Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars


Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars is a 1996 point-and-click adventure game, and the first in the Broken Sword series, developed by Revolution Software. The player assumes the role of George Stobbart, an American tourist in Paris, as he attempts to unravel a conspiracy. The game takes place in both real and fictional locations in Europe and the Middle East.
In 1992, Charles Cecil began researching the Knights Templar for the game after he, Noirin Carmody and Sean Brennan conceived Broken Sword. It was built with Revolution's Virtual Theatre engine. This was also used for the company's previous two games. Cecil co-wrote and directed the game, while Eoghan Cahill and Neil Breen drew the backgrounds in pencil and digitally colored them in Photoshop. The game has a serious tone, but features humor and graphics in the style of classic animated films.
Critics lauded Broken Swords story, puzzles, voice acting, writing, gameplay, and music. The game received numerous award nominations and wins. It achieved commercial success as well, with one million copies sold by 2001. Topping several lists, it is known as one of the greatest examples of adventure gaming. Many developers of later games have cited Broken Sword as an influence.
After its initial release on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, and PlayStation, it was ported to the Game Boy Advance, Palm OS, and Windows Mobile. The game spawned a number of sequels collectively known as the Broken Sword series. From 2009 to 2012, a was released on Wii, Nintendo DS, Microsoft Windows, OS X, iOS, Android and Linux.

Gameplay

Broken Sword is a 2D adventure game played from a third-person perspective. The player uses a point-and-click interface to interact with the environment and to guide protagonist George Stobbart through the game's world. To solve puzzles and progress in the game, the player collects items that may be combined with one another, used on the environment, or given to non-player characters. The protagonist converses with NPCs via dialogue trees presented through "conversation icons" to learn about the game's puzzles and plot. Clues and other information are obtained by clicking on items in the inventory and on objects in the environment. The player navigates with a map, to which new locations are added as the story unfolds. Unlike in most adventure games at the time, the protagonist's death is possible, after which the player starts from the last save point.

Plot

While on holiday in Paris, American tourist George Stobbart witnesses an assassin dressed as a clown steal an old man's briefcase from inside a café, before detonating a bomb and killing him. Following the blast, George encounters photo-journalist Nicole Collard, who is investigating a string of assassination involving the same person in different costumes. Deciding to help her, George manages to track the assassin to a hotel within the city, thanks to clues they left behind near the café, and recovers an ancient manuscript from the hotel safe that the assassin, known as Khan, had taken from the old man. Discovering a pair of thugs are after it as well, George smuggles the document around them. When George brings it back to Nicole, the pair discover it to be related to the Knights Templar, and that it houses clues relating to places across Europe and the Middle East.
Discovering a tripod mentioned in the manuscript being housed in a local museum, George visits the site from where it came from at Lochmarne, Ireland. He soon discovers the archaeologist that found it had disappeared, leaving a package in the care of his assistant. When the assistant gets spooked, he flees, but is abducted by Khan outside a local pub. Learning the package was dropped, George tracks it down and finds it contains a gem mentioned in the manuscript. Upon visiting the excavation site, he locates a mural pointing him to the Montfauçon in Paris. Upon returning to the city, George investigates a hospitalised man named Marquet who wanted the gem, and learns the tripod is to be stolen, moments before Marquet is murdered. George and Nicole successfully thwart the theft, and hold on to the tripod.
Visiting the Montfauçon, George finds a hidden chamber beneath the site and within the city's sewers. Spotting it occupied by a group of people, including Marquet's killer, he spies on them and discovers them to be descended from the Templars. After they leave, George investigates the chamber, and discovers through the gem and tripod that another important clue is housed in the village of Marib in Syria. Visiting the site, George discovers a rock formation called the Bull's Head detailed in the manuscript, and visits it. Finding a cave, he uncovers a glass lens that the Templars sought, an idol of the being called Baphomet, and a stone map of Britain. Shortly after finding these, George finds himself cornered by Khan, who had been seeking him, but outwits the assassin and escapes.
Reuniting with Nicole, George learns from her that a friend, Andre Lobineau, uncovered his next destination. Travelling to a villa in Spain owned by the De Vasconcellos family, George manages to gain an audience with its sole surviving member. Invited to examine the grounds and the family mausoleum, George uncovers the family's chalice after it had been hidden centuries ago. Returning to Paris, George tracks down the tomb of a De Vasconcellos ancestor at the Montfauçon, and investigates an excavation site that had uncovered another idol of Baphomet, using the chalice to find another clue depicting a church with a square tower. Returning to Spain, George investigates the grounds further and finds a hidden well based on biblical references taken from the tomb. Within, he discovers a mural depicting a river running across a chessboard.
Upon returning to Paris, George and Nicole compile their clues with the help of Andre, and learn that the Templars are travelling to a site under the ruins of a church in Bannockburn, Scotland. Deciding to travel their themselves, the pair take the night train, only for the Templars to abduct Nicole. Attempting to rescue her, George discovers Khan is on board, disguised as an old lady from their carriage, who helps to overcome the kidnappers, knocking out Flap before being fatally wounded. George overpowers the others and escapes with Nicole. Reaching the church, the pair discover the Templars seek to acquire the power of Baphomet and reforge his sword, the titular Broken Sword. Realising they cannot be allowed to do so, George and Nicole destroy the site with explosives given to them by Khan, burying the Templars and destroying the ruins above. When the explosion is finished, the pair share a kiss together.

