Instead of presenting you with another network of choices and possibilities, Book Three tightens things up and focuses on establishing the effects of previous decisions in an effort to put all the rubber ducks in a row, so to speak. Unlike previous episodes, Kian's (and later Zoë's) path here is simple and straightforward. The following chapter returns to Arcadia two months after the events of Book Two, which is made evident by Kian's nifty new beard and the increased proliferation of pipeworks running through Marcuria. Is it possible that Stark, Arcadia, and all their inhabitants exist merely as figments of this child's imagination and illustrated using crayons and paper? Is Saga a personification of the creative process itself? Is she the child in the snow, playing with the dolls in the bin? Dreamfall Chapters wants its players to toy around with and consider these kinds of questions as our heroes in the "physical" world continue their journey. On the other, it echoes back to that Twilight Zone episode. On one hand, this is a nod to the trilogy's history, serving as a sort of veteran test for experienced players. Once the entire series of drawings has been acquired, Saga must order them chronologically, with each piece depicting an event from The Longest Journey. Saga communicates a real sense of wonder and captivation consistent with her muse-like character. Typically, "click on all the things" tends to be a fruitless undertaking, but in this case it was absolutely worth it. In classic adventure-game fashion, many of these interactions, such as plucking an umbrella from a pail and pronouncing, "I'm a fancy lady!" are more satisfying than the objective at hand. Whether she plays with a picture on the mantle, a poster on the wall, or a simple hat on a rack, Saga's superfluous interactions with these objects fill in some of the rather drab enviro-narrative spaces with flares of color. Saga's clumsy toddling through the home begins as a cute romp of stilted, giggling mania and quickly becomes an exercise in patience and perseverance as the drawings become exponentially difficult to find and Saga's movement grows more frustrating to negotiate.įortunately, as Saga explores the house, she has more to do and interact with than the goal requires. The player's first task after assuming the role of Saga in Interlude II involves a laborious easter egg hunt for a series of the child's drawings hidden around the house. ASo what better way to illustrate their connection to the boots on the ground than with a little straight-forward adventure-game fare? Like the Twilight Zone episode, the Dreamfall trilogy simultaneously is, was, and will be in this abstract, ethereal place. From here, the worlds of Stark and Arcadia may be viewed from a different perspective, a meta-perspective, in which the boundaries of their occupations by the Azadi and the Syndicate alike form the walls of their respective toy bins. Dreamfall Chapters Book Three: Realms begins with its own child, Saga, scuttling around her Storytime home. Without a child to play with the dolls, they remain sedentary lumps of cloth and paint. The twist ending is encapsulated by the meta-narrative of the child, who embodies the spirit of this creative potential. While Serling's tale centers on the unknown horrors of existential dread, it also demonstrates the way in which the creative process itself becomes manifest in the final product. The major is returned to the group, all depicted as dolls now, while the ballerina’s eyes fill with tears as her plastic hand reaches towards his. (Spoiler!) The camera smash-cuts to a child picking up an army doll from the snow and placing it back in a bin used to collect Christmas toys for orphans. As he tumbles over the edge, the twist is revealed. Eventually, the major plots an escape and manages to clear the wall. Racking their collective brains, they posit whether they have been abducted by aliens, have gone insane, have died and been sent to Hell, or exist only as figments of someone's imagination-as characters in another person's dream. They have no memory or knowledge of who they are, where they came from, or how they wound up in the silo. There are no doors or windows-only an open ceiling much too high for any of them to reach. Back in 1961, the prolific Rod Serling adapted a short story for an episode of his Twilight Zone series titled "Five Characters in Search of an Exit." In this episode, a clown, a hobo, a ballerina, a bagpiper, and an Army major find themselves confined within a large, metal, silo-type enclosure.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |