Dream Chronicles: The Book of Air, often shortened to Dream Chronicles 4 or The Book of Air, is a 2010 adventure and puzzle casual game developed by KatGames, originally published by PlayFirst. It is the fourth installment in the Dream Chronicles series, the third sequel to 2007's award-winning game Dream Chronicles, and the opening part of the second unfinished trilogy titled Lyra's Destiny. Re-opening the story ten years after the conclusion of the third game, Dream Chronicles: The Chosen Child, players now take on the role of Lyra, whose daughter of the previous main character Faye, as her destiny unfolds. Set in a mystical world of realistic fantasy where mortal and fairy realms collide, the game opens on the eve of Lyra’s 18th birthday when she is magically transported to an alternate dimension. Following clues left behind by her grandfather and taking the helm of a flying airship, Lyra explores the mystical landmarks of the gorgeous, yet mysterious Dream world, in search of the mystical Clockmaker who is the only one that can restore time and return her to her family.
The Book of Air was first presented limitedly as a beta version on March 12, 2010. It was released worldwide as a digital download under two editions, Collector's and Standard, on June 24 and July 8, 2010 respectively by PlayFirst. Each edition was quickly available on PlayFirst's exclusive partner, Big Fish Games, on the following day of each release date. Both editions feature the optional double-mode game, while the Collector's one contains an extra location, seven mini-puzzles, some concept artworks, six wallpapers, the game soundtrack, a detailed walkthrough, a PC screensaver, and a sneak peek (actually some artworks) at the fifth game The Book of Water. On May 5, 2011, a high-definition version of this game was available via App Store for iPad device, becoming the first game in the series to be released there.
Unlike three previous games, it was met with mixed to positive reviews from casual game critics, describing it as "a beautiful point-and-click fantasy game that mixes puzzles and slight hidden object hunting to create a beautiful adventure series," though they criticized it for not matching the highly-polished standards of three previous games and its very short length. The game itself still proved to be commercially successful, and reached the top of seven major casual game charts. The Book of Air spawned a direct sequel named Dream Chronicles: The Book of Water (2011).
Gameplay
Dream Chronicles: The Book of Air is structured much like other three previous games in the series with some major twists. There are lots of improvements in gameplay overall compared to others. It is more of a quest-like adventure than a traditional hidden object game, a mixing of adventure and puzzle game. Featuring loads of puzzles and logical quests with different difficulties, The Book of Air still assure that puzzles are well-tricky and tightly blended with the story, which is a typical feature of quest or click-and-point games, such as: putting together parts of broken statues, reconstructing tricky mechanisms, unscrambling messages using the power of Dream Jewels and many more. There are no lists of items to find but a huge amount of inventory based puzzles, logical riddles and quests to solve, which have been scattered through the locations in the game. The objects that players find may be used in a scene other than the one they found it in. Objects will stay in inventory until players need to use them. All objects that players are able to pick up will serve a purpose, whether they are used in that scene or not. A lot of times in this game the pieces players pick up may only be used as they get to the next scene. Some items may not become visible in a scene right away, players must perform other tasks first before they become visible.
One of the biggest improvements The Book of Air has over its predecessors is a system of hints for locating difficult items. Although it is still possible to get hung up on some of the game's more taxing brainteasers, players will no longer find themselves stuck trying to find items thanks to a recharging magnifying glass 'hint power' that can be used to reveal an object's location. But if there are not any, the power of hints is not used. There are two difficulty modes to play, Casual and Challenge. Each mode has the same puzzles but their complexities are different. At the beginning, the game offers players the option to play in either Casual or Challenge Mode, and if they want the game to offer the slightest bit of resistance they would pick the former. While Casual Mode offers simpler puzzles and the ability to skip them if players get stuck long enough, Challenge Mode offers slightly harder puzzles, but will not let players skip any. Players cannot change the difficulty once they have chosen it.
Unlike three previous games, Dream Chronicles’ feature factor called Dream Jewels come with five special powers. Now they can be used to decode fairy words ("Decipher"), make hidden fairy things visible ("Reveal"), transmute gold into wood ("Transmute"), illuminate dark rooms ("Illuminate"), and create thunder or rain ("Thunder"). In order to activate Dream Jewels, players need to fill them with Dream Pieces which are thrown throughout. And they can also use the "hint power" to find Dream Pieces. At the end of the game, players earn a high score. The faster how players can complete the game, the more Dream Jewels and Dream Pieces they can find, the fewer times they skip puzzles, the better score they will earn. When players play again under the same name, some of the key items themselves will be in different places the second times around.
Plot
On the eve of the 18th birthday, a half-fairy half-mortal girl named Lyra had a strange dream. All her friends and family were there tonight to celebrate that special event, and Lyra's grandfather Tangle had prepared an amazing gift for her. But then Lyra heard a whisper, and everyone quickly disappeared. Waking up from that dream, Lyra finds herself alone in her beloved Town of Wish as she is being trapped in a parallel dimension which is very similar to her original one. Guided by the messages left by Tangle plus using her father's magically hidden airship, Lyra breaks out to find Tangle's odd fairy friend simply called the Clockmaker, who is the only stranger could help her get back home, and reunite with family and friends. She finds the Clockmaker in his hideout and thankfully, he agrees to help. Lyra have to find three magical keys in three separately hidden areas; Treehouse Village, Wind Music Island, and Water Collector; to re-activate the Clockmaker's Time Synchronization Machine.