Development

In 1992, Cecil and Noirin Carmody met with Sean Brennan, then-head of publishing at Virgin Interactive, and spoke about how the Knights Templar would make an ideal subject to base a game on. Later, Virgin agreed to issue the game. In a September 1992 interview for French magazine Génération 4, Charles Cecil stated that he had begun working on a scenario for Revolution's third game, after 1992's Lure of the Temptress and 1994's then-upcoming Beneath a Steel Sky. The game would be set in Paris with a Templar story line. The following month, Cecil visited Paris to research the Templars; after reading The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, he was certain there was enough known about the Templars to make them a good subject for a game. Cecil, Dave Cummins, and Jonathan Howard began work on the story and design. Cecil and Cummins attended a film-writing course and their script was read by Alan Drury, a senior BBC scriptwriter and dramatist. Revolution artist Steve Ince created initial location sketches for the game before working on Beneath a Steel Sky. He was promoted to producer halfway through the project.
Despite releasing the PC version, Virgin was not interested in publishing the game on the PlayStation, feeling that only 3D games would sell for the console. As a result, Cecil contacted Sony Computer Entertainment, who agreed to release the game for the console. In North America, Broken Sword was renamed to Circle of Blood. Cecil was uneasy about the name change, feeling that it gave a wrong impression of what type of game it was. In 1998 however, THQ published the game on the PlayStation platform under its original Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars title.
One of Cecil's goals was to depart from the humorous adventure games more popular at the time, such as LucasArts' Monkey Island series, by creating a game with good pacing and a complex storyline, a reason he thought the Knights Templar would be an ideal subject. Unlike LucasArts games, which used a question-and-answer conversation system, Broken Sword offered "conversation icons" that would not reveal to the player what the protagonist was about to say; Cecil's intention was to make the game more cinematic, but not resemble interactive movies of that time; he felt that they were "mimicking movies." He wanted to create two protagonists who would exchange ideas, helping drive the game along. He made George American and Nico French to appeal to US and European markets.
The team at Revolution had high expectations for Broken Sword, but there was significant competition. Revolution had a team that had created successful adventure games, but believed they needed to utilise the best of other creative industries. Eoghan Cahill and Neil Breen of Dublin's Don Bluth studios drew the backgrounds in pencil and digitally colored them in Photoshop. The introductory sequence and the main characters were done by animator Mike Burgess, who worked for the Red Rover animation studio. The game's graphics were animated in a style resembling classic animated films.
Cecil contacted composer Barrington Pheloung, who agreed to create the game's score. Around the time of the game's release, Pheloung stated, "Virgin would probably have been happy with a main theme and a few cues, but I thought that rather than creating an orchestral score like for a movie, I could make one which interacted with the game. So I've written over three hours of music, which is unique in the genre, and over 400 cues." He scored the music for orchestra and added the structural elements by breaking it up into sampled pieces.
Revolution had already cast Hazel Ellerby as Nicole Collard, but had trouble finding a voice actor for George Stobbart. Hazel, who went to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, suggested her former schoolmate from Guildhall, Rolf Saxon, as George. Charles offered him the job, and Saxon accepted. The remaining credited voice actors in the original are Rachel Atkins, David Bannerman, Rosy Clayton, Jack Elliott, Steve Hodson, David Holt, Peter Kenny, Richard Mapletoft, Matthew Marsh, Colin McFarlane, Don McCorkindale, Gavin Muir, Paul Panting, and Andrew Wincott.
Cecil was the game's director and writer, Tony Warriner and David Sykes the designer-programmers, and Noirin Carmody the executive producer. The game uses the Virtual Theatre engine, as do Lure of the Temptress and Beneath a Steel Sky. The game's final cost was one million pounds. It was ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2002, and to the Palm OS and Windows Mobile in 2006.
In March 2009, Ubisoft released a director's cut of The Shadow of the Templars entitled for the Wii and Nintendo DS. Dave Gibbons, with whom Revolution worked on Beneath a Steel Sky, created additional artwork for the game. Due to the platform's size limits, the DS version contains no spoken dialogue, only subtitles. A version of the Director's Cut for iPhone and iPod Touch was released on January 20, 2010. In May 2010, a version in high definition was released for the iPad. Versions for Windows and Mac OS X were released in September 2, 2010, on digital-distribution services. An Android version was released on Google Play in June 2012. The original version of the game is available from Sold-Out Software and GOG.com with Director's Cut purchases, and from Steam as free DLC for Director's Cut owners.

