick up steam narratively, especially compared to its predecessors. The first couple of episodes (or "books," as they're called here) aren't quite as interesting as the last three. It gradually gets better with each episode. Don't get me wrong, it starts off fairly solid and ends very strong; however, it could have used some edits to the pacing from both a narrative and gameplay perspective in a lot of the first half.
The story also handles a key character's sexuality in a messy and confusing way, not really knowing what to definitively do with them half the time. While I fully acknowledge that one's sexuality, and especially finding it to begin with, is not always a resolute thing, it's clear here that the developers were having trouble with this particular character's identity, more so than the character themselves were. That being said, it does improve as it goes on, so efforts were definitely made to correct any errors before.
Gameplay-wise, it's essentially Dreamfall: The Longest Journey's systems, sans the unnecessary parts like combat and stealth. Mixed into it this time, though, are Telltale-esque choices. While I understand that the choices here are largely cosmetic and don't change the overarching story in many, if any, significant ways, I've played so many Telltale-adjacent games that it's just something I'm used to at this point. Still, a little more active shaping of the narrative from player choices would have been appreciated.
All in all, though, Dreamfall Chapters provides a daring, emotional, and incredibly satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. While there are minor and moderate bumps and hurdles along the way, it ends strong while still managing to keep certain threads open enough for the story to potentially continue somehow.
The Longest Journey might still be my preferred entry, but Ragnar and the rest of Red Thread should be immensely proud that, for me and I'm sure many others, they created an entry that comes so close to the greatness of the original that calling it the best one is a statement that would be hard to argue against.
8.5/10
I can very easily see why many find the end result of this finale convoluted and messy; however, when you play each entry in quick succession, as I just did this past week, it's truly impressive to see just how much series creator Ragnar Tørnquist and the team at Red Thread Games manage to address and wrap up in just under 20 hours.
It's not all sunshine and roses, though; there are a few key underlying problems with Dreamfall Chapters.
For one, it takes quite a while to pick up steam narratively, especially compared to its predecessors. The first couple of episodes (or "books," as they're called here) aren't quite as interesting as the last three. It gradually gets better with each episode. Don't get me wrong, it starts off fairly solid and ends very strong; however, it could have used some edits to the pacing from both a narrative and gameplay perspective in a lot of the first half.
The story also handles a key character's sexuality in a messy and confusing way, not really knowing what to definitively do with them half the time. While I fully acknowledge that one's sexuality, and especially finding it to begin with, is not always a resolute thing, it's clear here that the developers were having trouble with this particular character's identity, more so than the character themselves were. That being said, it does improve as it goes on, so efforts were definitely made to correct any errors before.
Gameplay-wise, it's essentially Dreamfall: The Longest Journey's systems, sans the unnecessary parts like combat and stealth. Mixed into it this time, though, are Telltale-esque choices. While I understand that the choices here are largely cosmetic and don't change the overarching story in many, if any, significant ways, I've played so many Telltale-adjacent games that it's just something I'm used to at this point. Still, a little more active shaping of the narrative from player choices would have been appreciated.
All in all, though, Dreamfall Chapters provides a daring, emotional, and incredibly satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. While there are minor and moderate bumps and hurdles along the way, it ends strong while still managing to keep certain threads open enough for the story to potentially continue somehow.
The Longest Journey might still be my preferred entry, but Ragnar and the rest of Red Thread should be immensely proud that, for me and I'm sure many others, they created an entry that comes so close to the greatness of the original that calling it the best one is a statement that would be hard to argue against.
8.5/10