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Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (also known as Circle of Blood in the United States) is a 1996 point-and-click adventure game developed by Revolution Software. The player assumes the role of George Stobbart, an American tourist in Paris, as he attempts to unravel a conspiracy. The game takes place in both real and fictional locations in Europe and the Middle East.

While Charles Cecil began researching the Knights Templar for Broken Sword in 1992, production on the game began in 1994. It was the third game built with the Virtual Theatre engine. Cecil wrote and directed the game, while Eoghan Cahill and Neil Breen drew all the backgrounds in pencil, which were later digitally colored in Adobe Photoshop. The game is serious in tone, but also features humor and graphics in the style of classic animated films.

The game was acclaimed by critics, who lauded its story, puzzles, voice acting, writing, gameplay and music. It achieved commercial success as well, with sales totaling one million copies by the mid-1990s. After its initial release on Windows, Mac OS and PlayStation, it saw ports on Game Boy Advance, Palm OS and Windows Mobile. The game spawned a number of sequels, all part of the Broken Sword series. A director's cut version was released on Wii, Nintendo DS, Windows, Mac OS X, iOS and Android in 2009, 2010 and 2012.

Gameplay
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars is a 2D adventure game played from a third-person perspective. Via a point-and-click interface, the player guides protagonist George Stobbart through the game's world and interacts with the environment by selecting from multiple commands. The player controls George's movements and actions with a mouse or a gamepad. George must collect various objects, which can then be used with other collectible objects, parts of the scenery, or with other people in order to solve puzzles and progress in the game. George can also engage in dialogue with other characters through conversation trees to gain hints of what needs to be done to solve the puzzles or progress the plot. The player uses a map for easy navigation and new locations are added to it as the story unfolds. By right clicking on an object, the player gets a description and clues. In The Shadow of the Templars, the player character's death is possible.

Plot
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars is set at the end of the 20th century. The game follows George Stobbart (voiced by Rolf Saxon), an American on vacation in Paris, touring Europe. The game's plot starts a day earlier in the Director's Cut remake, which also offers the opportunity to control (at times) the second main character, Nicole (Nico) Collard (voiced by Hazel Ellerby).

Original story
The day after Plantard calls Nico, an American tourist named George Stobbart witnesses a terrorist attack at a Parisian cafe, in which a clown steals an old man's briefcase and then sets off a bomb inside the building. Leaving the cafe, he sees Nico photographing the scene. She explains that she intended to meet the old man, whose name was Plantard. George agrees to help her cover the story, and, after investigating the area, he finds the clown's discarded nose and learns that a man was seen escaping with a briefcase. Nico discovers the address to a costume shop inside the clown nose. George goes to the shop and learns that the buyer's name was Khan, and that he hired both a clown and a pixie costume. thumb|left|alt=Three people, two men and a woman, standing in front of a cafe|A screenshot of (left to right) Sergeant Moue, George Stobbart, and Nicole Collard standing in front of Cafe De La Chandelle Verte in Paris George travels to the hotel where Khan is staying, and obtains an ancient manuscript from the hotel safe which Khan deposited and after managing to evade two goons, Flap and Guido, goes to Nico's, who deduces that the manuscript is related to the Knights Templar. On the manuscript, several pictures indicate objects that George must collect. Seeking help at a nearby museum, George learns that a tripod on the manuscript is in the museum itself, having been discovered in Lochmarne, Ireland. Nico tells him that a professor named Peagram had an excavation in the village. George travels to Lochmarne and talks to a man named Sean Fitzgerald, who worked at Peagram's dig. Fitzgerald reveals that there is a Templar chapel beneath the local castle ruins, and that Peagram entrusted a package to him, to be delivered to "Jacques Marquet". Fitzgerald attempts to flee and is hit by a car driven by Khan, wearing a pixie costume. George finds Sean's package, a gem that Peagram discovered, identical to the one on the manuscript. Inside the castle ruins, George discovers a mural of a hanged man with "Montfaucon" underneath.