Reception

Sales

Broken Sword was a commercial success, and marked the first time that Revolution Software received royalty payments on a game. By August 2000, it had achieved sales of 825,000 copies, of which 480,000 were sold at full price. It was particularly a hit on the PlayStation, despite low sales expectations. Tony Warriner noted in 2004 that the publisher anticipated "60,000 copies and it went on to do nearly 300,000". As of April 2001, combined sales of Broken Swords computer and PlayStation releases had surpassed one million units, according to Revolution Software. In 2015, Charles Cecil stated that the PlayStation release alone accounted for 500,000 sales. Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut also sold well—particularly the iOS version, which, along with The Smoking Mirrors remastered edition, was downloaded by over four million people in 2011. According to Cecil, the remake's sales were higher than those of ' and '.

Critical reviews

Broken Sword was acclaimed by critics, who praised the game's story, art direction, musical score, voice acting, and writing. Edge stated that Broken Sword was superior to LucasArts' adventure games, such as Monkey Island and The Dig, and believed it to be an "adventure gaming milestone" and the "best graphic adventure to date."
Adventure Gamers' Angella Mooney commented that the game's "deep and mysterious plot is designed to be thought-provoking and highly entertaining at the same time." GameSpot's Rebecca B. Anderson found that the game's combination of real history and "highly-creative" storytelling "add spice to an already-entertaining adventure." Joe Antol of Adventure Classic Gaming wrote that the involvement of the Knights Templar generated a "unique experience of creative storytelling." A writer for Next Generation magazine stated that the story is "rich in mystery and intrigue, with plenty of puzzles and locations to explore." Edges reviewer praised the game's use of "legend and modern-day intrigue", and believed that "Revolution Software finally escaped the shadow of Monkey Island et al. and taken the graphic adventure to new levels in terms of both story and spectacle." The writer commented that, by weaving its "trans-European plot around the legends of the Knights Templar", the game "succeeds in appearing weighty and complex without ever losing its sense of place".
Mark Wolf of PC Gamer US called the game "visually stunning", praising the animated graphics as "crisp and clear" and the artwork as "simply beautiful". He also wrote, "At the highest setting, the background and foreground scroll separately, delivering a sense of depth you don't see in many graphic adventures. Even the atmosphere of each of the areas you explore fit the locale." Mooney called the animation "extremely colorful and well-executed" and noted that the art team "have taken this style of animation and really made an elegant, mature game with it." The writer also noted that the environments are "detailed and inviting". Anderson called the game a "visual treat" and a "work of art," noting that "every scene is filled with rich, lush, illustrative detail that rivals any animated feature film." Next Generation called the character movements "fantastic" and the cutscenes "a joy to watch." The writer for Edge praised its art direction, in which "every visual element is polished to the 'nth' degree". The reviewer believed that "the SVGA artwork by far exceeds the competition in this genre."
Edge complimented its musical score for "play a large part in mood enhancement", noting that "it's beautifully orchestrated and adds immeasurable atmosphere." Mooney also praised the score, calling it "ambitious and beautiful" and saying it adds a very "cinematic feel" to the experience. Mooney said that the game's voice acting is "of supreme quality" with "delightful dialogue", but noted that long conversations might "turn some players off". Wolf was more critical of the voice acting, calling it "not too professional" and "the worst thing in the game".
