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First episode of Broken Sword 5 pointing and clicking on December 4
The first episode of Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse will launch on December 4, developer Revolution Software announced. The point-and-click adventure will arrive on PC, Mac and Linux first with Android and iOS versions following "soon after," though no release date for the mobile games has been set. The game will also come to Vita later this year. Revolution Software earned $771,561 on Kickstarter in September 2012 to fund the next entry in the adventure series, which began in 1996. Broken Sword 5 is split into two episodes, each episode being "a full sized game in its own right," the developer writes. The second episode is due out in January 2014.
Organ Trail, Broken Sword, Anomaly Korea take a stab at Humble Bundle
Wonderfully predictable Humble Bundle has added three new games to the Humble Bundle with Android 7: Anomaly Korea from 11-Bit Studios, Broken Sword: Director's Cut from Revolution Software and Organ Trail: Director's Cut from The Men Who Wear Many Hats. Plus, this round adds Europe DLC for Ticket to Ride, a game already included in the Humble Bundle. Get these newbies by paying more than the average price. Humble Bundle with Android 7 includes Incredipede, Anodyne, Greed Corp and Ticket to Ride (plus USA 1910 DLC) for whatever price you want, with Worms Reloaded and The Bard's Tale thrown in by paying more than the average. All games are available on PC, Mac, Linux and Android, and paying more than $1 grabs Steam keys as well. Whatever you decide to pay, it can all go to a good cause, or to the developers themselves, or to Humble Bundle.
Broken Sword: The Serpent's Curse Kickstarter funded, curse still going strong
With 16 days to go, Broken Sword: The Serpent's Curse just crept past its Kickstarter target of $400,000. UK studio Revolution Software launched the campaign for the adventure series' fifth entry in August, and in less than half its allowed time The Serpent's Curse is now officially funded. One step closer to breaking that curse, we hope.Revolution also announced recently that the game is coming to Android too ... should you buy in for $25 or more, that is. You could also just buy the game when it arrives on Android, of course, knowing that it's totally headed there.
Broken Sword returns (via Kickstarter) in 'The Serpent's Curse,' coming in 'early 2013'
It's been five years since the last Broken Sword franchise entry, but that doesn't mean Revolution Software forgot about its long-running adventure game series. The fifth entry – Broken Sword: The Serpent's Curse – got announced this morning for PC/Mac alongside the launch of the project's Kickstarter page.Rather than following previous tradition, The Serpent's Curse is a hardcore first-person shooter set in the world of Broken Sword, but a thousand years into the future after the apocalypse ravaged society. KIDDING! It's another adventure game like previous entries – a teaser with the beginning of the next game is just above.If you invest $15 in the project, you'll receive a digital copy of the game "along with a host of bonus material." You can always invest more and get more stuff from Revolution, if that's your kinda thing. The folks at Revolution are allotting $400K just to develop their game, which needs to reach its goal by 30 days from now.
Broken Sword developer joins comic artist Dave Gibbons for new game
Revolution Software, the team behind Beneath a Steel Sky and Broken Sword, is teaming up with graphic novel artist Dave Gibbons for a new title, Eurogamer reports. Gibbons is responsible for the art and lettering of Alan Moore's Watchmen, and is currently the artist on Marvel's The Secret Service, written by Kick-Ass author Mark Millar.Gibbons and Revolution founder Charles Cecil have collaborated before, with Gibbons contributing to Beneath a Steel Sky and providing art and a digital prequel comic for Broken Sword: Director's Cut. Gibbons says the new game is in an unexplored area that isn't France and isn't catacombs. He'll have story input and direct the look of the whole thing, even if he doesn't do all of the artwork himself."It's going to be something that combines a lot of the things I'm perhaps best known for, which are a design sense and a sense of symbolism and maybe an obsessive attention to background detail," Gibbons says. "It will look like a Dave Gibbons game. There would be no point in Charles collaborating with me if it was going to look like a Joe Blow game." Not to be confused with "a Jon Blow game," of course.
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars Directors Cut brings point-and-poke adventure to Android
If you're not familiar with the point-and-click classic Broken Sword, then you owe it to yourself to snatch up the Directors Cut of Shadow of the Templars. Originally released in 1996, this title is considered by many to be the pinnacle of genre, one that has fallen out of favor in the age of accelerated 3D graphics and first-person shooters. For $4, in a revamped format with touch-friendly controls, the Revolution Software-produced mystery is a no-brainer. Just don't blame us when your day disappears as you unravel a vast conspiracy involving the Knights Templar, mimes and a terrorist clown (as if you needed more of a reason to hate those things).
