The Longest Journey

I played this game once... Long, long time ago. It became one of my favorites then and it still is in my top 5 games. I remember it was criticized for too much talking, too much to read. Don't people read books? There are no animations in a book, but a lot of words 😒 But a lot of words are needed to tell a good (detailed) story and create a whole new world

Note: I had to set the version to the "beta" branch and then had no issues playing on a modern PC with Windows 11. I decided one day to just play through The Longest Journey in its entirety and record it for Youtube. And it was one of the most fun adventure / point-and-click games I've ever played! You have a likeable protagonist in a unique setting consisting of a futuristic/sci-fi world that finds a way to travel between it and a more medieval/fantasy world. Completing the story requires spending time in both worlds, meeting different characters, learning about the lore of the world, and finding items and solving puzzles. The game is not particularly difficult, at most there was a few moments where you have to be quick to react to something. I found I had to look up a walkthrough a few times to help me ensure I was headed the right direction, but I would always have one nearby for games like these to make sure I'm not stuck. I was pleasantly surprised with graphics, voice acting, music, and the simple controls. I am not sure I'd say any of these were 'amazing', but it all worked together to make it a great experience and a believable world. I'd say if you love point-and-click games, adventure games, or just love a good story about magic mixed with technology, this is a must-play. There are also two sequels in Dreamfall: The Longest Journey and Dreamfall: Chapters. A fourth, "final" chapter is sadly not a reality, but the series is worth it.

The absolutely incredible atmosphere makes up for the absolutely obtuse puzzles. Native steam version worked fine for me after using sourc0r's "Fixes for white box on exit and holes in characters" discussion post, easy peasy fix. Worth mentioning for those who don't want to have to use a VM.