Broken Sword 5: The Serpents' Curse - Part I

 PC
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 171 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 116 out of 171
  2. Mixed: 40 out of 171
  3. Negative: 15 out of 171

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  1. PrinceThrakkath
    Dec 5, 2013
    10
    Really dont get the critics reviews all 60% are they copying and pasting from each other? Ratings make no sense when a playable beautifully crafted game like this gets 60% and an unplayable mess like BF4 gets 83% or more. As for my review of the game I'm not that far in but very happy with what I've seen thus far.

    It's much more in line with the first 2 Broken swords beautiful hand    Really dont get the critics reviews all 60% are they copying and pasting from each other? Ratings make no sense when a playable beautifully crafted game like this gets 60% and an unplayable mess like BF4 gets 83% or more. As for my review of the game I'm not that far in but very happy with what I've seen thus far.

    It's much more in line with the first 2 Broken swords beautiful hand drawn 2D graphics and enjoyable *if not overly difficult puzzles'. I hope this is a big success and Beneath a Steel Sky 2 is equally successful the original is one of my favourite games of all time.    … Expand
  2. WildingCarpet11
    Dec 8, 2013
    9
    I don't know what's wrong with the critics giving the game 6/10. This game is brilliant. It has fun story and it reminds me of first two Broken swords. It maybe isn't one of the point and click games that telltale would have produced but this game surely has it's charm and you should think about buying it!
  3. dazsin
    Dec 9, 2013
    9
    I'm a bit baffled by some of the reviews here. Broken Sword 1 is my favourite game of all time I won't deny that. I wasn't a huge fan of the 3D element of 3 and 4, however I felt the story and humour remained, so I still enjoyed them. I had high hopes for the belated fifth installment, and wondered how it would turn out. I am delighted to say it has exceeded my expectations. The look andI'm a bit baffled by some of the reviews here. Broken Sword 1 is my favourite game of all time I won't deny that. I wasn't a huge fan of the 3D element of 3 and 4, however I felt the story and humour remained, so I still enjoyed them. I had high hopes for the belated fifth installment, and wondered how it would turn out. I am delighted to say it has exceeded my expectations. The look and feel of it is reminiscent of the first 2 games, however it has been given a bit of 21st century sheen. The story is intriguing, and the Stobbart deadpan humour is here in bucketloads. I have laughed out load on numerous occasions to his little jokes, or his amusing responses. I also love the secondary characters reactions to the odd items Stobbart carries around with him.
    Probably the only quibble I have is that it is a bit easy. We are only halfway through (part 2 is due in January) but nothing has had me stuck like the first game (i'd go days just wandering round, trying every item with everything) however, the developers have made the superb decision not to include a 'hotspot' key which basically turns point and click games into interactive stories.
    If you are considering buying BS5 i'd strongly urge you to do so. In a world of an endless stream of Call of Duty and FIFA games a new Broken Sword is extremely welcome especially when it is done this well.    … Expand
  4. Holyhesk
    Dec 9, 2013
    6
    The Good Excellent charactors, each one has its own personality. George's script again amazing. Nice environments. Story is very interesting and urges you to continue to see what unfolds.

    The Bad Part 1 of the game is way to short 50% of the game is now complete, took me about 9 hours and thats with taking my time. Puzzles and item use are far to obvious and easy. This new hints    The Good Excellent charactors, each one has its own personality. George's script again amazing. Nice environments. Story is very interesting and urges you to continue to see what unfolds.

    The Bad Part 1 of the game is way to short 50% of the game is now complete, took me about 9 hours and thats with taking my time. Puzzles and item use are far to obvious and easy. This new hints system (which a lot of adventures these days seem to use) kind of ruins the challenge. Turned these off and still had no problems solving the puzzles. Lack of different environments while they do look very nice there isn't enough of them. They use the same scenes over and over. Not many places the charactors can walk to, each scene is way to small, i'd like to of seen more scrolling while walking to enjoy new environments, frustating when you can only walk George a few steps to the end of the scene.

    I'm afraid the Bads outweigh the Goods in this one. Part 2 needs to be vastly improved for me to score this any higher than a 6.    … Expand
  5. RustyJames
    Jan 23, 2014
    8
    Quite nice game and very enjoyable to play. Every location and character are well drawn and contain so much details. The music and sound are great, very appropriate for this game. The story is pretty interesting, but the game, unfortunately, is too short. The puzzles aren't difficult, but very interesting to solve some of them.

