Line #92 VideoGame/BrokenSwordTheShadowOfTheTemplars


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/broken_sword_coverart.jpg]]
2
3	->''"As I picked myself up, all I could hear was the ceaseless drone of traffic. Life went on around me, but the explosion was to change my life forever..."''
4	-->-- '''George Stobbart'''
5
6	''Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars'' is a 1996 [[AdventureGame adventure game]] created by British developer Creator/RevolutionSoftware, and the first game in the ''VideoGame/BrokenSword'' series. In the United States, it was re-named ''Circle of Blood'', which was reverted back for the sequels and the updated re-release.
7
8	The game follows George Stobbart, an American tourist in Paris who finds himself caught up in what appears to be a high profile assassination, when an explosion caused by a mysterious clown kills a man at the cafe he was visiting. As George tries to follow the killer's trail, he meets the freelance photo-journalist, Nicole "Nico" Collard, who was supposed to interview the man who was killed in the explosion, and the two of them team up to get the bottom of the mystery of why the man was assassinated. Their pursuit leads him to various regions of Europe and the Middle East, until they finally unravels a certain conspiracy that ties to the Knights Templar, the Catholic order that was supposed to cease to exist back in the 14th century...
9
10	In 2009, Revolution Software released an enhanced remake (dubbed ''The Director's Cut'') for the PC, Nintendo DS, and iOS.
11
12	In 2024, Revolution Software announced that another enhanced remake, with the subtitle ''Reforged'', was in development, being supported through crowd-founding via a successful campaign on UsefulNotes/{{Kickstarter}}. The project currently have a tentative release date of Q3 2024.
13	----
14	!! These tropes can explain everything:
15	* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: Some of the cutscenes feature CGI vehicles.
16	* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Paris is full of them - TruthInTelevision, of course.
17	* AncientConspiracy: There's [[spoiler: a battle between Neo-Templars and Hashshahins. The former are a group of people from influential positions and hide in ancient areas where they discuss their plans about conquering the world while the latter is a group of Muslim radical sect who are trying to save the world from Neo-Templars.]]
18	* AngryGuardDog: The Angry Guard Goat in Lochmarne Castle.
19	* AsTheGoodBookSays: One of the puzzles in the game has searching some Bible verses in [[spoiler: Don Carlos' tomb]].
20	* BalconyEscape: After [[spoiler:[[SickbedSlaying killing Marquet]], Eklund]] escapes through the hospital room's window.
21	* BavarianFireDrill: Lady Piermont pressures the desk clerk at the hotel to hand over the manuscript from the safe.
22	* BedsheetLadder: George builds a towel ladder at the top of Bull's Head.
23	* BerserkButton: [[spoiler: Try telling Arto that his kebabs are made of dog meat in Arabic and he'll turn into a murderer.]] ButThouMust, of course.
24	* TheBigDamnKiss: Between George and Nico in the closing scene.
25	* BilingualBonus: The conversations and notes contain some French, Spanish, Arabic and Latin.
26	* BondVillainStupidity: Khan offers to shake hands with George before killing him. That opens up a chance for the latter to make use of the hand buzzer.
27	* {{Bookends}}: [[spoiler:The game begins and ends with an explosion, even apparently reusing parts of the same animation. Averted in the Director's Cut, in which the game starts with Nico witnessing a politician being shot instead.]]
28	* {{Bowdlerise}}: Some of the scenes and dialogues are edited in ''Director's Cut'' to avoid warnings in violence and decrease frustration to newcomers. It doesn't help that the fans are the ones who complain about it.
29	* BreakingTheFourthWall: [[spoiler: George [[TwinkleSmile smiles in front of the camera]] after he opens the secret door in St. Ninian ruins.]]
30	* BrickJoke: The player can leave the sink on in the basement of an Irish pub. When George is talking to Nico and describing his trip, he mentions having to bail out the basement because "Some idiot left the sink on."