Next Generation reviewed the Macintosh version of the game, and stated that "despite the ambitious storyline and animation we might have felt grateful for a month's delay, given the poor quality of the port." They cited the difficult installation which causes conflicts with standard extensions and the slow speed even on high-end computers.
Mooney stated that the game's puzzles are well integrated into the plot and are moderately challenging. Wolf called the puzzles inventive and challenging, but believed that some require "too much pixel-hunting". Next Generation said that almost all of the puzzles are simplistic, requiring no more than to find an object and use it on something else. Despite acclaiming the Windows version, GameSpot deemed the PlayStation version mediocre, criticizing technical deficiencies, such as lengthy load times and muddy graphics. Cecil later cited the PlayStation version as his "one big regret" regarding the game. He believed that the team should have introduced direct control over the player character in this version, instead of mouse-driven point-and-click interaction.

Awards and nominations

Génération 4 awarded it "Best Adventure 1997", and it received the award for "Best Quest" from the magazine Quest. The BBC magazine program Live & Kicking awarded it "Best PC Game of 1996". In 2005, the Game Boy Advance port was awarded the "Pocket Gamer Silver Award" by Pocket Gamer. The game was nominated for Computer Gaming Worlds 1996 "Adventure Game of the Year" award, which ultimately went to The Pandora Directive. It was also a finalist for the Computer Game Developers Conference's 1996 "Best Adventure Game/RPG" Spotlight Award, but lost the prize to .
The Director's Cut was nominated for the "Best Story" award at the 2009 British Academy Video Games Awards, and Pocket Gamer awarded the DS version the "Pocket Gamer Silver" award in 2009 and the iPhone version the "Pocket Gamer Gold Award" in 2010. The Wii and DS versions were nominated for the "Best Port/Updated Re-release" award at Adventure Gamers' 2010 Aggie Awards. The iPhone version was nominated for the "Best Adventure/RPG Game" award at the 2011 Pocket Gamer Awards. The Wii version won the award for "Best European Adventure" at the 2011 European Games Awards.

Legacy

Listings

Adventure Gamers ranked Broken Sword fourth on its lists of "Top 20 Adventure Games of All-Time" in 2004 and "Top 100 All-Time Adventures" in 2011. In 2006, Adventure Classic Gaming put the game in third place on its list of the "Top 10 retro graphic adventure games of all time from PC to consoles". It was listed on Bright Hub's "Best Windows Mobile Games Software" in 2008. In 2010, Retro Gamer placed it in second on its list of the "Top 20 Adventure Games of All-Time ... not by LucasArts", and was included in Universe Publishing's 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, a book by video game designer and programmer Peter Molyneux and longtime Edge editor Tony Mott published in 2010. NowGamer listed it on its 2011 feature, "Greatest Point-And-Click Games ". In 2012, it ranked eighth on GamesRadar's "Best point-and-click adventure games". Broken Sword and its remake are listed on Adventure Gamers' "Top Adventure Games" recommendations list. It is currently the third best-reviewed adventure game on GameSpot.
The game's Goat Puzzle appeared on Computer and Video Games 2011 feature, "Gaming's hardest puzzles". In 2012, it was listed on GameFront's "5 Crazy Difficult and Intricate Video Game Puzzles". Computer and Video Games also ranked Barrington's original intro theme 21st on its 2012 "Video game soundtracks: The 100 best themes of all time" list. The Telegraph listed Khan as one of "The 10 best video game assassins", while in 2013, Kotaku listed him as one of "The Scariest Clowns And Jesters In Video Games". The Director's Cut has been placed on top lists as well, particularly the iOS versions.