    Broken Sword 5 is a very nice adventure game and it retains    Quite nice game and very enjoyable to play. Every location and character are well drawn and contain so much details. The music and sound are great, very appropriate for this game. The story is pretty interesting, but the game, unfortunately, is too short. The puzzles aren't difficult, but very interesting to solve some of them.

    Broken Sword 5 is a very nice adventure game and it retains the style of the whole series.    … Expand
  6. kellyc7c
    Dec 9, 2013
    8
    The game is pretty good, at least the first half of it is as we'll have to wait until January for the rest!

    The games plays just like the first two broken sword games which is a good thing. This is a classic adventure game, none of this modern dumbed down stuff. There's tons of items to pick up and some of which need combing to solve puzzles (most of the Telltale games scrapped this    The game is pretty good, at least the first half of it is as we'll have to wait until January for the rest!

    The games plays just like the first two broken sword games which is a good thing. This is a classic adventure game, none of this modern dumbed down stuff. There's tons of items to pick up and some of which need combing to solve puzzles (most of the Telltale games scrapped this mechanic). Unfortunately the puzzles themselves seem to be too much on the easy side. I think part of the problem is a lot of puzzles are restricted to one room so you either have all the items you need to solve all the puzzles already or they're in the room to be picked up. I'm hoping we'll see more multi-room puzzles in the second half.

    The backgrounds in the game are beautiful, all hand drawn. The character animations are all pre-rendered and to be honest I'm not a huge fan but they're still quite good for the most part. There are a few glitches with them though. One annoying glitch is the walk cycle animation resets if you click somewhere else on the screen when George is already walking; It's quite jarring. There are some scenes where the characters lips don't move while talking if they're already doing some other animation. Also when first talking to a character there is often a long pause between George saying 'hi' and the character responding as if the game is waiting for their idle animation to finish. Finally a few times the character will jump to another part of the room when talking and then jumping back. These are annoying glitches which make the game feel like it was rushed a bit before release. But the rest of the game doesn't feel rushed at all.

    The music is awesome as Barrington Pheloung from the first two games returns to compose the score. He's also the guy behind the music from the British TV shows Morse and Lewis. This really adds to the nostalgia. The voice acting is not great but not bad either. Rolf Saxon returns as the main character George Stobbart and he's awesome as always. The problem is with the rest of the characters. Personally I didn't mind the voice acting although I know a lot of other people have criticised it.

    It's difficult to comment on the story without seeing the whole game. It is a bit slow at the beginning but does start picking up halfway through. It is a completely authentic Broken Sword story although I don't want to spoil anything.

    The game is great value, only £15 on Steam at the moment and that includes the second part that comes out in January! To be honest my only real disappointment with the game is that the puzzles are too easy. Although the first two Broken Sword games were never that hard. The other issues such as the animations and voice acting are really down to production values and you can't really complain when you consider how much you're paying. I don't understand the low scores given by the professional critics. They seem way too harsh. This a completely authentic Broken Sword game that could be straight out of the 90s! If you love Broken Sword or Adventure Games in general I can completely recommend this game!    … Expand
  7. Hollystine
    Dec 8, 2013
    10
    Nostalgia Revived, at least for me.
    True fans of the Broken Sword series will appreciate the subtleties of our old Point & Click game, beautiful drawing, voices, and the mystery is still here, and we didn't solve this one, for now...

    Back to the source!
  8. playbill
    Dec 8, 2013
    6
    Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse is like one of those reunion special shows on TV. You are happy to see your favorite characters again, remember the old jokes, the forgotten romances but fact is the show has ended years ago and it kind of feels not the same anymore. In a sweet but also disappointing way...

    Broken Sword 1 is the best game I have ever played. Back then it was the    Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse is like one of those reunion special shows on TV. You are happy to see your favorite characters again, remember the old jokes, the forgotten romances but fact is the show has ended years ago and it kind of feels not the same anymore. In a sweet but also disappointing way...

    Broken Sword 1 is the best game I have ever played. Back then it was the Ferrari of Adventure Games and Adventure Games were the Lamborghini of Video Games. Note to young gamers- in terms of publicity, reputation and success Broken Sword in 96 was the Top Dog. Just like what Skyrim is today. Or COD. Or whatever 'big' game you can imagine.