31	* ButThouMust: [[spoiler:The only way to get the toilet brush is to tell Arto that his kebabs are made of dog meat.]]
32	* CallForward:
33	** When you talk to Mrs. Piermont about Flap and Guido, she tells George that not all men wearing Italian bulges and pockets are absolutely gangsters. [[spoiler: In the fourth game, George encounters Spallaci and [[TheMafia his group]] who are actually the good guys.]]
34	** In Ireland, when George tries to open the large wooden gate in Lochmarne castle: "Pushing with all my strength got me nowhere. They didn't budge. I really need to start working out.". Now look at George's appearance in the sequels.
35	** In Syria, if you talk to Duane first, Pearl recites a certain poem about a person's heartbreak due to his "[[SickeninglySweethearts Schnauzer]]" being bitten by a snake (no, that's a pet name, [[ICallHimMisterHappy not what you're thinking]]). [[spoiler: In the next game, George's girlfriend Nico ends up ill because she is bitten by a snake.]]
36	** At the excavation site in Paris, George refuses to pick up a piece of coal. Until the next game, that is...
37	** In the Director's Cut, an unseen [[spoiler:Petra from ''The Sleeping Dragon'']] plants a tracking device in Nico's apartment.
38	* CarCushion: The canopy of the Jeep in Syria cushions George fall.
39	* CarFu: [[spoiler: Fitzgerald is run over by Khan's sports car.]]
40	* CatScare: George gets scared by a cat in the alley across from the cafe.
41	* ChekhovsBoomerang: The manhole-opening tool. It's one of the very first objects you pick up, after which you immediately use it for its intended purpose... and then continue to carry around this [[{{Hammerspace}} bulky piece of metal]], making {{Double Entendre}}s about your "tool" all the way. You go on to make continuous use of it, e.g. as a stepping stone at the castle wall in Ireland, to break in the plaster wall at Montfaucon's sewers, or near the end of the game, in a situation where any thin pole would probably have done.
42	* ChekhovsGun:
43	** Early in the game, you get a [[JokeItem prank item]] that shocks whoever shakes your hand. You ''know'' it's going to come in handy at some point.
44	** Also the tissue.
45	** The totem pole in Crune Museum.
46	* ChessMotif: There's a puzzle involving a chessboard[[spoiler: which reveals a hidden chalice from de Vasconcellos' mausoleum.]]
47	* ClingyMacGuffin: The clown's nose and greasepaint-stained tissue, both of which George finds in a Parisian sewer. Nearly everyone recoils in disgust at the latter, and the former remains in George's inventory for the entire game.
48	* CollapsingLair: At the end, St. Ninians church gets blows up.
49	* CollectorOfTheStrange: Sergeant Moue has a collection of matchbooks.
50	* CompanionCube: The janitor in Hagenmeyer Clinic has a polishing machine named Mr. Shiny.
51	* ConcealingCanvas: In the Director's Cut, Nico finds a safe behind a painting in Pierre Carchon's study.
52	* ConceptArtGallery: As rewards after the ending credits of ''Director's Cut''.
53	* ConvenientlyTimedAttackFromBehind: In the climax, [[spoiler:when George is strangled by Eklund, Rosso kills the latter by throwing a dagger (original)/shooting him in the neck (Director's Cut)]].
54	* CreditsMedley: The ending of the game is the full version of the opening theme.
55	* CypherLanguage: In ''Director's Cut'', Nico has to solve two secret messages which are ciphers.
56	* DadTheVeteran: [[spoiler: Thierry Collard,]] in ''Director's Cut''.
57	* DevelopersForesight:
58	** If the player leaves the sink on in the pub in Ireland, George will mention having to help bail out the basement because "Some idiot left the faucet running".
59	** Before you speak "Il a'kl kalb" to the kebab salesman, you can ask around to other people what it means. After George speaks the words to the salesman, he won't be able to ask anyone else what it means - except Nejo.
