Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars: Reforged

Broken Sword is the ultimate point-and-click classic if you ask me (even if you didn’t). The 90s had plenty of gaming gems, both in and out of the adventure/point-and-click genre. But there was a time when point-and-click games were a dime a dozen, and saturation started to settle in. Then Broken Sword came along and while it didn’t reinvent the genre, it did revitalise it. With beautiful artwork, compelling lateral elements, and of course, a great story and cast of characters, Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars left its mark on gamers such as my brother and me, who love the game (along with 2, and 3) to this very day.

So, it’s a no-brainer to have Broken Sword remastered, and remastered properly, unlike the ill-fated director’s Cut from a decade ago. So, how does this remaster hold up?


What is Broken Sword: SOTT Reforged?

Well, I trust you know what Broken Sword is, but a recap for those who don’t – Broken Sword is a point-and-click adventure game which came at the height of the genre back in 1996. While this was the same year as the birth of the PlayStation and advanced graphics and gameplay, Broken Sword managed to capture the hearts and minds of many gamers. Especially when the genre had a slight decline for a couple of years.

We follow George Stobbart, your everyday Gen Xer and American tourist who’s decided to take in the sights and sounds of 90’s Paris. While making a quick stop at a local café, he’s involved in a terrible incident as a bomb is detonated. Engulfed in fire, and broken glass, the café is destroyed, but with righteous luck, George is unharmed yet demands answers. What follows is George’s curiosity getting the better of him, as he investigates the explosion, who caused it and why. Leading him on an epic adventure down a dark rabbit hole of conspiracy, cultism, and murder.

You point, click, gather items and clues, solve puzzles and talk to a ton of memorable characters in great depth. And now we have a fully remastered version that revamps the art, smooths the controls and UI, and adds in some delightful quality-of-life inclusions. With such an exceptional and approachable adventure game, even after 28 years, did it need a remaster?


A Big budget, Hollywood adventure, on your Windows 95 PS5

Back in the day, or the 90s, when the boom of Point and Click occurred, the gameplay side of things was less than stellar to the likes of COD, RE, or MGS. While puzzle solving and the mystery at hand were an important part, the core of these games, and whether they lived or died, was on the writing. And Broken Sword even to this day has exceptional writing, that’s cleaver, greatly paced, and delivers some of the finest characters in gaming, who have sadly lost relevance over time.

Written by Charles Cecil, Dave Cummins, and Jonathan Howard, these guys how to craft an excellent tale that felt like a big Hollywood production. The inciting event is a rather explosive one, and George is just your everyman, who becomes much more when he decides to find out that Hell happened. It’s a clever tale of feeling the brunt of a tragic event which never was about you, going out and settling a score, only to realise that you’ve stumbled into something far more than you can manage.

And while George’s last name (Stobbart) can easily be seen as a bit of play on his nature, and how he’s involved himself in a great conspiracy.  Everything else story-wise, drama and comedy is exceptional, even after nearly 30 years.

The plot takes us from Paris, Ireland, Spain, Syria, and England as George, and a new friend Nicco, venture forth to find the heart of the mystery and to solve it. For what reason? Honestly, fame, money, but also to find out the wrongdoers behind the attack. I love how honest and grounded it all feels, not having it be noble, or in good faith to begin with, but as the murders continue, and the stakes are raised, George’s curiosity relies heavily on his conscience and wanting to help Nicco bring down the shadowy organisation behind everything.

The characters are so well written, likeable, funny, and have the right amount of arrogance, and peeves to make them human but not annoying in the slightest. Even the villains are likeable, ranging from cartoony gangsters to genuine serious threats. And I admire just how darkly funny some of the game-over bits can be, various epic outcomes of overcoming a foe, and just the general chatter between George and various characters is always engaging, and I hang on every word that is spoken.

I always loved the moments when George first walks into a pub in Ireland and says, “Top of the morning to ya” to the barman, and he reacts with “What?!”. Or when George decides to play a police officer and attempt to citizen arrest a group of cultists (doesn’t end well). Or using an electric buzzer to overpower a deadly assassin. There’s so much terrific stuff here, from funny jokes, gripping set pieces and all the right emotional notes that bring so much joy when you save the day.

