Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars: Reforged

TLDR: Broken Sword: Shadows of the Templars – Reforged is a nostalgic blast from the past that holds up remarkably well, played here on Steam Deck. Charming, funny, occasionally maddening puzzles, great new visuals, and a story that’s still good fun all these years later. Solid 8/10. Graphics: A big upgrade on the original. The new cut scenes are beautifully rendered and very welcome. There’s a lovely touch where pressing select on the controller flips between the original art design and the new visuals instantly, a nice nod to where the game came from. Story: As good fun as it was when I first played it. George is very much the main hero here, Nico barely gets a look in compared to her role in later entries in the series, something I’d completely forgotten until replaying this. The puzzles range from clever to absolutely ridiculous, but that’s part of the charm. Audio: Music score is pretty good, true to the original, but the music/FX balance feels a little janky and could use a rework. Mechanics: Point and click, and a little fiddly on Steam Deck if I’m honest. Feels like it was designed with mouse and keyboard in mind originally, so a bit more control work for handheld would be welcome. Performance-wise: My only real technical gripe is that audio doesn’t reconnect after resuming from sleep mode on Steam Deck, meaning a full quit and relaunch is needed each time. Not a huge task, but a bit annoying. Length: Not an extensive game, roughly 10-12 hours if you take your time and read everything, but a very enjoyable, leisurely experience throughout. Conclusion: A faithful, lovingly updated remaster that’s charming, funny, and still worth your time. Solid 8/10, mainly for the effort put into bringing it into the modern day.

30 years later, this remains one of the very bests point and click ever made. And now it's even better.

I remember lots of evenings as a child, playing this game together with my family, laughing and solving riddles. It's one of the absolute classics when it comes to point-and-click adventures. The reforged version improves the graphics a lot, and being able to switch to old graphics on the fly is a real treat - if you ever needed another reason to give it a try, now's the time.