Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged Review – A Fine, If Sparse, Remaster of an Adventure Classic

As a seasoned gamer with decades of gaming under my belt, I must say that the remastered version of Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – The Angel of Death, fondly known as Reforged, left me with mixed feelings.

When did gaming grow up? Depending on who you ask, you could receive any of the following answers. One, it didn’t. Two, it didn’t have to. Three, in 1986, when the British Board of Film Classification drove a 15 certificate right through Dracula, on the Commodore 64, staking its claim on computer entertainment. Four, when Mortal Kombat came out. Five, when the poster for WipEout depicted clubgoers with glazed eyes and bleeding noses. Six, when that Irish choir chanted over the chilly green waters and Metal Gear Solid rippled into focus. Fine answers, all. But there is another. One that always comes back to me – an instant when what games could be seemed to open, like a sewer grate scraped aside, into a thrilling dark. When and where did this happen? I’ll tell you: “Paris in the fall. The last months of the year, and the end of the millennium.”

George Stobbart, a young American with a distinctive wavy hairdo, is the protagonist of Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars, a 1996 point-and-click adventure game. What makes his words special is that if you find yourself captivated by Broken Sword (which is quite common), it’s as if they become your own – a nostalgic reflection on the past. Our initial encounter with him is striking: he lounges casually, a toothpick in his smirk, flirting with a waitress as she serves café au lait. He appears relaxed, but more accurately, he’s temporarily free from worries. We discover that he studied law and is currently on vacation, savoring life before the courtroom demands take over again. However, things soon take an unexpected turn. A bomb explodes, the bistro shatters, and George is sent flying in a dramatic cloud of red smoke.

As a devoted admirer, I’d put it this way: Despite the enigmatic mysteries unfolding on the Atlantic shores or the descent into the depths within bathyspheres, Broken Sword stands apart from the crowd. It avoids the gloom that is frequently associated with maturity in games. There are no explicit scenes, harsh language, drugs, or sexual content – except for the subtle seduction portrayed through the waitress’ eyes and George’s casual demeanor seated in that ornate metal chair. The artwork, reminiscent of a Don Bluth animation (Eoghan Cahill and Neil Breen both having worked at Sullivan Bluth Studios), adds to this charm. Even when chaos erupts on a sunny day, it doesn’t dim the brightness or tarnish the vibrant hues. As George himself remarks, “Life carried on around me.” Unlike most games, Broken Sword doesn’t dwell on terrorism, instead treating it as an unfortunate part of life rather than a heavy burden. Unlike modern war-themed games like Call of Duty where tranquil streets are foreshadowed by impending chaos, any semblance of normalcy in Broken Sword feels refreshing – a testament to its European sophistication and unconventional approach to storytelling.

Once again, the thrilling adventure game, Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged, has made a comeback! Contrary to the suggestive name, it wasn’t crafted with hammers, tongs, and vats of hissing orange goop. Instead, it was developed by the original creator, Revolution Software, using cutting-edge technology, specifically custom AI programs co-developed with the University of York. In an interview, the game’s first director, Charles Cecil, explained that without AI assistance, the project would have been too costly to execute.

As a devoted gaming enthusiast who values organic experiences, I can share some insightful information about a game’s development that might ease your concerns. According to Cecil, the process of using sprites was applied, which allowed the artists and animators to avoid the tedious task of redrawing everything again. The backgrounds, however, were handcrafted by human hands, based on Eoghan Cahill’s initial designs.

It’s too clean. This may be a profoundly bitchy thing to say, but Paris deserves dirt, and there ain’t enough here. Granted, this new version is suitable for 4K resolutions, and there are things here that will make you smile. The car in the hotel courtyard with the custard paint job, clearly always meant to be a Citroën 2CV, now bears a 2CV badge and an ironed-out back. The lines on brickwork and creeper-covered walls are more intricate, as if the grittiness of old had been brushed away like soot. Other times, the details aren’t quite right. Nico Collard, the photo-journalist who partners with George to sniff around in the wake of the bomb, now has a cushion in her apartment that resembles a cat’s head, replete with a dumb tongue and wide eyes. That is so not Nico.

As a gamer, I’ve got to say that this game is still visually stunning, but it seems like the exaggerated backdrops have toned down a bit compared to the original. The cartoon characters moving around in these landscapes don’t quite fit the same surreal vibe as before. It’s not nearly as over-the-top as the art style we saw in the Director’s Cut from 2009, which made George and Nico look like characters straight out of a “wikiHow” guide on “Unraveling a Gordian Conspiracy while Courting a Moody Parisian… in 204 Steps that Make No Sense.” This new version also doesn’t have the extra chapters where we controlled Nico and explored a tangled subplot that seemed to eat away at the main storyline.

Cecil and I agree that the original game is superior. The classic version on PC still brings a thrill, even with the option to adjust graphics in Reforged; however, it doesn’t quite match the original’s charm. Instead of refining the grainy aesthetic, the original feels sharper and more vibrant.

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2024-09-26 16:42