This kind of design is a holdover from the earliest adventure games, and it hasn't exactly aged well. In order to complete the game I had to use both options, and neither were particularly satisfying. Since there's no hint system in the game, your only options when you’re stuck are to hope you eventually stumble across the right answer, or to go online and find the solution. Worse still, some of the more obnoxious puzzles are repeated multiple times one particularly tricky puzzle has you re-wiring robots using a trial-and-error system, and when you get the correct answer, you’ll need to remember it to use later in the game (you should definitely keep a pen and paper handy for the game's last section). Namely, it feels padded with tedious, and often annoying puzzles that can leave you scratching your head. The second act also takes some darker turns, so the goofier elements, which include harp-playing robots and trees that vomit sap, do a great job of lightening the mood.īut while act two does bring the story to a satisfying conclusion, it's also a showcase for the pitfalls of adventure games. There are a number of mysteries at the heart of Broken Age - why people are being sacrificed, why Shay was kept captive on a spaceship, and how all of these elements connect - and the answers are all satisfying, and kept me pushing through to the end. What's most interesting about the game's story is that, even though it is incredibly crazy and at times nonsensical, I was invested the whole time. The two characters' stories intersect in surprising and fun ways and - spoiler alert - the second half sees them swap places, with Vella stuck on the spaceship and Shay sent out into the big, wide world for the very first time. It's been a long wait to see just how things play outĪct one ended on a somewhat shocking cliffhanger, and it's been a long wait to see just how things play out (you’ll probably want to replay the first part before diving into act two). The game stars two characters, who you can switch between at any point in the game: Shay, a coddled space explorer who goes through the same routine every day, and Vella, a young girl saddled with the "honor" of being sacrificed to a giant monster. Broken Age doesn't break out of this formula in any real way, but instead updates it with adorable art and wonderful, witty writing. These games aren't about action, but instead focus on dialogue and puzzle solving. The game plays like a traditional point-and-click adventure in the mold of Monkey Island or Sam & Max. If you played the first half of Broken Age, you'll know exactly what to expect. And while the protracted development may have initially overshadowed the game, now that it's finished, one thing is clear: we've gotten exactly what we were promised when Double Fine Adventure raised all of that money way back in 2012. Today the game is complete, and you can finally play through the entire, heartwarming adventure from beginning to end. In January 2014, it finally launched, but not all of it - in order to further fund development, Double Fine decided to release the game in two acts, so that sales of the first could further fund the second. With more money came more ambition, and Broken Age eventually grew into a much bigger game. The campaign launched in 2012, and the studio was initially looking for $400,000, but the game eventually raised more than $3 million through crowdfunding as fans clamored for a return to the long-dormant genre. Broken Age was the original Kickstarter blockbuster. You can't talk about Duke Nukem Forever without talking about its many years of gestation, and for a while it seemed like the same might be said of Broken Age, a classic-style adventure game from Tim Schafer and his studio Double Fine. Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.2 GHz, AMD Athlon 64 2.Sometimes, the development of a game threatens to overwhelm the game itself.Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Card.Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260, ATI Radeon 4870 HD, Intel HD 3000, or equivalent card with at least 512 MB VRAM.Them take control of their own lives, and dealing with the unexpected adventures that follow. The player can freely switch between their stories, helping Vella Tartine and Shay Volta are two teenagers in strangely similar situations, but radically different worlds. Funded by a record breaking crowdfunding campaign and designed by industry legend Tim Schafer, BrokenĪge is a timeless coming-of-age story of barfing trees and talking spoons. Broken Age is a family friendly, hand-animated, puzzle-filled adventure game with an all-star cast, including Elijah Wood, Jack Black and Masasa Moyo.