Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse Reviews
Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse doesn’t do anything special for the point-and-click genre, but that’s perfectly fine as it does exactly what it sets out to do. As a fan of the first two games, this was what I wanted. Not everything is perfect, such as the animations and some inconsistent voice acting. However, if you’re a fan, you will find a lot more to love than the average player.
This intentionally slow, character development-centered, and fluid piece of art is worthy of admiration.
A fun adventure that takes a while to get going but when it does, Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse becomes a thrilling adventure hindered by its beginning.
Pure fan service in every sense, which ensures an enjoyably nostalgic adventure but also means a number of flaws that wouldn't be tolerated in other circumstances.
With the second part added, Broken Sword 5 could certainly reach beyond three stars – but, until then, it's wise to remain agnostic about Charles Cecil's latest offering.
This first episode of Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse is a noble attempt at recapturing the spirit of a classic from a bygone era, that doesn't quite reach the same lofty standards as the original.
It can't shake its past, running as it does through every beat of its game design, for better and worse, but The Serpent's Curse concludes satisfyingly, wrapping in such a way that has one just about forgiving, if not forgetting, its more frustrating moments. Players experienced with '90s adventure games will no doubt revel in how Broken Sword 5 moves in some maddeningly mysterious ways, and happily muddle through its poorly-paced first half. But those short on patience and with a low tolerance for bad acting (and worse accents) should seek out the aforementioned superior Switch adventures before investigating this curious concoction of mostly redundant old-school sensibilities mixed with flashes of evergreen flair and modern HD artistry.
Broken Sword 5 will slowly worm itself into your affections if you expose yourself to its ever so gentle humour for long enough. Whatever the opposite of subversive is, this is it, and there's something bizarrely, stupidly funny about Stobbart's straight-delivery of an idea that his trap of putting a biscuit inside a matchbox is good enough that he might fall for it himself.
Awkward controls and an uninspiring score thankfully don't sink a game with an intriguing story and well-designed puzzles.
Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse has some excellent voice acting, peerless artwork and some thoroughly enjoyable puzzles, that just about compensates for a story that occasionally feels rushed or unfocused.
Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse is very much a title at odds with itself, as it's stuck half way between offering a classic point-and-click adventure and being a more modern experience. As a result, it can be somewhat hard to recommend.
Involving, if at times perhaps too keen to handhold, The Serpent's Curse has the intrigue of a novel and the sedateness of an afternoon stroll. An acquired taste undeniably, but one worth trying.