    The sequel was up to standard, third and forth came out in the playStation-sandbox- 3D acceleration era where story heavy games were considered a sin and nobody was playing them. But everything goes round and in the past three years adventure games, story driven games are on the offensive mostly due to some brilliant new companies (Telltale and co), some indy gems and touch screens. So what better timing than now for a new Broken Sword game.

    + It feels like a Broken Sword game. George's voice, the music, the atmosphere, the pacing, the plot. Everything is so familiar all of a sudden, like meeting your best friend from school that you haven't seen in years.
    + Story is good. Not excellent, not very good but good (reserving judgement because it's only the first chapter).
    + Beautiful hand drawn backgrounds. We are talking pure art that surpasses any 3D. It was expected though and we have seen it before.
    + George Stobbart will always be one of the best characters of video gaming history.

    -Very weak character models. They blend well with the hand drawn background but they have extremely limited animation. Keeping the characters fairly large on screen makes matters worse. I was constantly failing to immerse myself in the game due to lack of facial expressions and movement overall.
    -Very few locations. And I mean really few. The whole game was revisiting the same 2-3 basic locations. No not twice. More than twice. I don't remember how many times I sat in the cafe. Honestly,It feels like watching a stage play. It should feel like watching a movie!
    - Very few characters
    - Abysmal Nico Collard. Charles Cecil what were you thinking? Terrible voice acting, very badly written and generally with no purpose. She had such a sardonic humor! At least she maintains her natural sidekick role in this one (I never got the George and Nico face a new challenge blah blah. Broken Sword is the adventures of George. End of story)
    -The biggest flaw. The game is ridiculously easy and suffers from awful puzzle design. Again, Charles Cecil what on earth were you thinking? Everything you need to solve a certain problem is right there in front of you. Literally. No originality, no creativity, no complexity. Very lazy work. Or should I dare say rushed?
    - Some rather macabre humor. Why on earth should you insist on maintaining a dead man in an open casket inside an apartment three days after his death? Creepy.

    To sum up it feels good to play Broken Sword again. I'm very anxious for the second episode and I will make my full judgment after I see the whole picture. But I'm afraid all these major flaws will restrict BS role to the video gaming reality of our times to a brief cameo. Hope I'm wrong.    … Expand
  9. mrexetercity
    Dec 8, 2013
    7
    Everybody who is giving this game a 10 are obviously fans of the series becuase this game as good as it is has many flaws the game is in no way as good as the first one the puzzles are incredibly easy, it feels too linear unlike the first which had lots of freedom it feels more like 2 in that sense personally i feel the humour is to in your face and less witty than the originals but dontEverybody who is giving this game a 10 are obviously fans of the series becuase this game as good as it is has many flaws the game is in no way as good as the first one the puzzles are incredibly easy, it feels too linear unlike the first which had lots of freedom it feels more like 2 in that sense personally i feel the humour is to in your face and less witty than the originals but dont get me wrong i enjoed every minute of pplaying it and look forward to the second part also have to give credit to the great Rolf Saxon for yet another great perfomance of George my rating 7/10… Expand
  10. nutcrackr
    Dec 23, 2013
    8
    A solid first part of an interesting tale involving murder and mystery. Most of the puzzles are not particularly hard, there was only one puzzle that makes zero logical sense but the hint system will help you solve any. I found the dialogue had long pauses between each exchange, and this made some of the dialogue kinda painful. Funny at times, relaxing to play.
  11. pvtmalte
    Dec 10, 2013
    9
    when i finished the game i felt how endorphins where rushing through my body. what else matters?
    (apparantly metacritic wants more than that, but it's all i have to say)
  12. JackRyan
    Dec 5, 2013
    9
    Why is this only getting 6/10 from the critics?
    Great atmosphere, beautiful backgrounds, an interesting story.
    It's almost as good as the first 2 titles of the series.

