The FunCom team considers the Blade Runner-esque nightmarish future urban scenarios to be very tired and overdone. The world of Dreamfall, even though it’s set a couple of hundred years in the future, is not an ugly place that looks like a sunless stretch of oil refineries. Zöe lives in Casablanca, and it’s a beautiful, modern city that doesn’t feel overly alien.

I can’t tell you much about the plot, but I can tell you that the flashback sets up Zöe’s story by introducing her life in Casablanca, her family, friends, and her job as a waitress. The game begins at a deliberately relaxed pace, giving the player a chance to settle in to the world and the story. There will be no formal in-game control tutorial, because the controls should be completely intuitive and easy to pick up. The beginning environment of Casablanca is beautiful and expansive, and you’ll get to know it well as Zöe begins to notice that something is not quite right . . . why does she keep seeing strange things on television that no one else is seeing? Why, indeed!

Technically, there were a few more load screens than I would have preferred to see, but at least they were short.

Them’s Fightin’ Words

A couple of words on the game’s combat. Yeah, I said “combat.” Don’t panic, however! At least with the character of Zöe, combat will always be one option, not a necessity. (You get to play several other characters during the course of the game, including – yea! – April Ryan, and it’s not yet clear whether this “optional” combat situation is true for anyone but Zöe).

I saw a demonstration of the combat with Zöe, and it’s a pretty simple affair. It’s not about twitch reflexes or complex moves (though you can learn a few new moves if you have Zöe get trained). Each playable character will have different moves and combat capabilities. Evidently, April Ryan will be have better combat skills than Zöe.