Broken Sword was a series of adventure games featuring 2D graphics and old fashioned point and click game-play. The first in the series was Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars which was released in 1996 and cast the player in the role of George Stobbart, an American tourist in Paris. Teaming up with a photo-journalist called Nico Collard the player had to investigate a series of strange clues to unravel the mystery of a secret conspiracy linked to the Knights Templar. It was released as Circle of Blood in the US and featured some beautifully drawn artwork, mixing in comedic elements with a historically inspired back-story to create a really enjoyable game.
Point and click adventures had all but died out before this release but Broken Sword proved that there was still an audience out there for them. The success of the game relied on some terrific writing and developers Revolution Software really got it right.
The game opens with George enjoying himself at a café in Paris when a suspicious clown turns up and enters the café. Moments later he leaves and the café blows up drawing the inept police to the scene. George decides to take matters into his own hands and begins to conduct an investigation which leads him into a murky underworld of cults and lost treasures dating back to the time of the Knights Templar.
The game was a classic point and click adventure with actions selectable via the intuitive interface at the foot of the screen. As George moved around to each location he could explore the back drops by clicking on points of interest in search of clues. He could also engage in conversation with a cast of colourful characters and a large inventory allowed him to examine objects, combine them, question people about them or try to use them on locations in the environment.
The game-play was simple and very easy to grasp and the various puzzles to solve were mostly just the right level of challenge, stopping short of becoming frustrating. The game was very linear and it undeniably suffered from the usual problems facing point and click adventures. The real selling point was the engaging plot and script which provided a coherent and fascinating story with many chuckles along the way. It took George on an adventure across five countries to varied locations and the large cast of characters really brought the tale to life. The end result had the exotic appeal of a Bond or Indiana Jones adventure but with less action.