Influence

In his book Game Plan: Great Designs that Changed the Face of Computer Gaming, British video game journalist Ste Curran wrote that Broken Sword influenced the adventure games Toonstruck, in which Cecil has a "Special Thanks" credit, and Escape from Monkey Island, which features a puzzle that involves a broken sword. Kevin Bruner, co-founder of Telltale Games, has said that he is a Broken Sword fan. Ashton Raze, a writer for The Telegraph and the co-creator of the 2013 adventure game Richard & Alice, said that Broken Sword is his biggest influence. In his review of the 2010 adventure game Deponia, Declan Skews of Video Games Interactive said that the game drew inspiration from Broken Sword.

''The Da Vinci Code''

Cecil has said that the game's fanbase believes Dan Brown to have been influenced by Broken Sword when writing his novel, The Da Vinci Code, because of the parallels between the two works. Cecil stated that he is flattered by this sentiment, but that he would never claim so himself due to the threat of Brown's "very serious" lawyers. Joao Diniz Sanches of Pocket Gamer said Broken Sword story is a "tale, some would argue, that effortlessly outclasses Dan Brown's similarly themed and tricksy novel." In an article about Broken Sword, Computer and Video Games described the Knights Templar legend as a "great mythology to base a game on", and noted that Broken Sword "came out years before the Da Vinci Code made that sort of thing popular."

Sequels and re-releases

Broken Sword spawned four sequels. The first, ', was released in 1997. It uses the same engine as the first Broken Sword game. Six years later, Revolution released Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon, which features 3D graphics and a direct-control mechanism. It uses the RenderWare engine. In 2006 the company released Broken Sword: The Angel of Death, which returns to the point-and-click system used in the first two games. It is the only game in the series not released for a console, and it uses Sumo Digital's engine. The fifth installment, ', was announced through a Kickstarter project in August 2012. The game features 2D graphics, and it was released in September 2013.
After releasing the Director's Cut version of Broken Sword, Revolution released a remastered edition of the second game, entitled Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror – Remastered, in 2010.

Film

In May 2007, ComingSoon.net reported that Cecil, encouraged by the success of The Angel of Death, had begun work on a Broken Sword theatrical film adaptation. According to the website, producers Jay Douglas and Nav Guptatheir and their CastleBright Studios production company were involved. Justin Kaplan introduced Cecil to the company and was set to be one of the producers. Conversations had begun with directors and screenwriters from films such as Harry Potter, Casino Royale and X-Men.
In July 2008, Cecil said he was conversing with small studios from Los Angeles. Although he was interested in making a film, he believed that it was not necessary, since the series was already successful and a bad film could only "damage" its reputation. Cecil said that he was not prepared to "give somebody 't know the editorial control", and that, should the film be created, he would write it himself. He wanted any adaptation to be true to the source material, a film that "enhances rather than cashes in on it". In May 2009, Cecil stated that he was in discussion with the production company Radar Pictures, known for films such as The Last Samurai and The Chronicles of Riddick, and that he was re-writing the game into a film.
In August 2012, Cecil said that he and Revolution were trying to "find the right partner" to create the film. Cecil believed that "a lot of film makers now in their early 30s played Broken Sword the first time around, so they have a lot of affection, and a number of them know a lot about the brand as well." However, he restated his opinion that it "would be much better not to have a movie at all, than to have a bad movie." While Cecil said that Revolution's main focus was the upcoming Broken Sword: The Serpent's Curse, he added that he was "sure there be a film at some point". He also said that he was "sure it will be really good, because 'll do utmost to make sure that it is."