    The best Kickstarter game I've played yet. Great work, guys.
  13. bico
    Dec 8, 2013
    10
    I like this game and hope it will more BS in the future. The graphics is fantastic and the story is very well built. It is time to come back to a meaningful games and stop playing stupid violent shooting an exploding games. The critics were not professional at all by rating it 6/10. They are just supporting the stupid shooting over rated games. We have to understand that this kind ofI like this game and hope it will more BS in the future. The graphics is fantastic and the story is very well built. It is time to come back to a meaningful games and stop playing stupid violent shooting an exploding games. The critics were not professional at all by rating it 6/10. They are just supporting the stupid shooting over rated games. We have to understand that this kind of adventure games should be supported and not discourage them. Over all fantastic game and go ahead guys. good job.… Expand
  14. Plukh
    Dec 7, 2013
    10
    Just like other users, I simply can't get so-called "professional" reviewers' score. The game is beautiful, it's easily one of the top adventure games visually. The way characters are blended with backgrounds, the way they're animated and interact with each other and the world around them is incredible. Writing is fine (even if a little bit different in style from the first two games), theJust like other users, I simply can't get so-called "professional" reviewers' score. The game is beautiful, it's easily one of the top adventure games visually. The way characters are blended with backgrounds, the way they're animated and interact with each other and the world around them is incredible. Writing is fine (even if a little bit different in style from the first two games), the puzzles are a little bit on the simple side (I hadn't had to use a hint system once for the first 50% of the game) something that could be improved upon.

    Overall flow of the game is excellent, the characters are fun and believable, the mood is "just right" for the Broken Sword game. Technically, it runs well so far I hadn't had any glitches or crashes at all and, of course, with it being an adventure game, you don't need a powerful machine to run it, which is a rare thing nowadays. All in all, this is an absolute must-have for all adventure games fans.    … Expand
  15. S4l3m
    Dec 6, 2013
    9
    I really enjoyed this part of broken sword. I found it to be a worthy successor and a really enjoyable game. One of the very few great Adventure games out there. Nice puzzles, good story awesome atmosphere and artwork. Fun gameplay. The 3d models are great but sometimes not quite there yet. Quite buggy on release date. But all in all top
  16. jakecov
    Dec 6, 2013
    10
    Critics are judging this game far too harshly. BS5 is a breath of fresh air in the world of action shooters and explosions. The slow pace of the game merely informs it's narrative, while the hand drawn animation is some of the most stunning I have seen in any game.
  17. DrGrim
    Dec 7, 2013
    10
    Really enjoyed this game. A little slow to start, but the story really picks up and I can't wait for part two. The graphics are beautiful, the voice acting top class, and the script is spot on. A few bugs to iron out, but no doubt they will be fixed up soon. Only slight disappointment were a few of the animations, but others were great.
  18. VonSeux
    Jan 8, 2014
    9
    Perfect return to form!!! The graphics and animations are very beautiful and collorful. Nice art direction. The start of the game is, again, a crime scene. A love letter to all fans. True point and click adventure. Highly recommended!!!
  19. Storm1672
    Dec 25, 2013
    7
    Up to the series good ol reputation. Kinda expected more tho after all these years. And the story is kinda weak so far. At least, compared to the other games of the series.
  20. bls128
    Dec 8, 2013
    10
    Critics reviews of 60% are just ridiculous. I can buy the 80% review of those unbiased, for fans this is an absolute winner though. Those who loved originals BS games will love the latest installment. Those who feel otherwise can return to the boredom of Assassin's Creed or similar.
  21. AvalancheBoy
    Dec 14, 2013
    9
    Broken Sword back to its strengths, theres plenty of Stobbart charisma and the story is an interesting one, I'm a little disappointed with it being a little short but I look forward to the second half, hoping theres some tougher puzzles. But it is like others say a breath of fresh air, if they keep adding to the broken sword series I'll keep playing them.
  22. RealGameReviews
    Dec 30, 2013
    8
    The serpents curse returns in this excellent sequel, broken sword 5. Serpent must navigate his way through many challenges in this point and click adventure wich will have viewers on the edge of there seets in suspense, reccomended to people who like adventures.
  23. Pars
    Dec 20, 2013
    10
    Wonderfully crafted point and click adventure with a story to keep you hooked and some great voice acting and backdrops. Pay no heed to the critics they obviously didn't get paid off when reviewing this. If you enjoyed the previous broken sword games or classic point and click nostalgia then you will want to give this a shot. All in all a very fun game and highly recommended.
  24. dragoljub1992
    Dec 6, 2013
    9
    One of my best old school games has back. Very interesting story, good story and dialogs. Bad that only half of the game has been released in december. Nicely done Charles.
  25. tiolisto
    Dec 6, 2013
    10
    Soy un gran fan de Broken Sword, los 2 primeros juegos de la saga, por historia y por jugabilidad están por encima de los 2 siguientes (BS3 y BS4).

