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Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
The cover art of Dreamfall depicting the main characters, clockwise from top: Zoë, April, Kian
Developer(s)	Funcom
Publisher(s)	Aspyr Media Micro Application Empire Interactive
Designer(s)	Ragnar Tørnquist
Series	The Longest Journey
Engine	Shark 3D
Platform(s)	Windows, Xbox
Release date	PC NA April 17, 2006 EU May 26, 2006 Steam INT January 12, 2007 Xbox NA April 18, 2006 EU August 11, 2006
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Mature (17+) PEGI: 16+ USK: 12+ OFLC: M
Media	CD (6), DVD (1)
System requirements	Windows XP (SP2) Intel Pentium 4 1.6 GHz, AMD Sempron 2800+, or better processor 512 MB RAM 8x speed CD-ROM or 2x DVD-ROM drive 7 GB free disk space DirectX 9.0c (included) 128 MB 3D hardware accelerator card, DirectX 9.0c compatible with latest drivers DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
Input methods	Keyboard and mouse, Gamepad

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (Norwegian: Drømmefall: Den lengste reisen) is an adventure video game with elements of action-adventure, such as fighting and stealth. It was released for the Windows and Xbox platforms on April 17, 2006 by Norwegian developer Funcom. On 1 March 2007, an episodic sequel entitled Dreamfall Chapters was announced,^[1] and Funcom reportedly has further plans to create a massively multiplayer online game set in the The Longest Journey universe.^[2]

The game is the sequel to Funcom's The Longest Journey, released in 1999, and takes place ten years after the events of the first game. The story focuses on three characters, Zoë Castillo, April Ryan, and Kian Alvane, who live in two parallel worlds: technologically advanced Stark and magical Arcadia. April was the protagonist of the first game, while the other two are new characters. The main storyline follows Zoë, a Stark resident, as she investigates the disappearance of her ex-boyfriend and other mysterious occurrences around her that all link to April. Meanwhile, in Arcadia, April battles the villainous Azadi Empire while Kian, an elite Azadi soldier, is sent to assassinate her. The game features many returning characters from its predecessor, such as Brian Westhouse and Gordon Halloway, but playing The Longest Journey is not a prerequisite to understand its plot.

Dreamfall was received enthusiastically by both critics and players. The media praised the story and the characterization in the game but criticized its action and stealth elements, as well as the abrupt cliffhanger ending. The PC and Xbox versions of the game received the average scores of 75% and 73%, respectively, on the review compilation website Metacritic,^[3] compared to 91% of the original game.^[4] According to Funcom's annual 2006 report, the PC version sold "satisfactory", while the Xbox one failed to meet sales expectations, presumably because Xbox 360 eclipsed the original platform around the time Dreamfall was released.^[2]

Contents 1 Story 1.1 Background 1.2 Summary 1.3 Characters 2 Cultural references 3 Releases 4 Soundtrack 5 Legacy 5.1 Critical reception 5.2 Sequel 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Story

[edit] Background

In The Longest Journey, it was established that the Earth, in fact, consists of two parallel worlds: technology-driven Stark, where the players are implied to reside, and magic-driven Arcadia. The transition between the worlds is only possible in dreams and through an extremely rare ability called "Shifting". For over twelve thousand years, the Balance between the Twin Worlds has been preserved by the almighty Guardians and the Sentinel Order. In 2209, April Ryan, a seemingly normal resident of Stark but also unwittingly a Shifter, learned from the Sentinels that the villainous Vanguard organization abducted the twelfth Guardian before the thirteenth could take over his duties. This placed the Balance and the Twin Worlds' existence in dire peril, so April went on a quest to find both Guardians and restore the Balance. En route, she was told that she herself is the thirteenth Guardian and also, a daughter of the ancient White Dragon. After a long and dangerous journey, she freed the old Guardian and brought him to his Realm. But once there, they discovered that the next Guardian is, after all, not her but Vanguard's second-in-command, Gordon Halloway, who had been pursuing her throughout the game. After Gordon reformed and assumed his rightful duties, April left for Arcadia.

In Dreamfall, many characters refer to the "Collapse", a catastrophic event that took place in Stark immediately after the events of TLJ. The Collapse is never described in-game, but according supplemental material and the official website of the game, it saw many advanced technologies, such as faster-than-light interstellar travel, anti-gravity, and neural interfaces, stop working. The Collapse lasted for several days and was accompanied by traumatic supernatural occurrences, so that Zoë's father, for example, wouldn't let her outside to protect her sanity. In the immediate aftermath, authorities of Stark had to establish a global police agency called EYE to deal with the rising crime rate and introduce the Wire, an information network connecting all electronic devices on the planet. The Collapse coincided with the rise of the theocratic and industrial Empire of Azadi (Persian: "freedom") in Arcadia. The Azadi conquered the Arcadian Northlands, exiling the Sentinels from the region and propagating their own religion. This spawned a resistance movement, which April is a part of in Dreamfall.