Back in Paris, George tracks down Jacques Marquet, who is hospitalized and near death. When George arrives in his room, Marquet reveals that he hired Flap and Guido to steal the tripod from the museum. A doctor intercedes and makes George leave Maquet's room. Marquet's ECG machine goes haywire, and he dies, while the bogus doctor has escaped. Nico's old colleague, Andre Lobineau, who reveals to George that Montfaucon is a place in Paris. When Flap and Guido while attempt to steal the tripod, a disguised Nico also breaks in and steals the tripod. She gives George the tripod, who goes to Montfaucon and enters the sewers, where he discovers a secret meeting of important people including a Nobel Prize winner, claiming to be the Templars. They discuss that they are looking for the Sword of Baphomet and that one of them, Klausner, has gone to Syria to get a lens. George deduces that Plantard and Peagram were members of this organisation as well. As they leave, George uses the tripod and gem, which splits a beam of light and lights up letters spelling "Marib", which is a village in Syria.

George travels to Marib and discovers that Khan has been looking for George and Klausner and requested to go to Bull's Head. At the Bull's Head, George finds Klausner's corpse and takes the lens, deducing that the crystal ball on the manuscript is in fact the lens. He also discovers an idol with three bearded faces (Baphomet) and a Latin inscription describing Britain. Khan then arrives and holds George at gunpoint but George manages to escape. Back in Paris, Andre has deciphered part of the manuscript and it leads to the De Vasconcellos family in Spain, who were once connected with the Templars. George travels to the Villa of the family, discovering only the Countess remains. The Countess leads him to the De Vasconcellos mausoleum, where George discovers the De Vasconcellos chalice. The Countess entrusts it to George and wants him to find her missing ancestor Don Carlos. Back in Paris, George travels to Montfaucon where the local priest polishes the chalice. Meanwhile, George uses the lens on the statue in the church and looks through it to discover a hidden image of a burning man. The image on the chalice matches a tomb in the church, and George deduces that it is in fact Don Carlos' tomb, on which there is a series of Biblical references.

Andre reveals that an idol of Baphomet has been discovered in Paris. George gains access to the excavation, he, by using the chalice, discovers an image of a church with a square tower. George visits the Countess, where the Biblical references show the way a secret area inside a well where George discovers a chessboard mural with a river running through it. With the clues they have, George, Nico and Andre work out that the Templars are heading for Bannockburn, Scotland. George and Nico catch a train there, but Flap and Guido are aboard having followed them. George discovers Nico along with an old woman are missing. He reaches the guard's carriage where the old woman (Khan) throws Flap out of the carriage while Eklund (the bogus doctor) is knocked out after shooting Khan. George and Nico reach the church and witness the Grand Master of the Templars acquiring a strange power from two huge Baphomet idols (the Sword of Baphomet). After trying to tempt George into their ranks, the Grand Master orders the couple to be killed, however, the two manage to escape using explosives. The church explodes which kills Guido, the Templars and presumably the Grand Master. The game ends with George and Nico's first kiss.

Development
In a September 1992 interview with French magazine Generation 4, Charles Cecil stated that he had begun working on a scenario for Revolution's third game, after 1992's Lure of the Temptress, and 1994's, then-upcoming, Beneath a Steel Sky, which would play in Paris, centering on a Knight Templar story line. The following month, Cecil visited Paris for research on the Templars; After reading The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Cecil was certain there was enough history with the Templars to make it a good subject on which to base a game. Cecil, Dave Cummins and Jonathan Howard began work on the story and design. Cecil and Cummins both attended a film-writing course, and their script was read through by Alan Drury, a senior BBC script-writer and dramatist. Revolution artist Steve Ince created initial location sketches for the game before moving to work on Beneath a Steel Sky; he was promoted to the position of producer half way through the project.

In 1994, Cecil and Noirin Carmody met with Sean Brennan, then the head of publishing at Virgin Interactive, and a deal was made that Virgin would publish the game. Despite publishing the PC version, Virgin were not interested in publishing the game on the PlayStation, feeling only 3D games could sell on the console. As a result, Cecil contacted Sony Computer Entertainment, who agreed to publish the game on the console.

One of Cecil's goals was to depart from the more popular adventure games at the time, like LucasArts' Monkey Island series, which were based on humour, by creating a game that had good pacing and a storyline that seemed real and involved, which was one of the reasons he thought the Knights Templar would be the ideal subject. Unlike LucasArts games, which used the "question-and-answer" conversation system, Broken Sword offered "conversation icons," meaning that the it would not be revealed to the player what the protagonist was about to say—Cecil's intention was to make it feel more cinematic. While aiming to make a game with a cinematic feel, he felt the game should not resemble interactive movies at the time, as he felt as they were "mimicing movies." He wanted to create two protagonists, a man (George Stobbart) and a woman (Nicole "Nico" Collard), who would exchange thoughts and ideas, helping drive the game along. He made George American and Nico French to appeal to both the US and European markets.

