It was huddled over my mum’s Gameboy Advance as a lad that I first encountered the globe-trotting, mildly wacky world of Broken Sword. A classic action-adventure game from the golden age of such titles, Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars is, without a doubt, one of the genre’s most iconic releases – and now you can play it in absolutely glorious 4K definition.
Gone are the crunched-up art assets held back by the technological limits of the time – this version of Shadow of the Templars resembles a living adventure cartoon, fresh from the pages of a nostalgic comic book. The music has also been touched up, but it still has that slight crackle to it, the audio equivalent of the smell held by old books. This is a chance to revisit a genre-defining title all over again – does it deliver on that potential?
Globe-trotting mysteries, razor-sharp wit
If you’ve never played a Broken Sword game before, I’ll give you a quick primer before diving into the reasons why this is the definitive release of the best game in the series. Shadow of the Templars follows the journey of American tourist George Stobbart – an average guy with a knack for getting in trouble and finding creative ways back out of it. Caught up in an international conspiracy following a bombed cafe in Paris, George teams up with French journalist Nico Collard to get to the bottom of the mystery.
It’s not serious in tone – though the stakes are high, the characters always have time to crack a joke in the face of danger, and it’s genuinely funny. The game was originally released in 1996, but the writing still holds up incredibly well, and that is really the perennial power that has kept players – new and old alike – coming back to the game over the years. Though we may certainly face a few intense dramatic peaks along the way, Broken Sword is… pretty upbeat. It’s charming and colourful, and that really comes alive in this version of the game.
Original artwork lovingly restored
Gone are the rustic pixelated art assets of earlier releases – Shadow of the Templars Reforged delivers its visuals in lovingly restored artwork, which still carries the endearing marks of 90s animation but looks sharper than ever before. This brings the game’s wide variety of mostly clickable environments to life in entirely new ways. Or, well, old ways, technically – this is all the original artwork, it’s just finally fully displayed.
George’s somewhat casual quest for the truth takes him from the streets (and sewers) of Paris to the Irish countryside, a lonely Spanish villa and the markets of Syria, and each location contains a colourful cast of characters that serve to draw you, fully, into the little bits of the world Broken Sword visits. Though each scene is small, they’re packed with details and puzzles with clever solutions – there’s very little in the way of forced puzzle solutions, most of the time it feels logical and just difficult enough to make you feel clever for completing it.
The writing is always the big highlight, as we’ve covered briefly already. The dialogue is great – George and Nico’s constant witty back-and-forth, the little quips characters will fire off at George if he asks them stupid questions or shows them the contents of his pockets. One particularly pleasing running joke involves a gag item you can show to basically every character you meet, with all of them refusing to engage in it – only for it to pay off incredibly in a moment of life and death.
If you’ve never played a Broken Sword game before, there is no better place to start than the original game itself, especially so lovingly arranged as Shadow of the Templars Reforged is. If, like me, you adore Broken Sword already, this fresh release of Shadow of The Templars is the best version of the game you can get. Either way, this is still a perfect action-adventure game.
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars Reforged overall verdict
This is the best version you can buy of a simply incredible game. If you have even the slightest bit of nostalgia for the golden age of these hand-drawn adventure games, it will reach deep down into your soul and settle down for a few wonderful hours of irritating the French, filling your pockets with nonsense, and chuckling at witty dialogue.
Shadow of the Templars remains a well-paced, satisfying action-adventure game that takes you on a globe-trotting romp through conspiracy and intrigue. Even if you don’t have a handful of nostalgia for these games, they are well worth experiencing for the sharp, dry humour and quick but thoughtful puzzles alone.
It’s great to see Shadow of the Templars come back to life like this. Don’t miss out.
Lars reviews mead (and eventually, tabletop games) at drunkendice.co.uk – find your next favourite bottle there. Read more FULLSYNC game reviews here.
