Broken Sword

Lore & Background

The Broken Sword series was conceived in 1994 by Charles Cecil, Noirin Carmody, and Sean Brennan while discussing the mythology of the Knights Templar. The first three games and the fifth were developed by Revolution Software; the fourth was co-developed with Sumo Digital. The first two games were critical and commercial successes, selling millions, while The Sleeping Dragon and The Angel of Death received mixed reviews due to a switch to 3D graphics and more action-oriented gameplay. The fifth game, The Serpent's Curse, returned to 2D roots.

The story of The Shadow of the Templars begins with George Stobbart witnessing a bomb attack on a Parisian café by a clown assassin named Khan, leading him to meet photo-journalist Nico Collard and unravel a Knights Templar conspiracy. The Smoking Mirror shifts to an Aztec mystery involving the god Tezcatlipoca. The Sleeping Dragon and The Angel of Death continue the Templar storyline, while The Serpent's Curse follows the Gnostic Gospels. A comic book was produced for each remake of the first two games.

Reader's Guide

The Broken Sword series is significant for its departure from the humor-based adventure games popular in the early 1990s, aiming instead for good pacing and a complex storyline. The first game introduced a unique 'conversation icon' system that did not reveal what the protagonist would say, intended to make the game more cinematic. Hand-drawn artwork, animated by artists from Don Bluth Studios and others, gave the games a classic animated film look. The series appeared on several top adventure game lists. The first two games sold millions, establishing a loyal fanbase, though the third and fourth games received mixed reviews due to the shift to 3D and action-oriented gameplay. The fifth game returned to 2D, and remakes of the first two games were released in 2009 and 2010, with the Director's Cut of the first game making Nico playable for the first time.

Did You Know?

• The first game cost one million pounds to develop.
• The third game, The Sleeping Dragon, cost two million pounds.
• The Director's Cut of the first game made Nico Collard a playable character.

Development & Crowdfunding

Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse was announced on 23 August 2012 alongside a Kickstarter campaign. Revolution Software had been self-funding the project up to that point, and the crowdfunding initiative was launched to secure the remaining resources needed to finish the game. The campaign proved remarkably successful: backers contributed more than $771,000 against a $400,000 goal, and when PayPal donations were factored in, total funding exceeded $823,000. The finished product was delivered in two episodes rather than a single release. Episode one became available on 4 December 2013, while episode two followed on 17 April 2014 for Windows, OS X, and Linux platforms. This episodic structure, combined with the crowdfunding model, marked a notable shift in how the long-running adventure series was produced and distributed, placing the financial burden partly on the fan community rather than a single publisher.

Gameplay & Design Philosophy

The Serpent's Curse represents a deliberate return to the series' two-dimensional visual roots, presenting HD-quality environments populated with characters that were rendered in 3D and then flattened into 2D frames. Players navigate the world from a third-person perspective using a point-and-click or touch interface to guide George Stobbart and Nicole Collard. A distinctive new mechanic centers on the manipulation and combination of knowledge: rather than simply collecting items, players must connect disparate threads of information to draw logical conclusions and unlock progress. The game also reintroduces the possibility of player death—if a wrong decision is made or an action is not completed in time—though the restart point is immediately before the fatal moment rather than the last save, aligning with the approach used in the later 3D entries. Players can toggle between a classic inventory styled after the first two games and a modern one matching the 2009 and 2010 remakes, and can switch hint systems and hotspot highlights on or off at will.

Plot & Narrative

Set several months after The Angel of Death, the story follows George Stobbart, now an insurance assessor, and Nicole Collard as they investigate the theft of a painting called "La Maledicció" from a Paris gallery, an event that results in the death of gallery owner Henri Dubois. Their inquiry leads them to Russian businessman Roman Medovsky, an elderly Spanish man named Tiago Marqués who claims ancestral ownership of the canvas, a Dominican priest called Father Simeon, and an art restorer named Wilfred Hobbs. The narrative weaves together insurance fraud, a forged provenance, and a deeper Gnostic mystery: the painting is linked to a 13th-century branch of Christianity persecuted by the Vatican, and its symbolism points toward an artifact called the Tabula Veritatis. The trail stretches from Paris to London to a castle in Catalonia, Spain, and ultimately to Montserrat, where the Gnostics allegedly concealed the Tabula. The antagonist, revealed to be Interpol agent Richard Langham acting on behalf of his grandfather Gehnen, seeks the artifact to destroy Jehovah and raise Lucifer.

Multi-platform Availability & Release Strategy

One of the most striking aspects of The Serpent's Curse is its exceptionally broad platform footprint. Developed and published by Revolution Software, the title was made available for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation Vita (distributed via the PlayStation Network), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Android, and iOS. This wide reach is notable for an adventure game of its era and reflects the studio's commitment to making the experience accessible across both traditional PC and modern console and mobile ecosystems. The two-episode release structure—episode one on 4 December 2013 and episode two on 17 April 2014—applied specifically to the Windows, OS X, and Linux versions, while the console and mobile ports delivered the complete experience. The combination of crowdfunding-driven development, episodic PC delivery, and a multi-platform launch strategy positioned the fifth Broken Sword entry as one of the most widely distributed titles in the franchise's history.