izigame.me

This is the definitive version of Broken Sword; a superb remaster. I would recommend anyone who has not played the game or who wants the best possible version to look at this.
First, it's worth saying this game is completely true to the original. The "Director's Cut" game was ok, but it added new story elements and gameplay including a new opening that were jarring alongside the original. It also made cuts and changes to small elements throughout the game that removed some of the charm of the original - for example, some of the short videos like George climbing down into the sewer near the beginning of the game were just cut. They were small changes but they detracted from a classic game that had been lovingly and beautifully crafted in 1996.
This version updates everything, and seems to cut nothing significant. All the graphics are gorgeously updated into high resolution. Switching between the original and new graphics (available at any point in game) is a stark reminder of how beautiful and detailed the new graphics are, and the high quality they have reached with this remaster.
They have made small but clever changes to the interface to make it more accessible to modern audiences, and versatile for mouse, controller or touch play. It's a hard thing to achieve and they've done it superbly - the game plays perfectly with a mouse, and nothing is lost. They've also added optional hints and help into the interface but the player can choose between the new interface and a "classic" mode without the hints.
The only flaw with the game is the audio; in particular the speech. It's clear the makers could not do much to the original speech files for whatever reason (maybe the originals are long gone). If they were faced between a choice of re-record, digitial alter or leave as is I think they made the right choice. It is a little jarring to hear the quality of the original audio, but a re-record would have changed the game too much and I suspect digital altering it would have been inconsistent and noticable. And the voice acting is great as was the case back in 1996 - it would have been a travesty to deviate from that. The music continues to sound superb - likely reflecting the high quality of Barrington Pheloung's work and the clever use of short bursts of music throughout the entire game.
I've been playing this game on Linux via Steam and the game launched without any tweaking or problems, and has played flawlessly.
Overall, I can strongly and positively recommend this game as the definitive version of Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars. It's beautiful, and 100% faithful update of the original. You can't mess with such a great game; the Director's Cut while well intentioned was too much. This version is superb - it faithfully updates the graphics, makes tweaks to the interface to keep it playable in a new era and makes optional changes that make the game accessible to both a new generation of more casual gamers as well as lovers of classic point and click.
Fantastic work; I'm going to enjoy replaying this classic!