Gameplay-wise, it handles like a typical third-person puzzle adventure, not too dissimilar from old-style games. And it was made in the Unity engine, a tool that’s often associated with bland-looking indie titles…so hats off to Red Thread in that respect. It’s not something you’d hold up as a pillar of graphical prowess, but it’s definitely pretty to look at. A prison riot breaks out and Kian is released, only to be chased by snot-nosed guards who have taken their etiquette skills directly from the book of I Say Old Chap! This sequence is over quickly and we’re back with Zoe where we get to explore the collapsing society that is Stark. In Arcadia, you play as Kian Alvane, an Azadi soldier who has been captured and is mere hours away from his execution. She awakes several months later with little to no memory of the events, and I am right there with her. Having exposed a conspiracy theory in the previous game, Zoe is left to rot in a comatose state by the hands of the people she’d fought. By going in completely blind, I had a pure motive of wanting to discover the story – her story – and what these elusive Dreamachines were all about. I didn’t know anything about her, yet I wanted to find out more. The opening sequence in the dream world was both beautiful and intriguing, and Zoe is an interesting and enigmatic character. While it may have put me at a slight disadvantage having not played any other entries in the series, Dreamfall Chapters – Book One was actually able to pull me in by keeping me guessing. Now, if you haven’t played the previous games, you’re going to have a lot of questions. Let me rephrase: she wakes up in a dream world to see her comatose self lying in a hospital bed. The story begins with Zoe Castillo (the first of three characters you get to play as) waking up in a coma. While on the surface, Arcadia and Stark appear to be polar opposites, the two worlds are connected by a similar struggle: the fight against corrupt power, whether it’s dark magic or corporate technology. Even the way the characters speak to one another sounds almost archaic. It’s a world that exists in parallel to the other, but visually looks centuries out of date and favours magic and sorcery over technology. Technology is either used against its people (flying adbots, advanced military personnel, machines that let you control your dreams but are highly addictive) or is broken (battered workshops, corrupt worker bots).Īrcadia is the antithesis of Stark. It’s a technologically corrupt future with a fixation on neon signs and a political disparity that would fit right at home in 1980s sci-fi. Who can say?Īnyway, Chapters is a continuation of events that unfurled in the previous title and the game is set in two disparate worlds: Stark and Arcadia. Is that cheating a little? Well, maybe they just wanted to keep focusing on this ongoing journey and keep projects aside for Funcom. Except in this instance, Red Thread consists almost entirely of ex-employees from Funcom Productions, who worked on the game’s predecessors. It often works well in many ways, as it gives new studios the chance to re-imagine an already popular world in their own vision.ĭreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey (currently selling as Dreamfall Chapters: Book One: Reborn) did a similar thing by handing control over to newcomers Red Thread Games. When The Chinese Room took creative control of Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs – the successor to Frictional Games’ horror masterpiece, Amnesia: The Dark Descent – the reputation of the franchise was put squarely in the young and independent team’s mitts. No one really knows how well a video game sequel is going to pan out, especially if the baton is passed to new developers.
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