Developer: DuCats Games Studio
Publisher: DuCats Games Studio
Platforms: PC, Mobile
Tested on: PC
Swordbreaker The Game – Review
Maybe you remember them, those books that would allow you to pick your own choices in a tiny little adventure. Or maybe you’ve played a game like this before on Twitter, hovering your cursor over every link the tweet is handing you at the end of a couple of lines, wondering which one might lead to your death. Whether the choose-your-own-adventure stories are nostalgic to you or still embedded in your general internet life, if it’s something you like, then perhaps the Russian Swordbreaker The Game might be just the thing for you. That’s right, DuCats Games Studio adds a new title to the genre with their latest monster slaying title. The question however remains: how long will you last?
Story
Swordbreaker The Game – or Swordbreaker for short – tells the story about a lonely adventurer. Little is known about the man, but people refer to him as the Swordbreaker. When the man gets a map in a tavern after having witnessed a bloody fight, he immediately dreams of the possible riches that the scroll might lead to. He decides to follow its instructions the very next day, only to discover a castle led by a frightful necromancer and his clan. The many corridors are full of monsters and giant creatures, many of which wanting to kill you on sight. It is up to the player to decide Swordbreaker’s near every move while keeping a longing eye out for the massive reward that besting the lord of the castle will bring.
As a visual ‘choose your own adventure’ game, Swordbreaker The Game offers a huge amount of written scenes for you to pick from. The story itself however, in order to make it easier to follow and incorporate the many choices, is rather short and uncomplicated. This even carries through to the hero as he frequently, or at least depending on your choice, seems to lack basic decency. (Hello, how is trying to slap a ghost on the bottom ever a good idea, right?) On the other side, the game still shows a lot of great humour and loves its fair share of satire.
Since DuCats Games Studio is Russian, the title comes in the original Russian and an English translation. The English version, despite showing a couple of odd placed words, is well done and definitely helps bring the scenes to life. The default language for the game is Russian though, so you might miss out on the opening story until you’re able to set the language to English.
Graphics
All we want to say on this is kudos to the artists. Between the three of them they managed to create more than 300 highly detailed scenes, all corresponding to one of the game’s events. Every tile is beautifully executed with bright colours and lots of contrast. Though the option panels could do with a little tweaking so that they’d blend less in the stills, the imagery itself is generally of high quality and consistency.
Sound
The music used has us a little divided. During the game there are three major tracks which accompany the many panels: one for exploration, one for battle and one for death. On its own, the exploration track really brings out the mysterious and spooky atmosphere of the castle while the other two perfectly convey the action-type hero action and sudden death the adventurer goes through. As choices are made very quickly, the music tends to switch a little too fast, making the deaths even more painful than they already are. Meanwhile, the battle track can really distract you from reading as it keeps pushing you to think quickly, even though there are no timers in this game. In other words, the music itself is really good, but some tweaking on the transitions could do wonders. Luckily there is an option to simply turn off the music should it get a little annoying. Though we’d advise to simply turn down the volume on your PC instead, as the main theme itself isn’t only instantly recognisable, it also is incredibly easy on the ears and downright yummy.
There is a tiny bit of voice-acting in the intro sequence of Swordbreaker. While it does add to general experience, the script used seems to be a little different from the actual English text shown on screen, which is a pity. The voice-acting itself furthermore sounds like the actor tried to do something grand and heroic, but failed due to a thick lip or something alike. Still, we commend the creators for adding in English voice-overs and not putting an English translation under the Russian original, even though that too would’ve been a nice feature.
Gameplay
Swordbreaker The Game is a choose-your-own-adventure game, through and through. After an explanatory intro scene, you find yourself in front of the necromancer’s castle and the game’s menu. Here you can change the language, start or continue a game, open the castle map, check the gallery or choose to exit the game. Starting a new game opens the very first scene in which the hero is standing in front of the castle, looking for a way in. This very scene works as the game’s tutorial as it quickly marks the various components you’ll use to explore the fortress with their respective uses. Shields and amulets in the left and right upper corner correspond with the hero’s choices, while the text in the bottom lists them while telling the story. Two buttons flanking the passages function as the in-game menu and a means to show the scene in its entirety.
The title itself has very simple gameplay, asking the player to simply pick a path out of a couple of set options. However, that doesn’t mean it is the easiest game around. Swordbreaker The Game works with a 3 lives system, which should already be an indication of how easy it is to die in this game. Trust us, the answer is ‘a lot’. As you move deeper into the necromancer’s stronghold looking for the guy’s hidden treasure, you quickly learn to overthink your options, lest you get killed for trying to sniff a flower. About 100 tiles in the entire game are deaths. Knowing Swordbreaker has just over 320 scenes in total, it puts your tiny amount of lives in the proper perspective.
Karma is another system used in Swordbreaker. While games usually tend to go for a strict duality, awarding the player character good or bad karma depending on your actions, this title goes about it a little differently. Swordbreaker The Game keeps score of your instincts instead. There are three types of karma you can collect for: killer, hero and coward. The more rash your actions, the more points flow towards ‘killer’ while rescuing people and ignoring responsibilities will net you points for ‘hero’ and ‘coward’ respectively. Should none of the types be much higher than the others, the game simply awards you the identity of ‘human’. These karma options are highly important towards the end as they decide your fate and fortune and thus the possible endings you can get.
As mentioned earlier, one playthrough is incredibly short as you simply can’t find every single scene in one go. This however is exactly where this game is at its strongest. A simple visit to the Castle Map or the Gallery is enough to get the completionist in you ready for a second, a third and even a hundredth try. You’ll wonder how to get to a certain location while cautiously prodding everything in sight. Who knows, you might even find allies in characters you once thought of as enemies simply by taking a different route. They might even be able to open up some ways to get to previously hidden content.
Conclusion
Swordbreaker The Game is a remarkably fun choose-your-own-adventure game despite the thin storyline and (sometimes) dimwitted hero. The various ways to check your scene collection work as a magnet to that ‘New Game’ button while the enormous amount of options makes for great replayability. Though voice-acting in the intro is a little off, the music and especially the art are proof of the blood, sweat and tears that went into the creation of the title. If you’re a fan of the genre, then Swordbreaker should definitely be on your list.
Swordbreaker The Game – Review,
No Comments