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Parzival’s Stone will reintroduce 3D graphics to the series, after a return to the original 2D in 2013’s fifth, Kickstarter-funded game, The Serpent’s Curse. But series creator Charles Cecil has dubbed the new graphical style “Super 2D” as it attempts to recreate the look of the original games by applying hand-drawn textures to the 3D geometry. It will have a classic, point-and-click adventure game interface.
Parzival’s Stone will send George and Nico on a quest for the mythical Holy Grail — “but not as one might expect,” according to the press release. Their quest will take them to Montségur in the South of France, former stronghold of the Cathar Christian sect, and pit them against tech entrepreneurs, government agencies, and energy corporations in a story that also involves Nazi treasure hunters (but of course) and quantum physics.
The new version of the first game — in which George witnesses a bomb attack on a Parisian café, drawing him into a mystery involving the Knights Templar — notably updates its hand-drawn, animated-film-style visuals from 640x400 pixels to 4K resolution with fully redrawn assets. This enormous task was accomplished with a mixture of human artists and A.I. techniques; Revolution head Charles Cecil told Polygon that the tiny studio “just simply couldn’t afford” to remake the game without using A.I. The game’s audio will also be upscaled, a few minor changes made to story and characterization to fit modern sensibilities, and gameplay improvements brought over from the currently available Director’s Cut version.
Cecil said that, if the reissue of Shadow of the Templars is a success, the intention is to follow it up with a remaster of the second Broken Sword game, The Smoking Mirror, using the same techniques.
Cecil, being the racist Briton he happens to be, assumes that Syrian carpet sellers cannot be stereotypically mean whether in life or fiction, they have to all have a heart of gold and Dickensian sly charm 24/7, as if any Syrian carpet seller would bother to muster these against George, some clueless yank who randomly bothers them, and doesn't even intend to buy anything"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.”"
From multi award-winning Revolution Software and legendary director Charles Cecil comes the latest genre-defining adventure. Remembering a murderous clown, a deadly explosion and a life-changing adventure, intrepid George Stobbart and fearless journalist, Nico Collard, are summoned by an eccentric academic to help decipher a mysterious medieval manuscript. But they arrive to find themselves in the middle of a murder scene - the academic is dead, his house ransacked, and the manuscript has gone. Our two heroes promise the grieving wife that they will bring the callous murderers to justice.
Take on the roles of George and Nico as they find themselves drawn into a terrifying conspiracy involving brutal treasure hunters, sinister medieval cabals, and the perplexities of Quantum Physics.
The trail leads our heroes from Berlin to Paris and Occitania as the ancient manuscript reveals clues to the secret location of Parzival’s Stone - known to most as the Grail - a mythical treasure lost for over a thousand years and a source of a thousand legends.
Pursued by ruthless tech entrepreneurs, corrupt government agencies, and billion-dollar global energy corporations, the collective powers of the modern world are all out to beat our heroes to the ultimate goal.
Using wits and dry humor, can George and Nico unravel the mystery of Parzival’s Stone? Because they might just well be the only things stopping the whole world from armageddon.
Key Features:
- Continue the Journey: The latest in the seminal Broken Sword series offers more of the very best in intelligent adventure gaming
- 4K ’Super 2D’ Visuals: Experience the magic of ’Super 2D' with artist-rendered, high-definition graphics in a beautiful mix of traditional 2D and cutting-edge 3D animation, bringing picturesque landscapes, detailed characters, and intricate environments to life in exquisite 4K
- Point-and-Click Gameplay: An intuitive interface offers challenging and thought-provoking puzzles with every challenge leading a step closer to uncovering the terrifying truth of Parzival’s stone
- Fully Voice Acted: A wonderful cast of colorful local characters is brought to life by an outstanding cast of voice actors
is this a threatcomes the latest genre-defining adventure
Then we move on to discuss Broken Sword 6, which brings us back to those bleeding stones.
