KickStarter Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars: Reforged - coming June

[Infinitron]

Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/revolution-software/broken-sword-reforged-collectors-edition

Step out onto the streets of Paris in "Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars: Reforged", a substantially enhanced version of the multi-award winning, all-time classic adventure. Enjoy a globe-spanning story when intrepid American George Stobbart and fearless journalist Nico Collard are pitched into a gripping adventure, exploring exotic locations, solving ancient mysteries, and thwarting dark conspiracies to discover the arcane secrets of the Knights Templar.

Whether it's your first time or you're revisiting a beloved classic, get ready to enjoy the masterful “Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars: Reforged!”

Key Features:​

• Compelling Storyline: Dive into a gripping narrative filled with twists, turns, and unexpected revelations. Join George and Nico as they investigate a trail of mysteries that takes them from the bustling streets of Paris to exotic locales around Europe and the Middle East.
• Classic Point-and-Click Gameplay: Discover, or rediscover, the joy of classic point-and-click mechanics as you solve puzzles, gather clues, and interact with a colorful cast of characters. Immerse yourself in an intuitive and engaging gameplay experience.
• Fully Voice Acted: Lose yourself in the game's atmosphere with fully-voiced dialogue and engaging performances bringing a cast of wonderful, colorful characters to life.
• Challenging Puzzles: Put your intellect to the test with thought-provoking puzzles that require observation, deduction, and creativity to solve. From deciphering codes to manipulating objects, every challenge is a step closer to uncovering the arcane secrets.

Reforged Features:​

• 4K Remastered Visuals: Experience the magic of the original game with enhanced high-definition graphics, bringing the picturesque landscapes, detailed characters, and intricate environments to life in beautiful 4K for the first time ever
• Enhanced Audio: Immerse your ears in the enhanced audio as Revolution delivers the finest, most stunning version of George and Nico's original adventure to date, including the incredible soundtrack from world-acclaimed composer Barrington Pheloung.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.eurogamer.net/broken-sw...by-original-remaster-and-brand-new-sixth-game

The aim of the remaster is to create a version of the game "to be proud of in 2024", Cecil said. It affords an opportunity to amend small details that have worried him for years - specifically changing some Syrian stereotypes to be more culturally sensitive, as well as amending environmental inaccuracies.

A bigger addition will be Story Mode, which will provide a more modern way of playing the game with a subtle hint system as part of its user experience. For instance, players will be alerted to clues in the corner of the screen, non-vital elements in the environment won't be highlighted, and any inventory items players use for puzzles that don't work will be greyed out.

Cecil wants to give players a "gentle push" towards objectives, though he maintains that puzzles should always be logical and make sense within the game world, for those characters. The traditional way of playing without hints will still be available for those wanting the classic experience.


Environments are now far more detailed. | Image credit: Revolution Software

The biggest change, though, will be to the visuals. Now in 4K resolution, the crisp graphics will have fresh details plus enhanced lighting and shadow. Interestingly, some of this work has been completed using AI tools, though Cecil assured me this has only been done to alleviate the most painstaking work.

"I'm totally sympathetic with all of the concerns that people have about AI, about going through the internet, taking other people's work, learning from it and profiting from it," said Cecil. "We are at the absolute other end."

He explained how AI is used to upscale assets but in an incomplete fashion, with "very crude heads and very crude hands". This work was previously performed by human artists, from whom the AI tool has learned. But then human artists will work on top of this, to bring the revised visuals to life with hand-drawn details and expressions. It's a choice for speed and convenience.

Said Cecil: "I will defend until the end of the Earth the fact that this is a graphic tool that is taking the drudgery away from very talented artists and allowing them to actually express those characters with human emotions that can only be created by human artists."

The result, from what I was shown at Gamescom, remains faithful to the original look and retains its hand-drawn appeal - but now with vivid expressions and details. It's how fans of the original may remember it.

 

[laclongquan]

The game's tittle is very misleading. I didnt expect what the content of that trailer show me, honestly~

 

[Strig]

The upscaled animations look rather good, even if there is some artefacting from the AI. Definitely leaps and bounds beyond the garbage offered by the Director's Cut. The city background from the intro definitely should've been touched up more because some of the buildings look really daft. For instance the facade beneath the Eiffel Tower looks like four gigantic out of scale windows. Generally the ingame backgrounds lost a lot of their contrast, everything seems brighter. It's not terrible, but they should probably try again when the AI gets better. Then again they'll probably feel the urge to censor it even more in the future.

 

[ds]

The low frame-rate of the animations is much more noticeable with the increased resolution, makes everything seem choppy. Same for the missing shadows under the character's feet which makes the walking animation seem even more off. Not the end of the world but if you are going to release a graphics whore resolution upgrade then why completely ignore the fourth dimension.

 

[Barbarian]

Again? This company has seemingly supported itself all these years by releasing ports and remasters.

If they keep doing it must be because it pays itself out. Not sure how BS5 and the Beneat a Steel SKY have sold, but both were quite meh.

 

[Infinitron]

Now on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/revolution-software/broken-sword-reforged-collectors-edition

 

[procrastinator]

Shadow of the Templars

 

[Terra]

Looking a lot better than what they've shown of Broken Sword 6 so far. No need for the physical clutter myself but a nice throwback.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

Yeah, looks ok. But Cecil's eagerness to appease "modern sensibilities" by alter some scenes is just too disgusting for me. I won't touch this thing.

 

[negator2vc]

How many times are they gona release the same damn game again and again??
Seriously when it comes to this game they are worse than Jeff Vogel!!

 

[taxalot]

It's not even that good of a game too.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

It's not even that good of a game too.

It's a pretty good adventure game but part two is better. Man I love that Ketch Island part.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

It's not even that good of a game too.

It's a pretty good adventure game but part two is better. Man I love that Ketch Island part.

2 is definitely the best, but even then I wouldn’t put it on a Top 10 adventure games list. It might even struggle to crack the top 20.

I replayed 2/3 of 1 recently and thought it had aged poorly. The story is decent and most of the puzzles are fine to good, but the game is all over the place tonally, the art is VERY inconsistent, and don’t get me started on the Nico shit they added in with the first rerelease. It’s not a bad game by any means, but neither is it great.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

"But Cecil is not above making a few changes to “some of the things, which, culturally, have always slightly worried me” about the 1996 game to make it “a little bit more culturally appropriate for 2023.” He cites the examples of a Syrian carpet seller character, changed to be less “stereotypically mean, he’s slightly more jovial,” and an awkward moment between the game’s pair of heroes, American patent lawyer George Stobbart and French journalist Nico Collard. “There’s another point where Nico is tied up, and George can kiss her when she’s tied up. And you know, that’s just a little bit strange. [...] It’s just three or four very, very minor things. But, you know, the example of that character, I’d been embarrassed about it pretty much from the beginning. So it’s just wonderful to be able just to tweak it [...] but without losing the core charm that existed.”" (here)

So he felt the need to make that Syrian carpet seller more likeable and to remove George's option to kiss Nico while she is tied up. Ok. These scenes "always slightly worried" Cecil culturally... yeah sure. Even back in 1996? It's his game, isn't it? Why did he put the scenes in the game then? And why the hell did he wait so long to censor them? What a hypocrite. I daresay he makes these changes for the sole reason of getting his game to as many new customers as possible. Which is his right as a businessman, sure. And only because of that he is very anxious to not trigger anybody anywhere. Man I miss the 90ies and their freedom.

 

[Maxie]

I just wish Cecil died and someone inherited Revolution to close it