The camera slowly pans over the rolling yellow and green hills of Catalonia, a Spanish community nestled between France and the Mediterranean Sea. In Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse, George Stobbart and Nico Collard leave London and Paris behind, traveling to this quiet landscape after deciphering clues hidden within a painting that stands at the center of a murderous conspiracy.
Mere hours before they stepped out onto the Spanish countryside, they were rescued from atop a burning building, set alight by one of the game's key antagonists: a man whose true identity and purpose remain unknown. As George and Nico are standing at the dilapidated entryway of the Castell del Sants, the tragic epicenter of the story, the pensive calm is shattered by gunfire aimed at them from inside the building--out of the frying pan and into the firing range.
makes a return early in the second half of The Serpent's Curse. But fear not: the goat that some publications dubbed one of the most difficult puzzles ever is graciously declawed, providing a simpler puzzle, and is mainly there for nostalgia--perhaps to evoke a little terror as well.
Broken Sword 5's second part is noticeably shorter, coming in at fewer than five hours when compared to the first part's six, and its linear nature diminishes the joy of exploration. Nevertheless, Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse is a solid installment in the nearly 20-year-old franchise, delivering a captivating story with great characters and loads of good-natured humor. We'll have to see if the combination is enough to warrant another adventure, but until then, The Serpent's Curse achieves its goals, giving George and Nico one more shot at the limelight.
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