The return of adventuring duo George Stobbart and Nico Collard is turning out to be one of 2013's unexpected pleasures. The first half of Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse was released on Steam and GOG.com on December 4th, with the second half scheduled for January 2014. Since both episodes are a single purchase, we’re reserving our full review and score until the second half hits, but wanted to give our early impressions of this so-far excellent fifth chapter in the long-running adventure series.
One of the biggest surprises (and possibly a decision fueled by its Kickstarter origins,) is that Broken Sword 5 is the first 2D point-and-click adventure in the series since 1997's Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror. A regression from 3D to 2D might normally raise concerns about its overall quality or relevance to a gaming audience that demands the newest visual hotness, yet The Serpent’s Curse is a superior experience that has all the polish that often goes missing from modern point-and-click adventures (not made by Telltale). And truth be told, as an old-school fan I'm thrilled with the switch.
First off, the hand-drawn art is just luscious. It brings back memories of the art style from the first two Broken Swords, but with much-improved animations and sly 2.5D effects as the characters maneuver the 2D environments. On a technical level, I’m really impressed with how fluid and effortless the character movements are, with few of the awkward, stilted dances around interactive objects that seem an unavoidable mainstay of the genre.
Bad cologne can wake up anyone.
Serpent’s Curse’s central mystery starts small, but gradually grows more intriguing as facts come to light. Broken Sword adventures tend to be somewhat light-hearted romps that blend historical mythology and mystery with Thin Man-style romantic repartee between American George Stobbart and French journalist Nico Collard. This time, the duo reunites in France investigating the theft of a painting with possibly Satanic overtones and the related murder of a gallery owner. The plot is engaging and the mystery devilish as the conspiracy expands into the stuff of world-ending consequences. The writing deftly balances the line between light and dark storytelling, drawing out giggles from one of George’s sarcastic remarks one minute and grief over the death of a character the next.
Don't get too attached to your daddy, kid.
The puzzles are mostly plausible and logical to figure out, though there are one or two fanciful brain-teasers that verge on just being silly. The chief offender for me was a sequence that starts mean-spirited and ends up sorta sweet. In it, you have to disguise George as the dead art gallery owner in order to fool his hallucinating widow with several props and embellishments, including - and I’m not kidding here - a goatee and mustache made from adhesive strips and stuffed dog fur. Whether that’s a wink and a nod to the infamous “make a mustache out of cat hair and tape” puzzle from Gabriel Knight 3 is a mystery all its own, but I did wince inside as it became painfully clear what I had to do.
For the most part, though, Broken Sword 5 is an immensely entertaining adventure so far, and at around eight hours of gameplay, the first chapter runs almost as long as many full-sized adventure games. Be sure to check back for our full review of Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse when the second half is released in late January 2014.
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One of the biggest surprises (and possibly a decision fueled by its Kickstarter origins,) is that Broken Sword 5 is the first 2D point-and-click adventure in the series since 1997's Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror. A regression from 3D to 2D might normally raise concerns about its overall quality or relevance to a gaming audience that demands the newest visual hotness, yet The Serpent’s Curse is a superior experience that has all the polish that often goes missing from modern point-and-click adventures (not made by Telltale). And truth be told, as an old-school fan I'm thrilled with the switch.
First off, the hand-drawn art is just luscious. It brings back memories of the art style from the first two Broken Swords, but with much-improved animations and sly 2.5D effects as the characters maneuver the 2D environments. On a technical level, I’m really impressed with how fluid and effortless the character movements are, with few of the awkward, stilted dances around interactive objects that seem an unavoidable mainstay of the genre.
Bad cologne can wake up anyone.Serpent’s Curse’s central mystery starts small, but gradually grows more intriguing as facts come to light. Broken Sword adventures tend to be somewhat light-hearted romps that blend historical mythology and mystery with Thin Man-style romantic repartee between American George Stobbart and French journalist Nico Collard. This time, the duo reunites in France investigating the theft of a painting with possibly Satanic overtones and the related murder of a gallery owner. The plot is engaging and the mystery devilish as the conspiracy expands into the stuff of world-ending consequences. The writing deftly balances the line between light and dark storytelling, drawing out giggles from one of George’s sarcastic remarks one minute and grief over the death of a character the next.
Don't get too attached to your daddy, kid.The puzzles are mostly plausible and logical to figure out, though there are one or two fanciful brain-teasers that verge on just being silly. The chief offender for me was a sequence that starts mean-spirited and ends up sorta sweet. In it, you have to disguise George as the dead art gallery owner in order to fool his hallucinating widow with several props and embellishments, including - and I’m not kidding here - a goatee and mustache made from adhesive strips and stuffed dog fur. Whether that’s a wink and a nod to the infamous “make a mustache out of cat hair and tape” puzzle from Gabriel Knight 3 is a mystery all its own, but I did wince inside as it became painfully clear what I had to do.
For the most part, though, Broken Sword 5 is an immensely entertaining adventure so far, and at around eight hours of gameplay, the first chapter runs almost as long as many full-sized adventure games. Be sure to check back for our full review of Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse when the second half is released in late January 2014.
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