Play the first Broken Sword game and, despite it being partly influenced by the book The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail, there’s one thing you simply won’t find. “The absolute nonsense of the Priory Of Sion,” says series’ creator Charles Cecil.
For while the book and the game make copious references to the Knights Templar – a military order of the Catholic faith which existed for a couple of decades during the Middle Ages – Charles draws the line at suggestions the group was created by a secret European society hellbent on championing the alleged bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
“My nemesis Dan Brown fell for it absolutely, hook, line and sinker,” Charles smiles, referring to the author of The Da Vinci Code, a novel which presents the Priory Of Sion as fact, suggesting it was founded in France in 1099 CE. “Well, Dan, I’m terribly sorry to disappoint you but the Priory of Sion really doesn’t and never did exist.”
Although Broken Sword: The Shadow Of The Templars didn’t go as far as Dan’s mystery thriller, it still presented gamers with a wonderful deep dive into ancient history and centuries of conspiracy. The game struck a chord thanks to its mix of interesting characters, sharp wit, eye-catching visuals and explosive storyline. Charles’ inspiration also went far beyond a single book and the game was the culmination of many years of experience.
Prior to its release, Charles had worked on a series of text adventure games at Artic Computing from 1981, notably Adventure B: Inca Curse, Adventure C: Ship Of Doom and Adventure D: Espionage Island. He cofounded Revolution Software in 1990 with Tony Warriner, David Sykes and Noirin Carmody, and headed development of the point-and-click adventure Lure Of The Temptress published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment two years later. “When I designed Lure Of The Temptress, it was quite clearly text-based with graphics,” Charles says. “You’d string together text commands, give them to Ratpouch and off he’d go and do stuff.” The game used a system Tony called Virtual Theatre – the idea that the world would continue outside of the player’s influence. This was also used for Beneath A Steel Sky, Revolution’s second game, and for Broken Sword.
Charles Cecil
The latter point-and-click adventure was hugely ambitious from the start. Virgin Interactive said and had sold well in Europe but not in the US. “So if we,” Charles adds. “We’d also read the absolutely crazy .”
