George Stobbart and Nico Collard walked different paths at the end of Angel of Death back in 2006, but a Kickstarter fortune brings them back together in Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse. Instead of a lovely reunion, however, a murder in an art gallery drags them both into a new and terrifying adventure. The return of the Broken Sword series makes an immediate impression and leaves a lot for players to discover, in several different segments, as the game progresses.

The Serpent's Curse starts in Spain with an introduction from the past featuring a valuable painting. Then later sometimes in Paris, showing a murder taking place in an art gallery right in front of the two protagonists, George and Nico. George is an insurance agent whose company insures the exhibition, while Nico is a journalist by profession, covering a story at the gallery. The painting La Maledicceió, which is stolen, has something to do with a great evil and habitually George feels liable to know why. The story feels captivating from the very beginning due to its mysterious nature and gets more exciting with the blend of their untidy of the two protagonists. With the presence of an ex-Russian gangster and a few assassination attempts in the middle, makes the story more absorbing. The long drawn out conflicts between the Gnostic and Dominican Christians is something that unfolds the darkest nature of the story. From France to London, Broken Sword 5 offers nothing but a thrilling and fascinating story.

Similar to other point-and-click adventures, Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse has the same gameplay features. Players use their mouse to control a character’s movement and interact with objects. The mouse cursor changes depending on what the players are interacting with. Items found or gathered through investigation are automatically added to an inventory and can be accessed or passed under any given circumstances. In most cases these items are used as evidence to help George or Nico gather the facts from their suspects, and a few items are there to be used in combination to solve puzzles. Inevitably, each of the items holds a clue in it, and how to use these items is up to the player. The story progresses only when certain amounts of clues are found. This evidently requires players to interact with every possible object and take part in every given conversation. Fortunately these interactions are never tedious, and get better with both clever and amusing presentations. The puzzles are never really exhausting, but amateurs can easily solve them with the help of a hint button. The first couple of hints only show the directions, while the third one straightforwardly solves the puzzle.

The Serpent's Curse is delightful when it comes to its presentation. Vibrant hand-painted graphics and the stunning detail of each background are undeniably praise worthy. This comes with precise character design along with flawless voice-overs. While the graphical presentation is stunning, animated movements are rather lackluster. It’s the only bit of hitch that doesn’t go with the game’s standard. But the lively conversations and superb voice acting do well enough to keep things at a very likable state. Each of the characters found in the game feel as if they are being portrayed from real life, and due to their characteristics they are surely remarkable. The chemistry between the two protagonists, along with humorous appearances such as Inspector Navet, Sergeant Moue, and many more make the mix truly enjoyable.

Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse is the first of the two-part adventure, and its story cooks just right for players longing for more. The story suddenly ends just when you think there is enough evidence and theories for a possible conclusion. But the finale has to wait for nearly a year as the second part arrives in early 2015. Despite the sudden ending, there’s nothing that fans of this genre won’t enjoy from The Serpent's Curse. Those who had played the first four episodes will be delighted to see George and Nico coming together again and how rich the series has become. Even newcomers are bound to like Broken Sword 5 if point-and-click adventures are their cup of tea. Revolution Software has done a fabulous job delivering this franchise after a seven long year hiatus and released it with a bang.

Sarwar Ron, NoobFeed
Twitter | +SarwarRon