A Sword Reforged

04 May 2009 at 04:20:42 by Peter Parrish

Released in 1996, during an era that can now be viewed as something of a ‘golden age’ for adventure gaming, Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars was the first in an eventual quadruple of titles. Chronicling the travels and travails of US tourist George Stobbart, Shadow of the Templars was a welcome addition to a smattering of adventure titles that, like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992) and Flight of the Amazon Queen (1995), focused on globe-trotting exploration and the investigation of ancient mythology.

Though often declared to be so, point and click adventure titles are not deceased. Lucasarts may have turned their back on the genre after releasing a fourth Monkey Island title in 2000, but smaller companies and enthusiasts have kept the flame burning strong on the PC. The excellent ScummVM can get older adventures from several companies up and running on modern boxes, and on the Nintendo DS, the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series has found great success with sections heavily influenced by the giants of mid-90s adventure gaming.

Now, Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars has been re-released by Ubisoft in ‘Director’s Cut’ form on the DS and Wii, raising the intriguing possibility of other adventure games following suit.

Shadow of the Templars

In the shadowy catacombs beneath IncGamers HQ we fashioned a communication device from some seemingly unconnected items and exchanged conspiratorial whisperings with Charles Cecil, head of Revolution Software and designer-director of the Broken Sword series.

Just three years ago even Cecil himself was expressing doubts in interviews about the marketability of old school point and clicks, so what exactly has changed in the intervening period to encourage the re-release of a classic adventure title?

“Did I really say that? To be fair, adventures weren’t selling at that time. Since then the obsession for 3D has diminished and, as well as the hard core adventure fans, we have a new audience – the more casual gamer who wants a less visceral, more cerebral experience.”

Alongside this audience, who, if properly reached, would appear to be the perfect fit for the charms of point and click adventures, new systems have flourished: “The adventure game fits perfectly with the Nintendo [DS and Wii] platforms both in terms of the tactility of the gameplay, and the audience that Nintendo have drawn into gaming.”

Naturally, Cecil hopes that the added hours of gameplay will bring fans of the original back to the series too; in much the same way as previously unheard tracks can encourage people to indulge in a re-issued album. “A lot has been added so I very much hope that fans of the series will return to try this new version,” he says. Some of the dialogue has also been tightened up, with a few of the more dated nationalist jokes put out of their misery.

“The game starts a day before the original, with Nico [George Stobbart’s friend and confidant] witnessing a brutal murder by an assassin dressed as a mime. This introduces a whole new sub-plot – she soon discovers that the victim has a dark secret, and is devastated to discover that she has her own. This additional story interweaves with the original – so you play Nico again later in the game. When the game was given to people who had not played the original, they were surprised to discover that there had been any additions – so hopefully this indicates that the integration is pretty seamless.”

All of which means new puzzles, and more chances to spring up in the middle of the night with a bonkers idea about combining some dusty rags with a tent pole in order to force somebody on the second floor of a building to sneeze. For those less enamoured of the curious masochism that adventure gaming sometimes demands, however, this version of Broken Sword provides an in-built lifeline: “This time around we included a context sensitive hint system which allows people to seek help if they get stuck” says Cecil, “Hopefully to ensure that they don’t get frustrated.” A small crumb of comfort to anybody who lost significant amounts of hair trying to figure out the infamous goat puzzle the first time around …

Fans of Beneath a Steel Sky (BaSS) will be heartened to learn that this project has once again paired Charles with artist Dave Gibbons, who contributed new brushwork to the release: “It was at just the right moment – he was finishing a long term project and was yet to move onto his work on the Watchmen movie. Dave drew all the various character facial expressions, which were then animated. [He] also drew the characters and backgrounds for new cut scenes, in-game elements like photographs, paintings etc.”

Those same BaSS fans should be even more heartened by this extra teasing remark: “This Broken Sword Director’s Cut will go a long way to proving the potential market for this type of adventure – if it is successful then we will certainly explore opportunities for a BaSS sequel.”