Broken Sword Threw Players Into Templar vs Assassin Conflict and Ended Tedious „Pixel Hunting”
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars is one of the best adventure games in the history of the genre. An engaging story was woven into gameplay that abandoned the tired and annoying themes familiar from other adventure games of the time.
Debuting in 1996, Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars was not the work of amateurs. Revolution Software studio has already made three adventure games, including the Amiga version of King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow. Charles Cecil, however, wanted to achieve something more with his story worthy of a movie production.
This desire gave rise to Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars, which introduced a new quality to the adventure game genre. The game stood out with its beautiful, hand-drawn visuals, atmospheric music, and memorable characters. Despite nearly being 30 years old, the game captivates to this day and makes you want to follow the further adventures of George Stobbart and Nicole Collard.
Broken Sword ended an annoying trend among adventure games
Every player who had contact with adventure games in those years struggled with so-called pixel hunting. What was that? Well, developers often created rather obscure puzzles, in which you had to comb through the entire screen with the mouse pointer to find one specific interactive element needed to push the story forward.
The lack of transparency in puzzles also manifested differently. While playing, one tried to combine all the items in the inventory with each other or with the items placed in the environment. The solutions were often not obvious, if not outright illogical, as a result everything had to be tested by trial and error until the correct solution was found.
Broken Sword stood out from the crowd because the puzzles were logical and the interactive items weren't tiny, hard-to-see objects. Often instead of looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack, you just need to talk to one of the characters and they will provide the solution to the problem or push the action forward.
As a result, playing Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars was more dynamic – players are not stuck for long hours with a puzzle whose solution is as ambiguous as possible. George Stobbart handles all the adversities he has to face in Paris and other regions of the world exceptionally well.
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars did, however, offer one element that connected the title to games of the past.You see, the main character could die. A bad decision could have led to George's death, which was a certain token sign of those times. This has obviously changed - death mechanics in adventure games have long been forgotten.
An American lawyer gets caught in the middle of a conflict between the Templars and Assassins
The fight between the Templars and the Assassins was the basis of the Assassin's Creed, series but it was Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars that was one of the first games, if not the first, to use the aforementioned historical theme. The murder case in the opening scene leads us onto the path of a private investigation. At first, it resembles a situation straight out of a crime series, when we want to learn more about the victim and the perpetrator.
From a down-to-earth story, it transitions into touching on conspiracy theories, with the eternal duel between the Templars and Assassins in the foreground. Then the story presents supernatural events, which could disrupt the perception of the whole game. However, this is not the case, because the world of the first Broken Sword remains consistent.
Everything we see in the game is believable to some extent. This reality is contested only by characters like a florist who believes she can predict the future or an inspector who claims that mind reading helps him solve cases. In this way, the game doesn't take itself entirely seriously, although it doesn't reach the levels of absurdity found in the Monkey Island series.
We follow the story of The Shadow of the Templars like it's a good movie. The dubbing is of a very high standard and you can hear that the actors knew the situation their characters were in. There is no dissonance between what we hear and what we see on the screen. The first Broken Sword sets a certain tone and stays true to it until the very end.
Charles Cecil's study of the history of the Templars makes the game somewhat of an educational resource. The plot contains a lot of true information about the order and during the gameplay, you can learn a few historical facts related to the activities and fall of the Templars.
The director's cut of The Shadow of the Templars shed new light on the story
In the subsequent parts of the series, Nicole Collard gained importance and became a character as significant as George Stobbart. For this reason, her secondary presence in the first part could have become bothering to some. This was fixed in Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut from 2009. Stobbart's adventure is interwoven with stages in which we play as Nicole and it is with her that we start the whole story this time.
This enriches and prolongs the adventure, but at the same time negatively affects the coherence of the story. Nicole uncovers new secrets related to her father's past and the ongoing case. However, she doesn't inform George about anything, which is illogical considering they are working together to catch a murderer. The journalist also received another set of puzzles, in which we move blocks or decode a secret message.
Not everyone liked these puzzles because they were associated with mobile games and one of the platforms for which Director's Cut was created was smartphones. Despite this, the new version of the first Broken Sword expanded the character of Nicole, who is important for the entire series.
Broken sword reforged
The director's cut is not the end of The Shadow of the Templars' story, because September 19, 2024 a remaster of the original game from 1996 was released. The refreshed game, still faithful to the original, enabled us to relive the adventure of George Stobbart. Since Reforged is based on the original, it does not feature Nicole Collard's stages. For some fans, this may be a positive aspect, while for others it may be a major drawback.
How to play Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars today?
If someone, after the years, would like to remind themselves of the first Broken Sword or use it for first contact with the series, they have many opportunities to do so. On Steam and on GOG Director's Cut it is available on sales for a token buck, and on normal terms for about $5. On both platforms, after purchasing the director's cut, we also receive the original version of the game for free. On the other hand, Reforged is offered for $35 on PC (again on Steam or GOG), PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch.
