Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars – The Director's Cut is an enhanced remake and director's cut of the classic 1996 point-and-click adventure game Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars developed by Revolution Software. It was released for Wii, Nintendo DS, iOS, Microsoft Windows, OS X, Android and Linux spanning 2009 to 2012. The player assumes the roles of George Stobbart and Nicole Collard, who was a pivotal but not a playable character in the original version.
After being petitioned to bring Broken Sword to the Wii and Nintendo DS, Revolution decided to create a director's cut. Comic book artist Dave Gibbons created additional artwork for the game. The game received positive reviews from critics, and is often listed as one of the best games on the Wii, DS and iOS/Android mobile devices. It was also a commercial success, outselling the third and fourth Broken Sword installments.
Gameplay
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars – The Director's Cut is a 2D adventure game played from a third-person perspective. Unlike in the original game, where George Stobbart is the only playable character, Nicole "Nico" Collard is controllable for selected game sections. Depending on the platform, the game is played through a point-and-click interface, touch user interface, and Wii Remote. While certain puzzles from the original segments were simplified, new first-person puzzles were also added. Hotspots are highlighted, and a hint system is added, along with a diary in which the player character takes notes. Some of the original game's dialogue and cutscenes were removed, with the blood edited out of retained cutscenes.
Plot
The game opens in Paris, a day before the original game's start, with journalist Nicole Collard receiving a request to go to the Palais-Royal, to interview a famous media tycoon and potential candidate for President of France, Pierre Carchon. A mime hangs around outside Carchon's home, but Nico ignores him and goes on inside the house. She meets Carchon's wife, Imelda, as well as Carchon, who reveals that he knew Nico's father, Thierry Collard, very well. Soon, there is a noise in the drawing room; Carchon investigates only to be shot. Nico rushes to the scene to see the mime over Pierre's corpse. She is knocked to the ground before she can do anything and wakes up to find Imelda going to call the police.
After persuading her that she wants to find the truth and help, Imelda allows Nico to access Carchon's room, which contains an elephant carving –the same as one Nico received from her father, who had carved it himself, and a stone cylinder, which contained a hidden letter code. On Carchon's corpse, Nico discovers a ticket stamped "Bâteaux de la Conciergerie" and goes to investigate the dock where the Conciergerie was. By using the letters on the cylinder, she discovers a secret office area where Carchon and many others met for business. After she writes her story up, her editor Ronnie tells her to drop it, at which Nico becomes angry. However, she receives a mysterious phone call from a man called Plantard, who tells her he needs to speak to her about her story.
The next day, the American tourist George Stobbart witnesses a terrorist attack at a cafe in Paris, during which a clown steals an old man's briefcase and detonates a bomb. Soon after, George meets Nicole Collard, a journalist who is photographing the scene. George investigates the area to help Nicole gather information about the attack. He finds the clown's discarded nose and learns that a man was seen escaping with a briefcase. After Nicole discovers the address of a costume shop inside the clown nose, George learns from that shop's owner that the nose had been purchased by a man named Khan.
George travels to the hotel where Khan is staying, where he obtains an ancient manuscript from Khan's hotel safe. After evading two hired thugs, Flap and Guido, George takes the manuscript to Nicole, who deduces that it is related to the Knights Templar. In a nearby museum, George finds a tripod that is illustrated in the manuscript. He soon travels to the excavation site in Lochmarne, Ireland where the tripod had been discovered; and, there, he obtains a gem identical to one on the manuscript. In a Templar chapel beneath the local castle ruins, George discovers a mural of a hanged man with "Montfauçon" written underneath.
Nico attempts to find out more about her father's involvement with Carchon. She deduces quickly that Imelda is in danger and rushes to the Palais Royale to save her. Nico is too late, but the dying Imelda gives Nico a key that fits a box Nico's father gave her. Nico opens the box and finds out the truth. Her father and Imelda were lovers, and her father worked for the government as a sort of spy against Carchon's secret organisation, meaning that Nico's father was "one of the good guys"; she decided to keep this a secret and not tell anyone, as did her father, out of respect for him. George returns to Paris and learns from Andre Lobineau, a colleague of Nicole's, that Montfauçon is a location in Paris. Flap and Guido attempt to steal the tripod from the museum; but they are beaten to the theft by Nicole, who gives the artifact to George. In the sewers of Montfauçon, George spies on a secret meeting of people who claim to be the Templars, and he learns of their plan to find the Sword of Baphomet. After the group leaves, George uses the tripod and gem in the underground chamber to reveal the name of a village in Syria: Marib. He travels to the village and discovers that Khan has been looking for him. At a nearby rock formation called the Bull's Head, George finds a lens and deduces that it is represented on the manuscript as a crystal ball. He also discovers an idol with three bearded faces, Baphomet; and a Latin inscription that describes Britain. Khan arrives and holds George at gunpoint, but George manages to escape.
Back in Paris, George learns from Andre that the manuscript mentions the Spanish De Vasconcellos family, who were once connected with the Templars. At the family's villa, George speaks to the family's sole surviving member, a Countess, who leads him to the De Vasconcellos mausoleum. There, George discovers the family's chalice, which the Countess entrusts to George. She asks him to find her missing ancestor, Don Carlos. In Paris, George uses the lens in the church at Montfauçon and discovers a hidden image of a burning man. In the church, George find Don Carlos' tomb, which is inscribed with a series of biblical references.
