Broken Sword 5 - the Serpent's Curse

Having finished all previous Broken Sword games I must say the 5th game in series is worth the money. It holds many easter eggs for players that have played BS1 & 2. The story is as light-hearted as we got used to by the series, and it's well-written playing with conspiracy theories just right. The humour - I personally like it (may be a little bit silly for some). The backgrounds are great. The characters rendering - I would prefer everything in 2d, but it keeps up with the rest of graphics. Music and dubbing - on spot. If you haven't played the previous games in series, you'll want to, just to hear Nico's French accent ;) To sum up, I strongly recommend it - just buy and play, especially if you are not a hardcore adventure games player - the whole BS series is more casual than the rest of old-school point and click games. Beware - you can still get stuck when not saving frequently!

Was really filled with nostalgia during experiencing Broken Sword 5. After Broken Sword 2 back in 1997, and mediocre BS3 and a horrendous BS4, this was the first true successor to the series, so glad about this. Amazing graphics, really nice puzzles, decent voiceovers, great soundtrack and a story true to the spirit of Broken Sword is all what you need from your favourite series. A minor issue with the ending and the final confrontation with Langham which could be richer. --WARNING - GAME BREAKING BUG , Spoiler follows -- Near the end at Eden, if you light the sausage on the goat and then throw the fig at the path for her to follow, but WITHOUT having her eaten the yarn first (what?!), game freezes for ever. (version 2.2) -----

This game is worth to play. It has a good story in the same vein as the firt Broken Swords, beautiful graphics and good music. On the bad side, the game is almost completely linear, making the puzzles easy for the most part (two of them made me think hard). Also, there are only three cutscenes, I love to have a good animated video from time to time, I didn't find them here.

Being a massive fan of the first and second game, I was very much looking to playing this title as it's evident that it is a return to the style of play from the earlier games. Indeed, the game opens with an apparent murder in an art gallery, and we're introduced to George and Nico again wanting to solve the murder in their own charming way. First of all whereas they've used 3D character models, it is clear that they've made the game looks aesthetically like the earlier games. The backdrops, as ever, are gorgeous. The story slowly unfolds to involve the Gnostics, who seem to be unfairly maligned historically. Overall, on the surface, this appears to be a return to form for Broken Sword. Unfortunately I felt the game lacked heart, in that events indeed seemed to happen, but as a player I didn't feel particularly involved. George seems to lack the humor, whereas Nico lacks character. Furthermore, I felt this would have been a good opportunity to develop their relationship in the series. This is the fifth game, and it feels as though they have not developed as characters. Old characters appear for the sake of appearance. The later puzzles seem lack a sense of 'fair play' for the player. I can remember playing the first game and being absolutely enthralled by things like the train scene, and escaping a cave to be confronted by Khan. It was exciting and showed a lot of skill in story telling. Unfortunately that sense of creativity is lacking in the fifth instalment.

I played the first Broken Sword (Shadow of the Templars) when I was about 12 or 13 yrs old. I loved that game, it had a magical quality to it and is probably partly responsible for my interest in history. Ever since that first game, the series seems to have failed to recapture the magic of the original. This one comes the closest in my opinion. It has many of the things that made the first great: traveling through interesting and exotic locales, likeable protagonists, witty dialogue, eccentric and hilarious characters (although, it did seem like it was leaning a bit too into nostalgic fanservice by bringing back old characters). The plot isn't quite as exciting or interesting as in the first game. The puzzles are a bit too easy or towards the second half of the game increasingly ludicrous. (roach puzzle anyone?) And also, why the heck are George and Nico still not together yet ater 22 years?!!! Graphics are pretty good btw for cell shaded characteres (still prefer hand drawn though. I realize it's too expensive). Overall, objectively a pretty good adventure game, that probably deserves about 3.5-4 stars. But the fact that I have so much nostalgia for the original makes me bump it up to 5.