[edit] Summary

The story of Dreamfall is presented as a narration of Zoë Castillo, a 20-year-old resident of Casablanca in 2219, who lies in coma and recounts the events that led up to this point. Her narration concerns Project Alchera, an international conspiracy by the Japan-based toy manufacturer WATIcorp, that aims to introduce a lucid dream-inducing technology ("dreamer console") to the market, which can also be covertly used for mass brainwashing and even murder. One byproduct of their research is Faith, a little girl used for testing the hallucinogenic drug Morpheus, which is part of the dreamer technology. After receiving an overdose of Morpheus, Faith died but managed to transfer her consciousness to the DreamNet mainframe Eingana. Throughout the game, she randomly appears on the Wire, causing massive amount of white noise or "static", which disrupts the infrastructure of Stark.

Zoë's story begins when her journalist ex-boyfriend Reza Temiz disappears while investigating Project Alchera. At the same time, Faith starts to haunt her through television screens, prompting her to "find" and "save April". Zoë tracks Reza to Newport, a fictional megapolis on the West Coast where a large part of TLJ took place. There, She meets April Ryan's old friends who tell her more about her. Afterwards, she is captured by WATI agents and forcibly hooked to a dreamer console. This unexpectedly transports her first to Faith's imaginary world (Winter) and then to Arcadia: while her body sleeps in Stark, she possesses a physical presence in Arcadia and can interact with people there. She locates April (who lost her Shifting powers and became a rebel leader) but she refuses to be involved in Faith's case. Waking up in Newport, Zoë travels to Japan to meet Reza's contact inside WATI, Damien Cavanaugh. Damien explains about Project Alchera and with his help, Zoë plants a trojan into Eingana, which unexpectedly overloads. Losing her way back, she meets Alvin Peats, the founder of WATI and the mastermind behind Alchera, barely escaping his bodyguards.

Meanwhile in Arcadia, April spies on Azadi officials' negotiations with the hooded figure named "Prophet", whom she follows to colossal caves beneath the Northlands' capital Marcuria and then, to a place she calls "Chamber of Dreams". She enters the Chamber at the same time as Zoë reaches Eingana and the latter's overload correlates with violent eruption of energy in the former. Confused, April travels to Dark People's Library to visit the reborn White Dragon, who sends her to the Guardian Gordon. Gordon assures her that current events have nothing to do with her and do not endanger the Balance. April returns to Marcuria to discover that Zoë was captured by Azadi on suspicion of witchcraft. In the meantime, Kian arrived in Marcuria and began searching for April. The two meet, unaware of each other's identities, and engage in a heated argument about Azadi actions in the Northlands. Breaking off, April proceeds to break Zoë out but again refuses to assist her. On suggestion of drunkard-turned-adventurer Brian Westhouse, Zoë travels to visit the White Dragon herself but is teleported by her back to April. In the climatic scene of the game, the rebel camp is attacked by Azadi troops, April is stabbed and falls into the swamp. Kian, swayed by her words earlier, tries to protect her but fails and is taken in custody for treason. Zoë has to watch from afar, unable to do anything.

Zoë wakes up in Stark and receives a message from Damien (whose dreamer she used to travel to Arcadia) that the static originated from a testing facility near Saint Petersburg where Faith was held. She travels to Russia and discovers a record of Faith's final months. Emotionally distressed, Zoë returns home to Casablanca where she is tracked down by Helena Chang, one of Reza's contacts who originally "created" Faith. Chang asks her to meet Faith and persuade her to die, thus stopping the static that in the meantime began to endanger safety worldwide. Zoë uses a dreamer to go to Winter and has one last conversation with Faith before the latter disappears, causing a severe Eingana malfunction. Using the distraction, Peats' second-in-command kills him and takes over WATI and Alchera. Before Zoë can wake up, Chang injects her with an OD of Morpheus, leaving her in coma. She is next shown lying in a hospital, with her father and Reza watching over her. Unable to wake up in the real world, Zoë arrives to the space between the Twin Worlds and tells its strange resident (named "Vagabond" in the game art book) her story. In the last shots before the credits, a short television broadcast is shown, announcing the release of dreamer consoles three months after the events of the game.

