Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse

Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse returns the series to its former glory with excellent storytelling and characters.

Part mystery, part comedy, this is a classy point-and-click with dazzling art, charming characters, and crackling dialogue. Although slightly overlong and occasionally slow, it feel surprisingly fresh.

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.

Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse is an entertaining title with a few disappointing aspects, including linear puzzles and awkward animations, which makes for a lukewarm revival. If you're a fan of the adventure genre, you'll probably be able to overlook most, if not all, of the shortcomings listed above with very little difficulty. Newcomers, on the other hand, may wish to spend their money elsewhere.

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: 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.

George Stobbart and Nico Collard are sleuthing again, and it feels pretty good.

Broken Sword 5 is a reminder of just how entertaining point and click adventures can be. It might have been a while since they were the cutting edge of the industry, but they are still capable of great stories, gameplay and humour. Broken Sword 5 is an instant classic and well worth playing through.

The Nintendo Switch has several strong point-and-click games, it's true. But while some have tried to re-design the genre, Broken Sword 5 reminds how it helped cement the best of it in the first place. The series has a timeless quality, and part 5 simultaneously offers a celebration of the past and encouragement of heading in the right direction for the future. It hits the ground running to get you hooked, and its weaknesses end up not hurting the overall package, which took me just under15 hours, as much as you might've thought. Throw in some Switch exclusive behind the scenes movies (better late than never for this port) and you have even more of a winner.

All in all, Broken Sword 5 is a good adventure with good visuals, a good story, and enjoyable puzzle segments. It's not the hardest, it's not the best, and it certainly comes at a price point many won't find acceptable, but it's an enjoyable experience nonetheless.