Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars - The Director's Cut (PC) Review

Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (at some point, "The" was dropped from the official subtitle) has a strong reputation, and it's easy to see why. The globetrotting quest of George Stobbart and Nico Collard, kicked off by an assassination in a Parisian café, has a cinematic feel that was nearly impossible to come by in 1996. Furthermore, the plot's memorable characters and witty dialogue found a comfortable niche among the alternately wacky and straightforward efforts put forth by Sierra and LucasArts. This is why the Director's Cut's most thoughtless deviation is its partially rewritten script. George's new opening monologue, in particular, proves most disappointing because instead of a striking account of shellshock, it's now a dull expression of mild annoyance.

Of course, the original title wasn't infallible. The 14 years between releases were not kind to Shadow of the Templars - its animation looks like that of a Disney classic reimagined by the team behind the CD-i Zeldas, and its status as a cornerstone of adventure gaming means its puzzles are filled with the kind of inconsistent logic the genre is infamous for. Supposedly, the voice acting was a source of great acclaim, but it's the sort of acclaim that would only be given during gaming's puberty, when just having a fully-voiced script was impressive, regardless of its quality. The constant use of blatantly fake accents had the potential to mask the poor performances, but most lines are delivered so hammily that attempting to cover them up with anything short of a fireworks display would be a lost cause.

All of this is fertile ground for improvement…and all of it was ignored. Visually, the only changes are character portraits totally phoned in by the otherwise supremely talented Dave Gibbons (George, especially, looks like a dead-eyed mannequin), and a slightly better resolution for new environments. There's a fair amount of new dialogue recorded, but it's still plagued by the same old forced delivery, plus a new problem: Revolution wasn't able to get hold of the original voice recordings to remaster, so had to use the original audio, mixed in with newly recorded lines at a better quality. The result is the worst of both worlds; there are audible differences between old and new takes, with the audio fidelity of the original being that of a 1996 CD-ROM…and the new audio not faring much better. About the only thing that made it into the Director's Cut unscathed was the soundtrack, whose lavish compositions and sweeping melodies are the high points of the entire package.

There is more ambivalence regarding the adjustments made to the gameplay, though. They constantly toe the line somewhere between modernisation and oversimplification. Room transitions, which now happen immediately, are in the former camp, as is the hint system (by virtue of being totally optional), but the others are less black and white. The removal of protagonist deaths, for example, excises a somewhat unfair mechanic, but takes some of the story's more memorable scenes with it, and is implemented in the laziest, most uninteresting way imaginable: the correct action plays out automatically. Interactive objects are now highlighted, and some puzzles have been simplified (including the infamous goat one), both of which are reasonable alterations…individually. Combined, they turn half the game into a "click here to progress" button.

Like its every other feature, the story in Shadow of the Templars was solid but flawed, and the Director's Cut disregards those flaws in favour of tacking on a bunch of stuff nobody asked for. Specifically, the plot would have greatly benefitted from an expanded third act that fleshed out the underused villains and provided a more in-depth explanation or significant use for the titular "sword." Instead, there is a Nico-focused prologue and interludes that have nothing to do with the main plot, are punctuated by unimaginative stock puzzles. The original narrative progressed from an interesting opening to a great middle (especially one section set in Syria, just in case you forgot the release year) to a disappointing climax. This version retains the last two, but transforms the first few hours into an uneven mess.

The more that is written about the original's faults, the more it becomes obvious that bringing this into the 21st Century may be the greatest harm the re-release does to its source material. Playing it in 2016 reveals how much of its reputation stems from factors other than its quality. It certainly had a widespread influence - the eerie similarities to later properties like The Da Vinci Code, National Treasure, and Assassin's Creed are undeniable - but 'influential' doesn't mean 'good.' Additionally, the occasional unexpected violent scenes held a "first R-rated movie" kind of nostalgia for the original audience, which has vanished now that those moments have been edited. At least the logic there can be understood, after all, the animated visuals were always at odds with the relatively serious plot, yet the violent moments actually somewhat aligned these elements. Now, however, they clash completely.