The team at Revolution had very high expectations for Broken Sword, but there was significant competition. Revolution had a team that had created some highly successful adventure games, but they thought they needed to bring the best from other creative industries. Eoghan Cahill joined the project, and together with Neil Breen, whom he worked with at the Don Bluth studios in Dublin, drew all the backgrounds in pencil, and the team then digitally colored them in Photoshop. The introductory sequence and the main characters were made by animator Mike Burgess, who worked for Red Rover animation studio. The game's graphics arewere animated in a style which resembles classic animated films.

Cecil contacted composer Barrington Pheloung, who agreed to compose the music for the game. Audio features of the game include recorded sound effects, orchestral music and voice acting. Revolution had already cast Hazel Ellerby as Nicole Collard, but had trouble finding a voice actor for George Stobbart. Hazel (who went to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London) suggested her former schoolmate from Guildhall, Rolf Saxon, as George. Charles offered him the job and he accepted it. The remaining credited voice actors in the original are Rachel Atkins, David Bannerman, Rosy Clayton, Jack Elliott, Steve Hodson, David Holt, Peter Kenny, Richard Mapletoft, Matthew Marsh, Colin McFarlane, Don McCorkindale, Gavin Muir, Paul Panting, and Andrew Wincott.

Cecil was the game's director and writer, Tony Warriner and David Sykes were the designer-programmers, and Noirin Carmody was the executive producer. The game uses the Virtual Theatre engine, which was previously used for Lure of the Temptress and Beneath a Steel Sky. The game's final cost was one million pounds. It was ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2002 and mobile phone in 2006.

In March 2009, Ubisoft released a director's cut of The Shadow of the Templars, titled Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut, for the Wii and Nintendo DS; Dave Gibbons, with whom Revolution worked on Beneath a Steel Sky, created additional artwork for the game. Due to the platform's size limits, the DS version contains no spoken dialogue, only subtitles. A version of the Director's Cut for iPhone and iPod Touch was released on January 20, 2010. In May 2010, a version in high definition was released on the iPad. Versions for Windows and Mac OS X were released in September 2, 2010 on various digital distribution services. An Android version, which is an enhanced version of the iPhone version, was released on Google Play in June 2012. The original version of the game is currently only available from Sold-Out Software and GOG.com (with Director's Cut purchases)

Reception
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars received critical acclaim, appearing on several top adventure game lists. Generation 4 awarded it Best Adventure 1997. It received the award for Best Quest from Quest magazine. Edge stated that it had overtaken LucasArts' adventure games such as Monkey Island and The Dig, calling it an "adventure gaming milestone" and the "best graphic adventure to date." It was also a commercial success, selling around one million copies in the mid-1990s.

Critics particularly praised The Shadow of the Templars' story. Adventure Gamers said: "The deep and mysterious plot is designed to be thought provoking and highly entertaining at the same time. Many games utilizing this style of animation have been comedic romps, but Broken Sword is a serious game that contains plenty of intrigue and bundles of historical references." GameSpot stated that the factual elements combined with the "highly creative" storytelling "add spice to an already entertaining adventure." Adventure Classic Gaming noted that the involvement of the Knights Templar and interaction with a number of people on George's journey to find out more information adds to "the unique experience of creative storytelling." Next Generation Magazine stated the story is "rich in mystery and intrigue with plenty of puzzles and locations to explore." Edge believed that Revolution "Revolution Software finally escaped the shadow of Monkey Island et al and [have] taken the graphic adventure to new levels, in terms of both story and spectacle. In building its trans-European plot around the legends of the Knights Templar, Broken Sword succeeds in appearing weighty and complex without ever losing its sence of place", and praised its use of "legend and modern day intrigue."

Critics also praised the game's presentation, voice acting, and writing. Adventure Gamers called the animation "extremely colorful and well executed" and noted that the art team "have taken this style of animation and really made an elegant, mature game with it." The website also noted that the screens are "detailed and inviting" and that the game's voice acting is "of supreme quality" with "delightful dialogue." GameSpot called it a "visual treat" and a "work of art," noting that "every scene is filled with rich, lush, illustrative detail that rivals any animated feature film." PC Gamer US called the game "Visually stunning", praising the animated graphics as "crisp and clear," and the artwork as "simply beautiful," also nothing that "At the highest setting, the background and foreground scroll separately, delivering a sense of depth you don't see in many graphic adventures. Even the atmosphere of each of the areas you explore fit the locale." Next Generation Magazine called the animation is "fantastic" with character movements, and the "cinematic" cut-scenes "a joy to watch." Edge praised its art direction, saying that "every visual element is polished to the 'nth' degree," and that "the SVGA artwork by far exceeds the competition in this genre."