Excerpt: Behind-the-app book Buttonless explores Broken Sword
You'll be able to pick up Ryan Rigney's Buttonless: Incredible iPhone and iPad Games and the Stories Behind Them (available for pre-order now) on Dec. 13. To tide you over until then, we've got the sample below, just one of the dozens of fascinating stories you'll find in the book. In this chapter, Rigney explores the creation of adventure classic Broken Sword and how it made the leap to iOS. All Charles Cecil wants to do is create fantastic adventure games. After founding Revolution Software in 1990, Cecil led his team in the creation of two of the most critically acclaimed point-and-click adventure games ever: Lure of the Temptress in 1992 and the beloved Beneath a Steel Sky in 1994. Both were published by (the now defunct) Virgin Interactive. After both games found success, Virgin approached Revolution with demands for another, even bigger game. "Virgin said that it wanted to up the ante," says Cecil. "It wanted a game that was really cutting edge."
Broken Sword trilogy sale on GOG, fourth game added
Adventurers take note, Good Old Games is currently offering the first three Broken Sword titles at half price. That's three retro adventures for a paltry $9, or $3 each if you're feeling choosy (and you should have the first one anyway). Choose quickly, because the deal is over on Friday. GOG has also added the fourth game in the series, Broken Sword: Angel of Death, to its catalogue, though we've heard rumors that the $10 title isn't worth your precious time. Joystiq has sent one of its reporters on assignment to talk with the public to find out more. Join him on the scene after the break.
The Daily Grind: Do you prefer historical settings?
This week, Massively's Karen Bryan attended a GDC talk by Charles Cecil, the creator of Broken Sword, on the topic of writing games that employ history and historical themes. Cecil wisely noted that historical themes tap in to the audience's shared mythology to generate a compelling game and to serve as the foundation for accessible puzzles relevant to the storyline. And yet strict historical themes in MMOs, even when not diluted with more fantastic elements, can also betray immersion -- would it really make sense for a game about the American Revolution to allow female characters to become military generals? Dark Age of Camelot certainly saw its share of success pairing real-world European legend and modern 20th-century fantasy, while its cousin Imperator, set in a futuristic Roman Empire, was canceled in favor of another Mythic game. World of Tanks thrives off historical realism, whereas the upcoming The Secret World is making an art-form of layering myth over mundane. Still, history-flavored games are very much in the minority, perhaps because they allow studios much less freedom of lore design. What do you think -- do historical (or pseudo-historical) MMOs work for you? Do you prefer pure escapism, or would you rather play in a "home-turf" setting whose real-world backstory is your own? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Six million GOG downloads means Broken Sword for everyone
During the CD Projekt Fall 2011 press conference, the publisher revealed that its GOG distribution platform is approaching the 6 million download milestone. To help push its sales -- which currently stand at a little over 5.8 million -- over the top, it announced two promotions: First, the six millionth downloader will receive every game on the platform for free. Second, for the first 48 hours after hitting the mark, everyone will get a free download of Broken Sword: Shadow of The Templars Director's Cut. For CD Projekt's sake, we hope they don't get those two promotions mixed up. To wit: "Congratulations! You're our six millionth customer, so here's Broken Sword! Everyone else, here's everything for free oh god we gave all our games away."
Broken Sword 2 Remastered now available on GOG, on sale
The sequel to classic adventure game Broken Sword, The Smoking Mirror, is now available in a remastered version from GOG.com. We'd heard a while back that the game would be fixed up, after a remastered version of the original game sold well, and indeed the iOS version has been out for a while. The newer versions of the game offer the same excellent gameplay along with new graphics, music, animation, voiceovers and a revised hint system. To celebrate, GOG is putting the whole Broken Sword series on sale, letting you pick up the first two remastered titles and the third game in the series (though not the fourth game, Angel of Death) for under $9. By itself, the remastered Broken Sword 2 is $4.19, or $6.99 on iOS.
Original Broken Sword now included with Director's Cut on GOG
Retro games retailer GOG.com has slapped an added bonus onto the Director's Cut version of Broken Sword: the original, non-HD-ified version of the game, Circle of Blood. This should come as especially welcome news to GOG customer StingingVelvet, who commented in his review of the game, "unfortunately this is not the classic version that you would expect from Good OLD Games." It looks like GOG really has wised up!
Broken Sword 2 being fixed up for iOS release
With over one million copies sold (according to Revolution Software), the remastered iOS Broken Sword was enough of a success to warrant a similar treatment for the sequel. Wait, did we just say an adventure game sold more than a million copies in 2010? Wow! Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror Remastered, due on the App Store this month, features updated graphics, an "interactive digital comic" by artist Dave Gibbons, and an in-game hint system, just like its predecessor. Revolution has also come up with a clever implementation of "cloud" saving to allow you to keep your progress across multiple devices: it uses Dropbox to handle save data. Update: If you don't want to wait, and don't mind playing on computer, you can get the original version of Broken Swords 2 and 3, along with the updated Broken Sword, from GoG for $7.17 right now. That's $7.17 total.%Gallery-109627%
Broken Sword: The Director's Cut now on iPhone
We love the trend of adventure classics that maybe didn't get their due the first time around coming to iPhone, so we're excited to see it continuing this morning with the release of Broken Sword: The Director's Cut to the App Store. Not only does the Revolution Software release feature new art by Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons, it's also around 20 percent longer than the original. But Joystiq, is it possible that all this could be available for just $6.99? Indeed it is, little guy. Indeed it is.
