Analysis of Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged

The Broken Sword saga comes back to life thanks to this remake of the part that gave a twist to the graphic adventures of the time

Although graphic adventures have always been a niche genre, they were constantly evolving and offering new incentives to the user. One of these turning points had a clear culprit, and it was the beginning of the Broken Sword saga. A very neat drawing with an adult story allowed us to be amazed while solving the big case we had in our hands. Fortunately, we can now count on a much more stylized version, repainted and adapted to modern times thanks to this superb remake directed by Revolution Software. All this without losing any of the personality of the original delivery, as we will see in the following analysis.

No trap on the map

The Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged faithfully recreates the original title released in 1996. It is not intended to mislead anyone, and We will have the same puzzles, conversations and playability that we enjoyed in its day. Of course, with an excellent repaint that allows everything to be seen in a much better way and by adding cutscenes that offer a little more diversity to this fast-paced detective story. And if by chance this graphic style does not convince us (or we want to relaunch the plot in a “retro” way), We can always instantly switch to the classic version that we all know.

As I said, the adventure remains the same as the one experienced almost 30 years ago, and that impliesto once again play the American George Stobbart. Our hero will find himself immersed in a story of mysteries when suddenly A bomb explodes in the Parisian café where he is resting. From this moment on, his vacation will be interrupted by the attack, and with the collaboration of other characters, he will begin to Undermine information to catch terrorist clown who activated the bomb. Although as we delve deeper into the matter, we will see that it is more serious than it seems…

A before and an after

Although at the time it was a game that looked good, the truth is that This remastering was great for him. Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged contains many environments filled with people and objects, so This facelift is appreciated to enjoy the adventure like we have never done before. Not only that, but the interface has also been changed, with a much cleaner and more accessible inventory and conversation menu.

Accessibility is also very good. Although it is a graphic adventure that invites you to play with a mouse, the truth is that Control with the remote control is no problem, and with just two buttons we can do all kinds of actions. Unlike other titles of the same type, here it is not necessary to indicate precise actions (push, pull, use …) nor to make crazy combinations with the objects in our inventory. It is a game that leans more towards the conversational branch, and although there are of course puzzles, we will not have to make crazy combinations.

nor extravagant. Despite this fluidity, if at any point we feel stuck, there is a track system which can be activated at any time.

Point and question

There is one playable aspect that is half finished, although I hope they will fix it over time, and that is precisely mouse usage on Xbox devices. You can connect a mouse to the console, but the pointer does not reach all corners of the screen. It is as if it were acting on a different screen size than the one displayed by the game. Too bad, because the implementation is very simple and is practically achieved in this remastering.

Another less curious issue is the dubbing of Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged. We will continue to have the original Spanish dubbing,

which at the time was controversial because of the participation of a certain person in the casting. Those who played in their time will know who I’m talking about. But personally, I don’t like it I understand that this is one of the curiosities that makes this recreation so reliable. For the rest, everything is fine, with those characteristic French accents as we have seen subsequently in other iterations of the franchise.

Conclusion of Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged

Revolution Software has done a splendid job both for users who want to relive this plot in a more defined way, and for new players who want to know one of the best graphic adventures we had almost 30 years ago. The essence of Broken Sword is still present despite the drawing and the new cutscenes that this version offers. In fact, we can switch from this new version to the original in real time if we want to relive times gone by. A luxury that accompanies the dubbing that was also heard at the time. There is not much negative that can be said about this adventure starring George Stobbart. At most they have to fix the adapted mouse control even if the controller control is more than satisfactory. It is undoubtedly a very good remastering that does not fool anyone, or that offers a unique opportunity to (re)live one of the best contemporary graphic adventures.