60	** The player is forbidden from stealing the key to the club in Syria. Should the player attempt to do so, George will mention he returned the key.
61	* DeathOfAChild: The tale of Don Carlos de Vasconcellos. His young children were taken away by the Inquisition so he spent the remainder of his life trying to find them. But what happened to them? [[spoiler: They never left the mansion grounds. They were trapped in the well close to his home, and starved to death.]]
62	* TheDogWasTheMastermind: Who would have thought [[spoiler:Inspector Rosso]] was the mastermind of the conspiracy?
63	* DoomedAppointment: Plantard was supposed to meet Nico at the cafe to talk about a certain dead French politician. Of course, he dies before he can slip any information.
64	* DoubleEntendre: George shifts the conversation into talking about a drain cover tool, which nobody is remotely interested in. Upon showing it to someone a second time, he tends to say things like;
65	--> ''George'': "I already [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything showed you my tool]], didn't I?"
66	--> ''Museum Curator'': "Oui, monsieur. [[AccidentalInnuendo Most impressive!]]"
67	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In this game, during conversations, you can show all the items in your inventory. In all future games, you can only show the items that are (story-wise) relevant to the conversation.
68	* EiffelTowerEffect: The Eiffel Tower shows prominently in the animated opening sequence.
69	* EnemyMime: The game's introduction has a mime act normally, but is the disguise used by the costumed killer before sneaking into the glass window. The killer later switches to the MonsterClown disguise.
70	* EveryoneHatesMimes: Subverted in ''Director's Cut''. Nico encounters a mime (who is actually a killer) at the palace. Nico thinks that mimes are annoying but decides to play along.
71	* ExactEavesDropping:
72	** George arrives at Montfaucon's sewers just in time to overhear the Neo-Templars lay out their plan to take over the world.
73	** At the end, George and Nico are right in time to witness the cult ceremony.
74	* ExplodingBarrels: [[spoiler: There are loads of broken barrels which contain gunpowder hidden in St. Ninians church. They can be only used if there's a small explosion nearby.]]
75	* {{Expy}}: There's Lady Piermont who is based on a middle-aged aristocratic woman in ''VideoGame/BeneathASteelSky''. They even share the same voice actress.
76	* FastRoping: [[spoiler:Nico breaks into Crune Museum from the rooftop and kicks Flap and Guido to get the tripod.]]
77	* FinalSpeech: Khan gets the chance to deliver one in the train car. [[spoiler: He dies on the half-finished line "[[KilledMidSentence One last thing...]]"]].
78	* {{Flanderisation}}: In the ''Director's Cut'', all new significant pieces of dialogue added for George focused on his foolish aspects. So instead of the dramatic opening in the original, we get a silly rant how he's "really angry" about the café blowing up.
79	* GardenHoseSquirtSurprise: Played with. George [[spoiler: stops Lopez' garden hose to sneak inside the villa.]]
80	* GoingByTheMatchbook: George finds a matchbook from Club Alamut at the crime scene in the beginning which leads him to Syria. Lampshaded by Nico who mentions that if this were a movie, the matchbox would have a clue written inside (which it didn't).
81	* GruesomeGoat: George encounters an ill-natured goat at the castle in Ireland.
82	* HawaiianShirtedTourist: Duane - either a CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass, or just a Moron...
83	* TheHeretic: The Knights Templar were accused of heresy by the church.
84	* HintSystem: Added in director's cut, where clicking the question mark icon allows getting a hint about the current puzzle.
85	* HollywoodGlassCutter: In the opening murder scene of the Director's Cut, the killer gains access to his victim's living room by using a glass cutter on the balcony window.
86	* HomeBase: Nico's apartment.
87	* HypocriticalHumor: George asks who would disguise as a doctor to take advantage of a dying person - which he had previously done in the scene before. George's outrage is slightly justified as he [[EveryoneHasStandards only did it to get information]].