Two events of the game are seen through the eyes of Brian Westhouse, an episodic character in both TLJ and Dreamfall. In the prologue, a ritual in a Tibetan monastery sends him to Arcadia but he is stuck midway, in Vagabond's realm, and attacked by the "Undreaming". The exact nature of Undreaming and details of their encounter are never explained in-game but in TLJ, Westhouse says that he was stuck between the worlds for almost three centuries. In the epilogue after the credits, Westhouse struggles through Tibetan blizzard in 1933 and is helped by Manny Chavez (one of the pseudonyms used by the Red Dragon, who appears as Cortez in TLJ) who tells him that he is "needed".

[edit] Characters

In brackets are the taglines found on promotional posters for each of the three main characters.

• Zoë Castillo (Seeker, Nomad, Dreamer) is one of the main characters in the game. She lives with her father in the city of Casablanca (her mother has supposedly died before the Collapse), and has recently dropped out of university. The beginning of the game finds her in a state of malaise, lacking motivation and questioning her purpose in life. The story opens with her ex-boyfriend, Reza, asking her for help.

• April Ryan (Rebel, Emissary, Chosen) is a Shifter, originally from Stark, who was pivotal in restoring the Balance ten years ago. After that success, though, she was left without a purpose, and chose to join the effort to liberate the Northlands from the occupation by the Azadi (Persian: freedom) Empire. She has turned her back on her former world of Stark and considers herself a citizen of Arcadia now.

• Kian Alvane (Soldier, Apostle, Assassin) is an Azadi soldier and skilled swordsman who resides in the holy city of Sadir. He has pledged his life to the Six and the Goddess. He is an Apostle, a special agent of the Six, much to the scorn of others in the hierarchy who look down on his common ancestry.
  

  

  Kian Alvane on his way to speak with his master in Sadir, the Azadi capital

• Olivia DeMarco is Zoë's best friend. She owns a small electronics and repair shop in Casablanca, and is an expert on the technology of the time period.

• Reza Temiz is a journalist who goes under the alias "Jericho". He was once Zoë's boyfriend, but now the two are just good friends.

• Damien Cavanaugh works for WATIcorp, a Japanese corporation. When he first appears in the game, he is involved in the development of WATIcorp's top-secret "Project Alchera".

• Benrime Salmin is the owner and proprietor of "The Journeyman Inn", an inn located in the Arcadian city of Marcuria. She made her first appearance in The Longest Journey, where she became a friend and confidante to April Ryan. In Dreamfall, she is a rebel sympathizer and often aids April and the rest of resistance movement against the Azadi occupying force.

• Brian Westhouse is a traveler and scholar who resides in Arcadia. First appearing in The Longest Journey as a stubborn and frequently inebriated man who helped April Ryan along on her adventure, he revealed that he had also breached the divide from his native Stark to Arcadia in a crossing that took nearly three hundred years. He returns in Dreamfall as a more sober and eloquent man who accompanies Zoë Castillo to one of the few places in Arcadia he has never visited, and scenes in the game suggest that his transition between worlds may be of significant importance to the central plot.

• Roper F. Klacks is a magic shop keeper. He first appeared in The Longest Journey as an evil alchemist who lived inside an enchanted flying tower. He reappears in Dreamfall claiming to have been reformed of his evil tendencies, and crediting this to the actions of April Ryan in the first game.

• Crow is an Arcadian talking bird who is not actually a crow but resembles one visually. He has been April's sidekick in The Longest Journey and resumes this role in Dreamfall though later, he decides to follow Zoë instead.
  

[edit] Cultural references

While the first game of the series mainly established its own mythos, Dreamfall borrows numerous names and concepts from the Australian Aboriginal mythology, such as the Eingana and Alchera/Dreamtime. Similarities can be found between the decoration and architecture of the Azadi buildings and the Islamic art and architecture. Also, "Kian" is a Persian name and "Azadi" (Persian: ازادی) is "freedom" in Persian. In addition "Reza" is an Arabic name which is widely in use in Iran. "Temiz" means "clean", is also Arabic and used as a surname.

Within the game, there are also references to other games published by Funcom, for example, to Anarchy Online: a copy of the Anarchy Online novel can be found in Zoë's apartment; there is an engineer wardroid at the street dealer in Newport and a small yellow cleanerbot (seen in many large cities of AO) in Olivia's store; and the music that plays on the first floor of Reza's apartment is also a track from the Anarchy Online. Perhaps, one of the most unusual features of Dreamfall is the in-game presence of its own disc covers, as well as those of TLJ, on multiple locations, e.g. on Reza's bathroom shelf, on the floor near Zoë's TV, behind the Chinese merchant in New Venice, etc.

