Dreamfall: Limited Edition and more
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"But there is a third world, unlike anything else.

It is on the border, above and below.

It is ahead and behind.

It is in the past and future, everywhere and always.

It hides a terrible secret,

that will tear apart the boundary between worlds and plunge the universe into chaos.

Those who know of its existence call it Winter."

[cut]

From the guide Dreamfall.

It so happened that with this post I missed the most beautiful occasion: the fifth anniversary of the release, which was celebrated last spring. But it would perhaps be inappropriate to remind everyone of the age of a game that time has no power over. So today, the occasion is different: winter. Just like that.

Longest Journey is the only series I have bought three times: first, the Russian versions from SnowballStudios and NDGames, then the Steam duology, and finally, this collector's edition that was released alongside the release of Dreamfall in 2006, and fortunately, it was not completely sold out in the West.

The contents cannot be called lavish, but everything necessary is present: both parts of the game, a disc with the soundtrack, and a detailed artbook in hardcover. In the photo above, it lies parallel to the DVD-box. Not ideal packaging in terms of preservation, but some Russian publishers could definitely use skills in packing hardcover artbooks into small boxes.

Speaking of local publishers. The release of Longest Journey took place in 1999, but large-scale localization was only rolled out in 2006. If you missed the story of The Longest Journey from Snowball at that time, I highly recommend reading the studio's news feed. And for those who remember, I suggest rereading it; the story is fascinating. I won’t speak for everyone, but I was catching every update about the project back then and even fell for the last PR stunt =) Regarding the localization, I can say this: it's one of the few cases where there is absolutely no dissonance between the Russian and English versions, and one can switch between them without loss of perception. The localization was released in a jewel case on 2CD, and later there was a DVD re-release. Interestingly, the localization of Longest Journey was ultimately released on December 1, 2006, a month and a half after the Russian Dreamfall.

The localization of Dreamfall was handled by NDGames in close collaboration with SnowballStudios. Not so close that it could avoid discrepancies in terms, but the same actors were involved in the voice acting, and both games were perceived equally well. Dreamfall had an important advantage: the language could literally be switched on-the-fly in the game settings, both for voice and subtitles. To suit every taste. It is also worth mentioning the tradition of New Disk back then: to first release the game completely in English along with the worldwide launch, then localize it as it was ready. Thus, in May 2006, the English version of Dreamfall was released, reportedly even in DVD-box! I would be glad to add information about it in the post if anyone from the readers has preserved this rarity.

Since the release of Dreamfall, more than five years have passed, but that's okay. The thing is that Funcom is famous not only for this series but also for MMO games: [Anarchy Online](/games?search=Anarchy Online), [Age of Conan](/games?search=Age of Conan), and [the Secret World](/games?search=the Secret World). After the not-so-successful launch of [Age of Conan](/games?search=Age of Conan), the studio had to focus all its efforts on [Secret World](/games?search=Secret World), which is slated for launch in the upcoming spring. And if everything goes according to plan, the continuation of Dreamfall will follow right after it. You can imagine the costs of a project of this level are enormous, while the financial returns are much lower than those from shooters and other mainstream games.

But even if [Secret World](/games?search=Secret World) fails, which seems unlikely, we will still get at least one sequel. That’s just how it is with the person who created Longest Journey, and whose name this post could not skip: Ragnar Tørnquist. He actively runs a formspring account, and although it is almost entirely dedicated to [Secret World](/games?search=Secret World) now, you can gather a lot of interesting insights about his thoughts on the TLJ series and its continuation(s?). Of course, it is his words that open the artbook of Dreamfall (on the left):

And of course, it is the artbook that makes purchasing the Limited Edition worthwhile. Enjoy the spreads, and at the end – a small surprise.