Dream Chronicles: The Book of Air
Game Review

Dream Chronicles: The Book of Air is the fourth installment in the Dream Chronicles adventure puzzle game series. After the first three games, the stories and adventures of main character Faye have finally come to a close. Now the spotlight shines on Lyra, the daughter of Faye and Fidget the fairy. Lyra is the Chosen Child of prophecy, and is destined to become the next Fairy Lord, and The Book of Air marks the start of her amazing journey.

The Book of Air begins on the eve of Lyra's 18th birthday. In what seems like a dream, Lyra sees a group of people approaching her, with her grandfather among them. Just as her grandfather is about to hand her a gift, everything goes black and Lyra wakes up outside her old school. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like she's really at her school because there are energy bolts arcing across the sky and destroying things around her, and the entire place is deserted!

Trapped in what seems like an alternate dimension, Lyra has to find a way to escape and return home. Luckily, her grandfather has managed to get in contact with her, and is able to give her advice and help her overcome obstacles on her journey. Lyra's adventure is presented in the game as an adventure and puzzle game hybrid. The main interface shows Lyra's current location where you can interact with various objects. You will need to solve intricate puzzles and find cleverly-hidden objects in order to progress in the game.

The first thing you will notice when playing The Book of Air is how absolutely gorgeous the art is. Beautifully hand-painted art and subtle CGI and animation combine to create a steampunk-fantasy atmosphere that is simply breathtaking. The Dream Chronicles series has always been famous for great artwork, but this latest game has definitely set a new standard. Add to that a great soundtrack and believable voice-acting, and you have one great piece of entertainment!

The puzzles in this game are fairly original and quite challenging. There are some of the standard puzzles such as jigsaws and logic games, but they are accompanied by more unique and original games such as encryption, word puzzles and combination locks to name a few. Quite a few of the puzzles have also been integrated into the main adventure screen, providing a more seamless gaming experience. Rather than having to click on an object to launch a puzzle, these puzzles are solved by moving or interacting with objects on the main screen.

The Book of Air also adds an element of growth (or leveling, in RPG terms). There are little jewel pieces scattered all over the various locations in the game, and you unlock certain abilities when you find enough of them. Finding ten of these pieces will unlock the ability to decipher encrypted codes, another twenty pieces will unlock the ability to reveal magically hidden objects, and so forth. These abilities also serve as obstacles preventing you from accessing more difficult areas, as you will need them to solve some of the puzzles that you come across.

Dream Chronicles: The Book of Air is a great adventure puzzle game that will satisfy both newcomers and fans of the series alike. The production quality of the game is top notch, as can be seen in the almost-perfect art and soundtrack as well as the intricate and detailed puzzles and story. This game is also designed to be the first part in a new Dream Chronicles trilogy starring Lyra, so there's no better time to enter this magical dream world.

You can get the basic version of the PC game, or you can get the Collector's Edition which includes exclusive extras including bonus locations and gameplay, bonus soundtrack, a built-in strategy guide as well as a sneak peak of the next Dream Chronicles game! Or you can get the basic version or the Collector's Edition of the Mac version of the game.

Check out the other games in this series!

Related PC Games at Big Fish Games:

Dream Chronicles: The Book of Air Collector's Edition

Magic Encyclopedia: Illusions

The Tarot's Misfortune

Wiki