Several popular movies are referenced, as well, for example, when Crow is telling Zoë about being a sidekick, he makes a reference to The Lord of the Rings films directed by Peter Jackson. He implies that right after he was elected the Sidekick of the Month by the League of Sidekicks, Samwise Gamgee (portrayed by Sean Astin) "stole" the title from him. Wonkers the Watilla, a stuffed purple gorilla visually resembling the notorious spyware mascot BonziBUDDY and acting as Zoë's personal assistant and playfellow, is voiced by Jack Angel who previously voiced another talking stuffed animal, Teddy in Steven Spielberg's A.I.. When Zoë first arrives in Arcadia, her comment that "[she isn't] in Venice any more" is a possible reference to The Wizard of Oz. And the most notable homage pointed out by critics is the disturbing similarity that the character Faith bears to Samara Morgan from The Ring,^[5][6][7] who is, in turn, based on Onryō from Japanese ghost stories.

Intentional or otherwise, the two closed taverns near the South Gates of Marcuria are named "The Cock and the Puss" and "The Salty Seaman" ("Best nuts in Marcuria!"), which may have connotate sexual implications ("seaman" is a homophone of "semen"). Such word plays go back to The Longest Journey, where a character makes a reference to "pubs with oddly suggestive names, like 'The Lazy Cock'."

[edit] Releases

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey was released for Microsoft Windows on April 17, 2006 in the United States and April 18 in Europe, available either on 6 CDs or a single DVD. The copy protection of the US PC version is known to have caused trouble to players, such as when it wouldn't allow the game to run if a virtual drive (e.g. created by Alcohol 120%) was detected, whereas the European and Australian DVD version is protected by the controversial StarForce. The 6 CD version is the same as the DVD one and the latter can be compiled manually by burning the entire contents of the former on a single 4.7 GB disc.

The Xbox version of the game has been released on April 18 and August 11, 2006 in the US and Europe, respectively, and is backwards compatible with Xbox 360 since June 2006. It was made available as an "Xbox Originals" digital download on Xbox Live on 23 March 2008. The downloadable version is the original Xbox version of the game rather than the Game of the Year edition.

A Limited Edition of Dreamfall is available, as well, containing the DVD version of the game, a soundtrack EP with four songs by Magnet, and a 92 page hardcover artbook entitled The Art of Dreamfall. According to Ragnar Tørnquist, this edition is "an actual limited Limited Edition",^[8] since it has only been produced in small numbers.

Rumors of an online demo version of Dreamfall have been circulating over the Internet since August 2006,^[9] until plans for its development (as well as that of other "online extensions of the universe") have been confirmed by Funcom in November that year.^[10] On December 23, 2006, a 3 GB demo was released.^[11]

On January 12, 2007, Dreamfall was made available on Steam.

On April 30, 2007, Aspyr announced that a Game of the Year edition would be released to North America on May 24, 2007 and will include The Longest Journey, Dreamfall, and the Dreamfall OST.^[12] This release includes three DVDs but no manual.

Tørnquist commented that the developers also considered the idea of making a film based on The Longest Journey and/or Dreamfall but found it too difficult to realize at the current stage.^[13]

Although Dreamfall was released on Windows only supporting Windows XP, many Windows 2000 users have reported being able to play the game on Windows 2000 by copying a file dbghelp.dll (taken from OpenOffice.org 2.0 or higher) to the folder where Dreamfall was installed. ^[14] Similarly, the game can be played on Windows Vista once the Starforce protection drivers have been updated.

[edit] Soundtrack

Main article: Dreamfall Soundtrack

Most of the music in Dreamfall was composed by Leon Willett, who joined the production team in the last year of its development. Willett spent ten months writing the score, with the biggest challenge being to make it both cohesive and reflecting the multitude of settings in the game. He later commented in an interview, that the story of Dreamfall required "a broad, Hollywood approach" to music and regretted not having a live orchestra to perform it (instead using synthesized performance). Willett also remarked that because of an entirely new premise and more cinematic way of storytelling in Dreamfall, he had rarely considered the music from The Longest Journey as inspiration.^[15]

An original soundtrack album has been released in August 2006. It contains the orchestral music composed by Leon Willett for the game, as well as several tracks by other musicians, like Slipperhero, Octavcat, and Ingvild Hasund. The game's lead sound designer Simon Poole and the audio director Morten Sørlie are also credited for creating three out of the album's 22 compositions. This soundtrack album was nominated "Best Video Game Score" at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards.