88	* IncrediblyObviousBomb: The clown's bomb. Though concealed inside an accordion, it still featured a red blinking light and a suspicious ticking sound before going off.
89	* INeedAFreakingDrink: At the start of the game, if you give a bottle of brandy to the waitress, she will answer some questions from George. Inverted in ''Director's Cut'' where she gets faint after drinking it instead.
90	* IWillFindYou: When Don Carlos found out that his manservant killed and his children were thought to be taken by Inquisition, he decided to take another journey to find his children.[[spoiler:Sadly, he never realized that his children were trapped in a well, waiting for their servant to come back, and then died before him.]]
91	* JoinOrDie:[[spoiler:The Grand Master offers George a chance to join the Neo-Templars. George, however realizes that the members who die treat them as failures.]]
92	* JustTrainWrong: The train sequence just before the finale. The train looks weird to say at least. There is a pantograph on the middle car. But self-propelled electric cars weren't common back in those days and were always positioned at the ends of the train. And had a driver's cab of course. The train does even sound more like a steam train than electric.
93	** Also you don't want to climb on the roof under catenary unless you want to receive a tasty jolt.
94	* KnightsArmorHideout: One puzzle involves [[spoiler:hiding behind a suit of armour after drawing the attention of an NPC you have to sneak past]]. Looking at it has George contemplate actually putting it on, but admitting that it would be impractical.
95	* LearntEnglishFromWatchingTelevision: Nejo has said he learned to speak English from Series/JeevesAndWooster tapes received from his uncle. {{Subverted}} with Ultar where he learned to speak English from his foreign clients.
96	* LoveRedeems:[[spoiler: Imelda Carchon towards Thierry Collard in ''Director's Cut''. They never end up together due to her being a wife of a politician and Thierry being a spy for the French government.]]
97	* MonsterClown: The game starts with a clown bombing a café.[[note]]Not in the director's cut though, as it starts with an added section with Nico, but the scene does still happen later.[[/note]]
98	* MyCard: Rosso offers his to George at the cafe.
99	* NotCompletelyUseless: The hand buzzer. Seems like a JokeItem for most of the game, only to be the only solution to a life-or-death situation.
100	* NotNowKiddo: Liam Maguire tries to tell the men inside the pub about [[spoiler: Sean's accident]]. Mr. Leary and his customers (except George), however, tell the kid to shut up.
101	* {{Oireland}}: At Lochmarne:
102	--> '''George''': Top of the morning to ya!\
103	'''Landlord''': I beg your pardon?\
104	'''George''': Well that's what you Irish say, isn't it?\
105	'''Landlord''': Do you want something? Or are you just flaunting your xenophobia?
106	* OpeningMonologue: George's famous opening line and Nico's narration in ''The Director's Cut''.
107	* OutrunTheFireball: George and Nico at the end, when the [[CollapsingLair church blows up]].
108	* PaperThinDisguise: The "old lady" on the train was very clearly [[spoiler: Khan, not even bothering to cover his face.]]
109	* PermanentlyMissableContent: The six pages of comics in ''Director's Cut''.
110	* PlotBasedPhotographObfuscation: In ''Director's Cut'', a torn photograph in Ile de la Cité shows Pierre smiling in front of the camera quelling with African uprising.[[spoiler: Nico is crushed by the revelation when she discovers a second piece which involves her father. She realize, later on, that the wooden box she opened contains the third photograph of Imelda, and a letter which contain her and Thierry's secret.]]
111	* ThePrecariousLedge: George has to navigate himself on a ledge between two hotel rooms.
112	* PresentDayPast: In one of the scenes added in the Director's Cut, one character references the Euro currency as being presently in use, which wouldn't be rolled out for another six years. This also clashes with a line from George's dialogue in Syria, where he mentions that the only money he has on him are some leftover Punts from his time in Ireland.
