Broken Sword – Shadow of The Templars: Reforged is a brand-new version of a game that I first encountered in its original form when it released way back in 1996. While the game debuted on the PC, my experience was with the hugely popular PlayStation version. At the time, I had no access to the internet, so unfortunately, I reached a point where I became stuck and gave up on it. A few years later, a close friend picked up Broken Sword and became a huge admirer, despite losing hours of progress due to a power cut caused by a housemate doing some late-night soldering. I didn’t know what I was missing. After playing Reforged, I want to give my younger self a good talking to.
Broken Sword is a point-and-click adventure, popularized in the eighties and nineties by titles such as Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island. Gameplay centers around clicking to direct your character and interacting with objects. You collect items to store in your inventory and use in the environment, and some can be combined with each other.
You play George Stobbart, an American tourist visiting Paris, who, as he sits in a local café, gets more than the tasty croissant he bargained for. A clown enters the café, steals a suitcase from a man, and replaces it with a bomb. George narrowly avoids death and sets off down a path to investigate this mysterious sequence of events instead of hiding in a dark room for a week, which would have been my reaction to nearly being blown to bits. On the way, he encounters psychic police officers, numerous disgruntled workmen, shadowy cults, and a beautiful Parisian photojournalist who helps him piece the clues together.
For those familiar with the original Broken Sword, the first thing that hits you is just how good it looks now. Everything has been redesigned and updated with much greater detail. The backgrounds come alive with an increased interplay of light, color, and darkness, and the sprites seem even more expressive and appealing. These visual updates are especially obvious due to the inclusion of the option to switch between the original graphics and the updated ones at the push of a button, highlighting the sizeable graphical leap 28 years makes possible.
Having this option also demonstrates how marvelous the original pixelated art style was too. If you remember the 20th century at all, it is likely that, like me, you have a fondness for this visual approach. Flicking back to the old imagery filled me with warm nostalgia, like sipping a warm honeyed drink on a cold day. More than this, what they achieved back then within the limitations of the technology is still impressive. In most cases, the designers have not sought to completely change the nature of the settings and characters, but have skillfully evolved them into their current forms. Occasionally, I slightly preferred an older character design, but overall, this is the best way to visually appreciate the title.
It is immediately clear that the developers kept all the vocal tracks from Broken Sword’s first incarnation. Unfortunately, this means that everyone sounds like you are having a long-distance telephone conversation with them using tin cans and a piece of string, with echoey and sometimes muffled dialogue. You soon get used to it though, and this is a price we must pay, as I cannot imagine playing Broken Sword with anything other than this iconic voice acting. Exceptional performances elevate the already captivating storytelling. Hazel Ellerby, as lead protagonist Nicole “Nico” Collard, emphasizes Nico’s fortitude and humor as she supports George in his quest with her investigative skills and the occasional well-timed intervention. The entire thing would fall apart without the work that Rolf Saxon put into creating the voice of George. As you can make George ask any number of inane questions, Saxon must make George sound as equally convincing in the more bizarre moments as he does when playing the role of the action hero, which he accomplishes with style.
Broken Sword is a decades-old game, though, and some elements feel dated today. There’s nothing overly problematic, so I think it is the right decision to present the piece as it has always been, complete with aspects that wouldn’t make it into a finished product nowadays. The makers of Reforged attempt to mitigate this in some areas with new illustrations — for instance, the world map now features postcards rather than pictures of bullfighters and belly dancers. Some stereotypical depictions of nationalities do appear within Broken Sword, from little Irish boy whistling “When Irish Eyes are Smiling” outside of a remote pub, to the exaggerated depictions of Syrians and overweight American tourists. We are painting in broad strokes here. However, no malice is intended, and the largely British creative team is not afraid to take comedic swipes at their own culture, as evidenced by the drunken English football fans who appear later in the game.
The atmospheric music, composed by the late Barrington Pheloung (notable to lovers of classic British TV as the creator of the Inspector Morse theme), reflects the differing locations the game visits, with traditional themes played in Ireland and soulful music ringing out in a Syrian bar. For the most part, it is unobtrusive and subtle, and while being enjoyable, it does not quite reach the heights of the best game scores.
The gameplay is very much of its time. Broken Sword expects significant lateral thinking from you, but the payoff is almost always worth it. Most of the puzzles are ingeniously designed, just hard enough to need some mental heavy lifting,but not too difficult that you pull a muscle. There are some exceptions — the infamous goat dilemma being the most prominent. That one can absolutely get in the bin. Developers Revolution Software understand this, and they offer two distinct ways to engage with the game: Classic Mode and Story Mode. Classic Mode gives you the same challenging (and sometimes frustrating) experience that long-term fans are familiar with, leaving you to your own devices. Story Mode is much more forgiving, and I recommend it to those new to the genre, or if you just don’t want to get stuck for hours on a tricky conundrum. It offers clues on how to proceed, and you can set the regularity at which they appear. Additionally, once you have exhausted conversation options, they disappear from the UI, removing a lot of repetition and annoyance, a welcome convenience in an age when time is a precious commodity.
There are moments of action and danger in the game, which require some quick thinking. If you don’t make the right choice, you’ll be back at the menu screen, which can be a bit irritating if you are gated behind a long story sequence. Thankfully, there are not too many of these, and modern conveniences such as fast loading times and the ability to easily skip dialogue make up for this.
All these pieces come together to make something truly special. As George travels around Europe, meeting colorful and eccentric characters, a kind of Saturday morning magic sets in, like watching Indiana Jones on a school vacation in winter. The varied locations are skillfully chosen and resound with the echoes of history. This Paris is not the modern capital we are familiar with, but an ancient place, with the focus squarely on its medieval churches and historic buildings. In this world, every structure is a monument to the past, every object steeped in story. At the same time, it’s a rip-roaring thriller, with a centuries-old conspiracy to discover. It’s also extremely funny. Nico’s bemused responses to George as he attempts to discuss all the random junk he’s carrying in his pockets with her (like a true point-and-click hero always does) are perfect. Each security guard, police officer, and builder has an amusing quirk — extreme laziness seems to be a running theme. The museum scholar who persists in calling George “Georgie” and the irrepressible British aristocrat Lady Clarissa Piermont also deliver some magnificently witty lines.
Broken Sword – Shadow of The Templars: Reforged takes a game that has always deserved its status as a treasure and polishes its jeweled facets, making it ready to go on display once more. In a developing medium, we need to take the time to revisit our most important titles, so we can better know how our history informs our future.