The four songs by the Norwegian musician Magnet were not included in this album but have been instead added to the limited edition of the game as an extended play CD.

[edit] Legacy

[edit] Critical reception

Reviews
Publication	Score
1UP.com	C+[3]
ActionTrip	8.3/10[3]
Adventure Gamers	4/5[3]
Edge	7/10[3]
G4	4/5[3]
Game Informer	8/10[3]
Game Revolution	58%[3]
GameSpot	8.1/10[3]
GameSpy	5/5[3]
GamesRadar	7/10[3]
GameZone	8.6/10[3]
IGN	7.4/10[3]
PC Gamer UK	77%[3]
PC Gamer US	73%[3]
Play Magazine	3.5/10[3]
JustAdventure	A[3]
Compilations of multiple reviews
Compiler	Score
Metacritic	75%[3]
Game Rankings	77%
GameStats	7.5/10
TopTenReviews	3/4
MobyRank	78%

Most critics have been positive about Dreamfall, agreeing about the quality of the storyline, the graphical presentation and the voice acting. Some critics lament the shortness of the gameplay, and criticize the game's new combat and stealth elements as simplistic and unsatisfying.^[3]

GameSpy rated it as "outstanding":

"The game covers a lot of metaphorical, political, and religious ground. It's a multi-threaded, complex affair that poses profound and troubling questions about the uses and misuses of faith, the limits of corporate, governmental, and religious power, and the significant difference between belief and fanaticism and knowledge and wisdom. More than that, though, it's also a rip-roaring adventure story filled with wonderful dialogue brought to life by a stellar cast of voice actors, clearly defined and supremely likeable characters, and graphic splendor that manages to make both worlds of super-science and bizarre magic incredibly believable." –GameSpy ^[16]

"It's been a long-time since The Longest Journey was released, with fans of the game wondering whether a sequel could possibly match the original. They need wonder no longer. Dreamfall is an amazing journey that propels players into a world where science, magic, art, and music combine to make a whole much greater than the sum of its parts." –GameSpy ^[17]

GameSpot also ranked it as "great," stating "Dreamfall does not disappoint, for the most part. It exhibits the unique attention to detail and terrific presentation that made The Longest Journey so remarkable for its time."^[18]

Adventure Classic Gaming said "It is contemporary interactive fiction at its best. Its unique blend of storytelling and gameplay should appeal to a broad range of gamers beyond those who are loyal to the adventure genre."^[19]

Other critics, while not disputing the quality of the story, were disappointed that the game is primarily story-driven, and would like to have seen more gameplay. For example, IGN said:

"While playing through, it's difficult to shake the impression that intelligent design was given a back seat to painfully simplistic fighting and sneaking sequences. The combat is, for all intents and purposes, a total joke. [...] While the gameplay has been drastically simplified, the story remains as engaging as ever. Characters engage in deep conversation, revealing all sorts of nuance and helping to strengthen this game's unique mood. Be warned, if you don't like watching lengthy conversations or if you generally disregard a game's plot, you'll be absolutely dissatisfied with Dreamfall. However, if you're in the mood for one of gaming's best and most recent narratives, by all means pick this one up. Just be aware that Dreamfall's appeal lies largely in its narrative and characters, and not in the gameplay." –IGN ^[20]

Rotten Tomatoes gave Dreamfall a "fresh" rating, with 71% of collected reviews giving it at least 8/10, with an average score of 8.1/10.^[21]

[edit] Sequel

Main article: Dreamfall Chapters

On 1 March 2007, Funcom announced that the continuation of the story will be published in episodic format under the title Dreamfall Chapters.^[1] Later that day, Ragnar Tørnquist confirmed the announcement and stated that it goes perfectly with his plans for the continuation.^[22] Detailed information on the project is yet to be released as of May 2008.

The numerous cliffhangers and apparent plot holes in Dreamfall have caused a great commotion among the players and were addressed by Ragnar Tørnquist on his blog. He stated that the game is, in fact, the first part of a duology and that all questions will be answered in the second installment.^[23] Also, several elements of the story have been at some point identified as plot holes but a feasible explanation has been later found within the game itself.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Official forums
• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey at MobyGames
• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey at the Internet Movie Database
• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey guide at StrategyWiki
• TLJwiki, a wiki project dedicated to The Longest Journey and Dreamfall
• Jelena Rosenberg's fan-site, personally distinguished by Tørnquist