113	* RaisedHandOfSurvival: The close up on George's moving hand after the explosion in the opening scene.
114	* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: Inspector Rosso]].
115	* RedHerring:
116	** Germany, Italy and Russia show up on the map but are never visited.
117	** The drain in the street at Lochmarne offers to hold something valuable but it's a dead end.
118	* ReforgedBlade: The game has the antagonists trying to reforge the eponymous weapon in the belief it will restore their order to glory. The heroes stop them.
119	* SecretCircleOfSecrets: [[spoiler: The Neo-Templars at St. Ninians church.]]
120	* SeeYouInHell: George says to [[spoiler: the Grand Master that he'll rather see him in hell first than to join in the Neo-Templars.]]
121	* ShootOutTheLock: The police officer at the hospital does this to open the locked door to Marquet's room.
122	* ShowWithinAShow: Professor Peagram's "Peagram's Past" .
123	* SickbedSlaying: [[spoiler:Marquet is killed in his hospital bed by Eklund]], who is disguised as a doctor. Nico lampshades it after that.
124	* SignatureLine: Aside from the OpeningMonologue, George delivers another one after the intro:
125	--> "As a picked myself up, all I could hear was the ceaseless drone of traffic. Life went around me, but the explosion was to change my life forever."
126	* SpinningPaper: The ''Director's Cut'' intro shows three European newspapers with the image of Pierre Carchon.
127	* SplitScreenPhoneCall: Used when George talks with Nico or Todryk on the phone.
128	* SpyCatsuit: [[spoiler: Nico]] wears one. Lampshaded by George after [[spoiler: the terrible incident in Crune Museum]].
129	* TimePassesMontage: George is trying to find the [[spoiler:old well]] using his [[DowsingDevice dowsing stick]] while Lopez is taking a break from gardening.
130	* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler: Don Carlos' children]] in the well.
131	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The trailer reveals [[spoiler: the main villain and his organization's ceremony]]. The ''Director's Cut'' trailer is worse.
132	* TreasureMap: The Templar's manuscripts. Lampshaded by George.
133	%%* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: The GBA version has few of these.
134	* UpdatedRerelease (''Broken Sword: The Director's Cut'', released in 2009 for the Nintendo Wii and DS, with additional content, updated controls and artwork by [[Comicbook/{{Watchmen}} Dave Gibbons]].)
135	** It can be a little jarring on the PC version though. The new voice for Nico is strange at first, but fine. But the new gameplay sections use higher resolution models and backgrounds than the rest of the game. When you see the new Nico model interacting with the old scenery it looks weird. Plus things like the characters no longer walk to the edge of the screen, it just changes.
136	** Also, some of the random things that can be examined are cut out, leaving players of the original slightly uneasy about whether the new version's an improvement.
137	* VerbalTic: Ultar often adds the word [[BigYes "yes"]] when talking to his clients.
138	* WeCanRuleTogether: [[spoiler:The Neo-Templars make this offer to George, and he almost succumbs to the influence of the Sword of Baphomet, but then he remembers that the Neo-Templars have a nasty tendency of YouHaveFailedMe.]]
139	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
140	** Sean Fitzgerald gets kidnapped by Khan in Lochmarne but we never learn about his fate. [[MurderIsTheBestSolution The worst must be assumed.]]
141	** Rosso is mentioned [[spoiler: in the ending of the Game Boy Advance game, but one of the enforcers sent to make sure that George and Nico saw the ceremony is not seen at all. He also doesn't get a RedemptionEqualsDeath moment either.]]
142	* WorthyOpponent:[[spoiler: Before Khan dies, he says to George that the original Knights Templars were the noble foes of Hashashins.]]
143	* YouFool: [[spoiler: The Grand Master commands Guido to kill George and Nico first before getting rid of fire in the gunpowder.]]

Context VideoGame / BrokenSwordTheShadowOfTheTemplars