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by admin (04/07/2008)The good news for fans of Dream Chronicles is that the second game in the series is set to launch very soon. The even better news is that the sequel, officially titled Dream Chronicles Book 2: The Eternal Maze, looks to be every bit the intriguing fantasy adventure that the original was - and then some.
Developed by KatGames and published by PlayFirst, Dream Chronicles Book 2 continues the seamless blend of point-and-click gameplay, puzzle-solving and immersive story-telling that was a hallmark of Dream Chronicles.
Players again step into the shoes of Faye, a mortal woman whose husband Fidget, a former denizen of the fairy realm, was abducted in the first game by the vengeful Fairy Queen of Dreams. The Queen's jealousy apparently knows no bounds. Still fuming over the fact that Fidget broke off their arranged marriage to settle down with Faye in the mortal village of Wish, the Queen kidnaps poor Fidget a second time with the intention of forcing him to become her husband. This time, however, the Queen has gone a step further by nabbing Faye and Fidget's young half-fairy daughter Lyra too.
Faye sets out on a journey to get her family back, but it won't be easy. The Fairy Queen throws up obstacles and puzzles to impede Faye's progress at every turn, such as hiding the keys to doorways, dismantling machines so they no longer work, and causing vines to grow over the entrances to buildings.
Solving these puzzles typically requires investigating the scenery by clicking on any objects or areas that look interesting. Important items can be picked up and added to an inventory at the bottom of the screen, and these items can be used on other objects to unravel more of the puzzle (for example, using a hammer on a large rock breaks it into two smaller rocks).
A key difference in Dream Chronicles Book 2 is that puzzles are no longer just contained to one scene. Instead, you now have the ability to walk from one location to the next carrying items with you; in other words, the item you pick up in one scene might not be needed immediately, but can be used in a different location. The idea that you can now backtrack, and have to think more carefully about what items to use, takes Dream Chronicles Book 2 a step closer to the sophistication of "hardcore" adventure games like Myst and Riven.
An early examples of this new style of gameplay has Faye going back and forth through five inter-linked scenes to find stone tablet inserts to activate three gates - a task that involved collecting the rocks, repairing the machine to create molds of the tablets, and then completing a short puzzle to arrange the stone pieces in the correct order.
Faye receives guidance about what to do next from her mother-in-law Aeval and Merrow, a former prisoner of the Fairy Queen who, like Faye, also managed to escape. Her journey is recorded in a book that can be consulted at any time, and she can also unlock hints about what to do next by collecting special dream jewels and dream pieces that are hidden in each scene. By meditating on a dream jewel and participating in a short mini-game, Faye can learn additional snippets of backstory that flesh out the adventure.
With 25 chapters spanning 50 backgrounds, 80 puzzles, and 15 dream jewels and 138 dream pieces to collect, Dream Chronicles Book 2 promises to be a meatier game than the sweet but short Dream Chronicles. And thanks to puzzles with random solutions and dream jewels and objects that appear in different locations each time you play, there looks to be a significant amount of replay value as well.
You'll have to wait until mid-February to dive into this gorgeous-looking adventure, but based on what we've seen so far the wait is going to be worth it. As always, we'll have our in-depth review and strategy guide ready to go as soon as the game launches.
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