    Doné 175$ para que viera la luz este nuevo capítulo y estoy disfrutando del juego, aqui dejo mis impresiones. Pro BS5 La esencia del primer Broken Sword está presente en Broken Sword 5: La maldición de la Serpiente ya que se recupera la    Soy un gran fan de Broken Sword, los 2 primeros juegos de la saga, por historia y por jugabilidad están por encima de los 2 siguientes (BS3 y BS4).

    Doné 175$ para que viera la luz este nuevo capítulo y estoy disfrutando del juego, aqui dejo mis impresiones.

    Pro BS5 La esencia del primer Broken Sword está presente en Broken Sword 5: La maldición de la Serpiente ya que se recupera la jugabilidad, la inmersión en la historia, los dialogos, el colorido y los puzzles, juego a la altura de los primeros.

    Contras: Puzzles demasiado faciles, no me gusta la separación en capitulos.

    Salah eh din    … Expand
  26. yalli321
    Dec 6, 2013
    10
    A truly wonderful game, everything about this game, from graphics and score to the scripts and characters is just incredible. Too bad it gets bad ratings from the critics.
  27. Xlavatzis
    Dec 26, 2013
    9
    I have no idea what these critics were thinking...This is a great game. It's a game that gave the people who funded it everything they asked for. Gorgeous 2d graphics, a beautiful story with lots of twists and well designed logical puzzles. If you like adventure games, don't think twice before buying this.
  28. vkouroub
    Dec 6, 2013
    9
    Beautiful hand painted graphics and character animation. Professional sound, speech and music. Good story, nice atmosphere. Don't listen to the critcis. They probabky never have played the previous BS games. This continues successfully the Broken Sword legacy. Keep up the good work.
  29. krimokrimo
    Dec 10, 2013
    10
    This is an great Point and Click Adventure, which is especially made for the Fans of the first and the second Broken Sword games, because the Graphics are really beautifully hand-drawn.
    I am really happy, that they made the sequel, and I am really pumped for the second part
  30. Samacura
    Dec 7, 2013
    3
    this Game is a fail by all means!!
    The Goods:
    1- Graphic are nice, well drawn backgrounds and ambience. The Bads: 1- No Hard Puzzles, all puzzles were easy, even a 8 years kid can solve them. every puzzle or challenge have the solution thrown in the floor in front of your face. 2- Bad Humor. very childish attempts to make some characters funny. 3- Short Story: Come on!! the story    this Game is a fail by all means!!
    The Goods:
    1- Graphic are nice, well drawn backgrounds and ambience.
    The Bads:
    1- No Hard Puzzles, all puzzles were easy, even a 8 years kid can solve them. every puzzle or challenge have the solution thrown in the floor in front of your face.
    2- Bad Humor. very childish attempts to make some characters funny.
    3- Short Story: Come on!! the story is so short and simple go from point A to Point B with no Complicated Plot. every thing was obvious and has no surprizes or twists.
    4- this (2) parts thing is so Disturbing, why didn't they make one decent part that we can enjoy playing?
    5- Nico is useless: Nice almost had no part in this game you play with nico, but usually she has her own way of solving challenges, now in this part) she is presented as only sexy reporter.

    as a Broken sword fan, i am very Disapointed and upset. i waited almost one year for a crappy game.

    I think i am gonna buy the next part only because i am a loyal fan of Broken sword hoping it will get better.

    Bottom line:
    The development team spent time on the graphics more than the story it self, I think they hired a little kid to design the puzzles. Don't buy this Game now, wait until the next episode is released and play them together, This 50% 50% Story thing is disgusting, most of the game play Hours is spent with listening to Childish Dialogues.    … Expand
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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 39 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 23 out of 39
  3. Negative: 0 out of 39
  1. GameStar
    Apr 27, 2014
    74
    This sequel ignores the less popular Broken Sword 3 and 4. One the one hand that's great, because it revives the atmosphere of the first two games and it works. But technically it's not up to date and the important puzzles are too easy to solve. But there's hope for part 2.
    Read full review
  2. Adventure Gamers
    Apr 27, 2014
    80
    Eminently playable, cheekily characterised and delectably artistic, The Serpent’s Curse rekindles the romance of the much-loved Broken Sword series.
    Read full review
  3. Game Over Online
    Apr 27, 2014
    70
    The Serpent’s Curse might be a little bit like the recent Veromica Mars movie, where if you’re a fan of the series then you might be happy enough just seeing what George and Nico are up to. But for everybody else, there isn’t much to get excited about, and there are probably better options out there for your gaming time and money.
    Read full review
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