Dream Chronicles

Since I've previously played Dream Chronicles: The Book of Air and thoroughly enjoyed it, I've decided to play through all of the games in the rather epic Dream Chronicles series. My next few posts will focus on these games as I play through them. Dream Chronicles was released in 2007, developed by KatGames and released by PlayFirst. It was a bit of a milestone in casual gaming, marking the birth of a new "hidden object & adventure" style of casual game. Critics likened it to a simplified version of the epic Myst series (a series of games that I personally adore, and which were the first really beautiful games I ever played). The first game in the series, Dream Chronicles, won a Zeeby Award from Gamezebo ("People's Choice Award for the Best Hidden Object & Adventure Game of 2007") in July 2008, and the game was subsequently followed by Dream Chronicles 2: The Eternal Maze and Dream Chronicles: The Chosen Child. There are now two further games in the Dream Chronicles saga, set ten years in the future from the time of the first trilogy ("Faye's Journey"). These are Dream Chronicles: The Book of Air and Dream Chronicles: The Book of Water (in a new series called "Lyra's Destiny").

The story of Dream Chronicles tells of Faye, a human who wakes up one day to find her husband, Fidget, missing and her daughter, Lyra, in a magical slumber. As she explores on a quest to rescue Fidget (from the Fairy Queen of Dreams, Lilith) and release Lyra from the spell, she discovers many secrets about the fairy roots of her family, and about the town in which they live, called Wish.

Dream Chronicles, in my opinion, does definitely live up to the hype. I wasn't expecting absolutely stunning perfection from this 2007 game, but the artwork and detail is quite beautiful and dreamlike. The music is soothing and the gameplay is fun and relaxing. The game is a little slower paced than others - hardcore gamers may not enjoy it because there is a fair amount of dialog and story. At first I was a little put off by the descriptions of the fairies that appear with every "dream piece" you discover, but after a while - when I'd become more used to the pace of the game - I kind of enjoyed reading the little fairy blurbs. I also wished later in the game - when I finally decided to actually open the journal you are given - that I'd kept up with the story in the journal while I played through the chapters. It's actually quite a well written and interesting little story (it is a journal written from Fidget's perspective before he was kidnapped by Lilith).

The puzzles in this game start out very easy, and do get progressively harder, but not overly so. On the whole the puzzles are relatively easy, and I have seen these type of puzzles (jigsaw puzzle, seek-and-find, etc) in many other games - but keep in mind that Dream Chronicles was one of the earlier games in the genre. I especially liked the cryptic puzzle at the end - I haven't encountered cryptic clues like that in another game thusfar. There is no hint system in this game, but Faye sets up each scene so it's quite clear what your objective is, and like I said, the puzzles are quite easy. The only times I got stuck in the game were due to not being able to clearly see hidden objects. The game makes it easy for you by periodically creating sparkles where hidden objects are - but these seemed to be random and sometimes did not work at all for me. I played the game in windowed mode - in fullscreen it's probably easier to see the hidden objects.

The ending of the game was a little odd. After a cutscene, you are abruptly given a "score" (for speed and the number of "dream pieces" you find). The game does not have a tidy ending, it clearly sets up for the next game in the series. Which is what I will be writing about next! Meanwhile, I recommend checking out this award-winning game. It may not be quite as polished as some of the newer games in this genre, but it's a pretty little adventure with a great story and more story to come. Click below to try it for yourself.