At least part of Dreamfall Chapters will hit its release date

Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey was expected to launch in November this year, and while that's still technically true, it won't be the full game.

Sequel to Ragnar Tørnquist's classic adventures The Longest Journey and Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, Dreamfall Chapters was initially conceived of as an episodic release, but the idea was scrapped before it launched its successful Kickstarter campaign.

This decision has now been revoked, with the first episode, Book One, expected to release in northern autumn this year. That means backers will have at least part of the game in their hands by November - the full project's original release date - at the latest.

"We know most of you have waited long enough for the conclusion of Zoë’s story — at least now we’re getting started on that conclusion sooner rather than later: Dreamfall Chapters Book One: Reborn will be coming out before our originally announced November date," Tørnquist wrote in a Kickstarter update.

As for why the decision has been made, as with the similarly divided Broken Age the project grew beyond the scope of its initial budget. Rather than leave fans waiting by delaying, Red Thread has elected to return to its original plan.

"The creative process is unpredictable, however, and the story we’re telling has turned out to be bigger and more ambitious than first envisioned," Tørnquist wrote.

"We’re not on track to meet the release date we estimated a year and a half ago, and we've had to take a long, hard look at our schedule and budget."

Tørnquist also said that the game’s structure and themes weren't changed when Red Thread Games initially elected not to release episodically, so this reversal shouldn't actually have any consequences on how the full game plays.

"Since the story was designed for episodes, in-game time already passes between each book — sometimes weeks, sometimes months — and the story won’t feel any more fragmented than originally intended. Each book also has its own, self-contained arc, with a beginning, middle and end," an FAQ noted.

If you're feeling disgruntled by this decision do please go read the full update, as Red Thread discusses its decision-making process in more detail, outlining the various compromises it would have had to make to release the full game - while still suffering a delay.

"We will announce the release date for Book Two soon after the release of Book One, and we will work very hard to keep the wait between books as brief as possible. Book Two is already in alpha, and Book Three isn’t far behind," Tørnquist added.

Thanks, Joystiq.