There aren’t any complaints I can make, even replaying the entire story and knowing it like the back of my hand, I still immensely enjoyed it. Broken Sword is quite a long game however, and if you’re stuck on a puzzle or unable to progress forward, it can make the venture feel longer, or even quite bumpy. There is one notorious puzzle involving a goat which when I originally played this in the late 90’s, annoyed me and my brother so much that Ireland felt like a dire chapter by the end, even with the stellar writing. But replaying it again and again, these feelings have long passed.

So yeah, the writing, characters, and everything else is grand, having aged spectacularly well and feels right at home with veterans of the genre, and younger audiences.


Point, Click, Discover, Solve, and overcome some moon logic


As for this remaster, it has a lot of bells and whistles as you might expect, for a point-and-click game. The artwork is much smoother, and cleaner, replacing the pixel art characters, and 480p backgrounds with much crisper, nicer-looking visuals.

Included are a few new gameplay features that allow hints, tips, and minor accessibility for the gameplay. They’re simple and few, but enough to ensure new players aren’t lost. Thankfully the first Broken Sword doesn’t have many Moon logic moments that hints are needed, but it is nice to have gentle guidance on any time you might feel a little stuck, or need a pointer.

Reforged looks incredible, with a refined art style and cutscenes, along with the music which was fantastic before, but sounds even better now, and there are accessibility options to make an approachable game, even more so. The only thing that I noticed was the voice audio quality dipped from sounding nice and clear, to the same quality as 28 years ago. I admire the fact that they didn’t replace the original voiceovers… but it might have been super nice to re-record the voiceovers and give the option to switch. If having the original audio vamped up wasn’t an option?

Much else has been left untouched, with all the gameplay remaining intact. You will be exploring various locations around the world, talking to people, gathering clues and info, along with picking up any old crap that George might find useful. And there is a lot of random crap he does find useful! It’s a grand old mystery adventure game, filled with tons of problem-solving, key findings, and delightful conversations with weird and wonderful supporting characters. There are plenty of deaths and mishaps ready to happen if you make one wrong move. Which I love, adding a somewhat unsuspecting element of tension of shock, like getting squashed by a massive stone lion head when you don’t move out of its way in time.

I love this stuff, and it does give plenty of urgency, dread, and the darkest of comedy that does give me the chuckles still. I will admit that there were a few moments which could leave you clueless, either by requiring some pixel hunting, or just not making the objective or interactive items clear enough. There is that, and some puzzles with moon logic for sure. Although the first Broken Sword is much better than the sequel for this and doesn’t have moments which completely softlock you thankfully.

But with the revamping and hint system, these objectives and interactions are much clearer without being massively highlighted. So this is truly a win/win, as you can have the enhancements, or stick to the original way of play, but have a more comfortable journey overall.

If you’re familiar with the genre, then you know what to expect, and it’s all here, all fantastic and rather timeless I must say so. The pacing between talking, puzzle solving, and key hunting is excellent, providing a great variety of objectives and problems to resolve, while taking you across a wide range of beautiful and memorable locations, and meeting all sorts of colourful characters who will stick with you long after finishing the game. There is a lot of talking and one conversation after another, but in all fairness, I’ve played this game 10 times before, and once again for this review. And I hang on every word, bit of exposition, and golden line of comedy as if it were new.

There is of course a bit of trial and error, pixel hunting, and moon logic, but that can be overcome easily with the hint system thankfully (The goat is one of the notorious).


Overall?


Broken Sword remains a brilliantly timeless, point-and-click adventure, and this remaster makes it even more so. This is an excellent remaster for the upgraded presentation and immense quality-of-life inclusions that make this even more approachable, especially for newcomers to the genre and series.

It is a shame there isn’t much else to celebrate this phenomenal game, like behind-the-scenes content, commentary, and unlockable stuff. I get it, it’s nice to have a nice shiny coat of paint and adding in accessibility options is truly welcome. But seeing as the game is nearly 30 years old, it would have been grand to get a better insight into its making and show why this game has a lasting legacy.

But honestly, for fans, it’s a no-brainer and a great reason to have another playthrough for the 20th time. And it’s just amazing to see Broken Sword get the love it deserves, as many old games are now, and introduce them to new fans in such a great package.


++ The presentation and revamped visuals are outstanding
++ The new accessibility options are nice for newcomers to the genre
++ It has great gameplay and writing. Nothing has been removed!

-- Lacking in additional content
- The voice-over audio can be a little grainy at times … and then fine.


The publisher kindly provided a review code for Broken Sword: Shadows of the Templars Reforged.