The puzzles and musical score were also praised. Adventure Gamers stated that the game's puzzles are very well integrated into the plot and moderately challenging, and also praised the game's score, calling it "ambitious and beautiful," saying that it adds a very "cinematic feel" to the experience. PC Gamer US called its puzzles inventive and challenging. Edge complimented its musical score, saying that it "plays a large part in mood enhancement", and that "it's beautifully orchestrated and adds immeasurable atmosphere."

While the game received overall praise, certain publications voiced complaints. Adventure Gamers stated that long conversations may turn some players off. While most critics praised the game's voice acting and puzzles, PC Gamer US called the voice acting "the worst thing in the game" and "not too professional," and felt that some puzzles required "too much pixel-hunting." Next Generation Magazine said that the puzzles can be "disappointing." While GameSpot gave the PC version a highly positive review, it deemed the PlayStation version mediocre, criticising the technical deficiencies such as lengthy load times and muddied graphics. Cecil would later cite the PlayStation version as his "one big regret" in regards to the game, stating that had he introduced direct control over the player character in this version, as opposed to the mouse driven point-and-click interaction, it would have made for an enormous improvement.

Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Director's Cut was also met with positive reception, particularly the iOS versions. It was nominated for the award for Best Story at the 2009 British Academy Video Games Awards. Pocket Gamer awarded the iPhone version the Pocket Gamer Gold Award when it was released in 2010. The Wii and DS versions were nominated for the award for Best Port/Updated Re-release at Adventure Gamers' 2010 Aggie Awards. The iPhone version was nominated for the award for Best Adventure/RPG Game at the 2011 Pocket Gamer Awards. The Wii version won the award for Best European Adventure at the 2011 European Games Awards. According to Charles Cecil, the game's sales were higher than The Sleeping Dragons and The Angel of Deaths.

Legacy
Adventure Gamers ranked Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars at number four on their lists of "Top 20 Adventure Games of All-Time" in 2004 and "Top 100 All-Time Adventures" in 2011. In 2006, Adventure Classic Gaming ranked it at number three on their list of "Top 10 retro graphic adventure games of all time from PC to consoles". It was listed on Bright Hub's "Best Windows Mobile Games Software" in 2008. In 2010, Retro Gamer ranked it second on their list of "Top 20 Adventure Games of All-Time... not by LucasArts". It was listed on Altered Gamer's "The Best PC Adventure Games of All Time" in 2011. NowGamer listed it on its 2011 feature, "Greatest Point-And-Click Games (Not By LucasArts)". In 2012, it was listed on GamesRadar's "Best point-and-click adventure games" at No. 8. It is listed on Adventure Gamer's "Top Adventure Games" recommendations list, along with the Director's Cut.

The Goat Puzzle appeared on Computer and Video Games' 2011 feature, "Gaming's hardest puzzles". In 2012, it was listed on GameFront's "5 Crazy Difficult and Intricate Video Game Puzzles". In 2008, mindFactory released a fan-made freeware Broken Sword game, called Broken Sword 2.5: The Return of the Templars. In 2011, the remakes of the first two Broken Sword games were downloaded by over 4 million people. The Director's Cut is often listed as one of the best games for the Wii, DS and iOS.

Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars spawned three sequels. The first, Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror, was released in 1997 and is the only game in the series that does not follow the Knights Templar storyline. It uses the same engine as the first Broken Sword game. Six years later, Revolution released Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon, which moved to 3D graphics, and is the only game in the series that uses only a direct control mechanism. It uses the RenderWare engine. In 2006, the company released Broken Sword: The Angel of Death (titled Secrets of the Ark: A Broken Sword Game in North America), which returns to the point-and-click system used in the first two games, though the player character can be directly controlled. It is the only game in the series not released on any console. The game uses Sumo Digital's engine. In 2010, Revolution released a remastered edition of the second game, named Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror – Remastered. The fifth instalment, Broken Sword: The Serpent's Curse, was announced with a Kickstarter project on August 23, 2012, and is due for release in the first quarter of 2013. It will return to the series' 2D roots.