As someone whose first major gaming experience was Myst – complete as it was with dot-matrix sheets full of scrawled notes – I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for the point-and-click adventure. And while I won’t rest until Tim Schafer has committed in writing to getting the band back together for another Monkey Island title, today’s news of a Kickstarter for a top-notch Broken Sword sequel certainly fills the void… for now, Schafer. For now.
As someone whose first major gaming experience was Myst – complete as it was with dot-matrix sheets full of scrawled notes – I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for the point-and-click adventure. And while I won’t rest until Tim Schafer has committed in writing to getting the band back together for another Monkey Island title, today’s news of a Kickstarter for a top-notch Broken Sword sequel certainly fills the void… for now, Schafer. For now.
For those of the less pointy and clicky persuasion, Broken Sword is a vibrant, story-driven series of adventure games that feel ripped from classic cinema as much as they do from gaming. Each one stars George Stobbart, “an intrepid American lawyer,” and Nico Collard, a “sassy French freelance journalist,”on missions around the glob to unravel the shady conspiracies pseudo-historical mysteries into which they’re so often drawn. Think of them as animated Dan Brown novels by way of Disney. All caught up? Excellent.
The series, it seems – which has recently seen new life on mobile – is back; and this time, for much more than a Director’s Cut. Broken Sword – the Serpent’s Curse is set to be the biggest title yet, based around an adventure beginning, as they all do, with a seemingly random act. When George and Nico are together in Paris, they find themselves caught in a gallery raid, the target of which is a seemingly innocuous painting of a serpent. Of course, because this is Broken Sword, this means the start of a wild cross-country adventure revealing “a conspiracy as old as the written word.
The team at Revolution has done half-a-year’s work on the title already, and is taking to Kickstarter to raise $400,000 for the completion of Serpent’s Curse. Why all the dough? First of all, making adventure games is expensive, you crazy person! But more importantly, Revolution has hired a full staff of Disney, Nickelodeon, Universal, and other industry-vetted 2D artists to craft an HD version of the series’ (hopefully) most beautiful game. Complement this with series creator Charles Cecil and the “original Revolution Crew,” including original voice actor Rolf Saxon, and you’ve got one hefty tab. Oh, did I mention day one localization into German and French for the entire spoken story? Now I did.
Honestly, the whole thing sounds wonderful, and from the looks of it, a revival attempt that would warm the cockles of any adventure fan’s heart. But we don’t subsist on warm hearts, now, do we!? So Revolution has assembled some pretty spiffy reward tiers to keep backers happy, including: a $15 buy in to receive a DRM-free digital download, access to developer diaries, and early exclusive content such as wallpapers; a $50 tier including all of the above, as well as a specially commissioned digital comic, a “History of..” eBook, and all previous Revolution titles on GOG.com.
Set your sights a little higher, and there are tokens like a Templar Keyring pendant and signed “History of…” book ($250), Nico’s reporter notebook ($500), a personal written message from Charles Cecil ($1,000), and even an invite to and accommodations the game’s wrap party, taking place in one of the story’s locations! ($10,000). As always, we recommend checking out the page itself to check out in detail all available rewards, since – like most Kickstarter campaigns – each level is packed with things we didn’t mention.
So, adventure fans and adventure fans in the making? What are you waiting for!? Point and click your way over to the fundraising page to give this exciting project a look, and if it happens to tickle your fancy, maybe even think about tossing in a donation. Bon Voyage!
Project Name: Broken Sword: The Serpent’s Curse
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux
Funds Needed: $400,000
Funding Acquired (as of this writing): $125,665
Days Left: 29
Kickstarter Picks is a series of features on Gamezebo that will profile Kickstarter projects in the world of video games. We’re doing this in the hopes of calling attention to interesting projects in need of funding, so please, if a game looks like something you’d want to play, don’t hesitate to lend it your support!