"I want to talk to you about my love of history," said Cecil, before sweeping me up into a long tale of Gnosticism and Orthodox Christianity, of myths about the Holy Grail, the Dominican Order, and the Château de Montségur near the French Pyrenees that was originally a Cathar fortress.
Then he shows me two "Grail stones", tiny pebbles he briefly pops into his mouth and then rubs together between his fingers. He turns them to me and indeed these miniscule grey lumps are bleeding bright red.
Anyone who's played a Broken Sword game will be acutely aware of their gripping storytelling; it turns out Cecil himself is also a fabulous storyteller. To say more of his holiday stories in the South of France would give away too much of the new game's plot, but rest assured it will provide opportunities to parallel past and future, to conjure gameplay from mythology, and to be authentic to real history.
The new game will employ "Super 2D" visuals. | Image credit: Revolution Software
Broken Sword 6 will also employ what Cecil is calling "Super 2D": the visuals maintain a hand-drawn look of pencil and paint, but with depth and layers to simulate 3D. The environments, at least, look stunning.
For fans of the series, it will be a long wait for the sixth game, which is in development but still without a release date - though it's set for PC, console and mobile. At least there's the remaster - due in 2024 - to keep us all busy until then.
You're in for the treat.is this a threatcomes the latest genre-defining adventure
The city scene looks lousy, but the village shown in the showcase mostly pulls off an illusion of a painted scene. At least while the camera is static and they don't zoom in too much, because the close up during the dialogue scene was absolutely terrible. I do miss the high quality of these older adventures, truly a lightning in a bottle.This doesn't look hand-drawn as all.
It has this kind of artificial plastic look from all these 2 1/2D (meaning prerendered backgrounds displayed in 2D with inserted 3D characters) from 15-20 years ago.
Only some of them, like Syberia 1 and 2 looked way better.
Not the only one unfortunately .Isn't this basically the only classic/old school P&C adventure game developer still afoot?
I suppose the fixture with constant remasters and ports is part of the reason this company is still viable. It is getting a bit annoying though. Also BS5 and BSS 2 were quite meh.
There was a thread here years ago about how the guy who wrote most of the original games wasn't actually Charles Cecil, but rather Dave Cummins(who died alone and forgotten after leaving the company, by all accounts). It figures.
But those devs were inactive for over a decade and their original companies went bankrupt or were sold long ago.Not the only one unfortunately .Isn't this basically the only classic/old school P&C adventure game developer still afoot?
I suppose the fixture with constant remasters and ports is part of the reason this company is still viable. It is getting a bit annoying though. Also BS5 and BSS 2 were quite meh.
There was a thread here years ago about how the guy who wrote most of the original games wasn't actually Charles Cecil, but rather Dave Cummins(who died alone and forgotten after leaving the company, by all accounts). It figures.
Ron Gilbert, The Coles, The Williams are among those still around (more or less).
Considering the meh to WTF games they have released recently I am quite happy to see the genre in the hands of the indie game devs.
Yes, Charles Cecil said once in an interview, that the remasters for the iphone (other ports came later) basically saved the company.I suppose the fixture with constant remasters and ports is part of the reason this company is still viable.
As far as I remember, the only other adventure developer that stayed constantly in business, was Cyan.But those devs were inactive for over a decade and their original companies went bankrupt or were sold long ago.Not the only one unfortunately .Isn't this basically the only classic/old school P&C adventure game developer still afoot?
I suppose the fixture with constant remasters and ports is part of the reason this company is still viable. It is getting a bit annoying though. Also BS5 and BSS 2 were quite meh.
There was a thread here years ago about how the guy who wrote most of the original games wasn't actually Charles Cecil, but rather Dave Cummins(who died alone and forgotten after leaving the company, by all accounts). It figures.
Ron Gilbert, The Coles, The Williams are among those still around (more or less).
Considering the meh to WTF games they have released recently I am quite happy to see the genre in the hands of the indie game devs.
Cecil and Revolution have continued making games since the early 90s.