Broken Sword: Director's Cut going to iPhone too
Today, Revolution Software -- the team behind Beneath a Steel Sky and its recent (and tremendous) iPhone remake -- announced Broken Sword: The Director's Cut will be remastered for iPhone and iPod Touch devices and released within the next month. Like the (already available) Nintendo DS and Wii versions of the remake, Broken Sword: The Director's Cut for iPhone sports an updated look, Dave Gibbons (Watchmen) art and a redefined control scheme, thrusting the fourteen-year-old adventure game into the modern screen-tapping era. In February 2009, Revolution Software founder Charles Cecil teased more classic remakes could potentially be explored if projects at the time saw commercial success. Considering how solid its first iPhone effort was, we're hoping this is the start of re-introducing gamers to the entire Broken Sword legacy. Now if someone would only remake the Gabriel Knight series, we'd sleep better at night. %Gallery-82905%
Broken Sword creator working on potential movie version
Can we agree that movies based on video games tend to be terrible? We think we've identified a reason, among many: studios usually make movies based on games that aren't exactly ... story-oriented. Street Fighter? Resident Evil? Tomb Raider? Adventure games, on the other hand, are very story-driven, and would translate well to the silver screen. An adventure game movie could basically work as a reenactment of the game without a floating cursor. The only problem is that they aren't really popular enough for studios to finance such an endeavor. Broken Sword series creator Charles Cecil may get a rare chance to make his adventure series into a movie. "I am in discussions with Radar Pictures, the production company behind Last Samurai and Chronicles of Riddick amongst many other films," Cecil told IncGamers. "We are still planning the project and I have been re-writing the game to work as a film treatment." This film project has been in the works since 2007, but it's comforting, at least, to know that Cecil hasn't given up yet. The recent Wii/DS remake of Shadow of the Templars could help boost the profile of the series, and add momentum to the film.We're a bit concerned, though, that a film adaptation of a game popular in Europe could attract the attention of one of the other problems with movie games: Uwe Boll.
Revolution considering new Beneath a Steel Sky, Broken Sword games
Revolution Software is stepping up efforts to bring back some of its classic adventure IPs. Founder Charles Cecil currently has two games in mind: Beneath a Steel Sky and Broken Sword. The latter series is already undergoing a revival via next month's Broken Sword: Shadows of the Templars (Director's Cut); however, Cecil tells VideoGamer this might only be the beginning. If the Director's Cut of Shadows of the Templars for Wii and DS are successful, Revolution might consider doing more Director's Cuts for the other Broken Sword titles. This might even entail completely overhauling the 3D Broken Swords (numbers three and four in the series) into 2D versions for Nintendo's systems. A movie tie-in game could also be in the works, as Cecil reveals that Radar Pictures is interested in doing a Broken Sword film. In the case of Beneath a Steel Sky – another adventure title from the '90s – Cecil says it's "probably going to happen." He's just claiming everyone's too busy to work on it right now. Well, of course; with all those possible Broken Sword projects, it sounds like Revolution will be busy for awhile.
I Am Alive to show itself in March
Ubisoft has given first-person disaster-survival title I Am Alive an enigmatic March release window. That puts the launch anywhere from six to ten weeks from now, a very short amount of time considering we've seen approximately zilch in terms of gameplay footage. After being hyped up so much at E3, there's been little to no promotion for the game. We're a bit perplexed by this one, and hope it's not a foreboding sign.Other games slated to come out in March include Tom Clancy's HAWX, a PC version of EndWar and Broken Sword Wii. Tenchu: Shadow Assassin, a Wii exclusive, has been given a more exact March 6 date.
Rumor: Tenchu 4, Broken Sword, Onechanbara, more dated for Europe
A list of 'retailer info' containing release dates for upcoming games popped up on NeoGAF. Judging by the use of the German title for Broken Sword, we decided to try Amazon.de to check these dates against their database, and they match. These dates might be placeholders, and they might be subject to change, or our PALs might have an awesome March to look forward to!Tenchu: Shadow Assassins might actually come out in Europe in the same month as North Americans get to play it: Amazon says it'll be out February 26, alongside Castlevania Judgment. Broken Sword: Director's Cut is listed for March 26, while Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers (retitled, as is the Xbox game, Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Killers) is expected March 18 -- a slight delay from the official date. [Via NeoGAF]
GOG in the Machine: Broken Sword 3 and Robinson's Requiem
In great news for blade glue manufacturers everywhere, Good Old Games is following up last week's release of Broken Sword 2 with Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon. It's still solidly in the adventure genre, but BS 3 takes its predecessor's 2D presentation and adds a whole other "D" to it. You can pick it up for $5.99.We're not terribly familiar with the other game being added to the service today, Robinson's Requiem, but you don't have to watch much of the video we've embedded after the break to know that $5.99 is an absolute steal.
