Wireframe 2019

How Revolution survived the British games industry

Interface

wfmag.cc \ 21

REVOLUTION’S KEY GAMES

Lure of the

Temptress

1992

A member of the king’s hunting

party, a peasant named Diermot,

unwittingly becomes embroiled in a

conflict with an evil sorceress named

Selena. It falls to Diermot to stop her

and save the kingdom from ruin.

Broken Sword:

The Shadow of

the Templars

1996

After an explosion rocks a quaint

Parisian café, American tourist

George Stobbart and journalist

Nicole Collard team up to find

the culprit, in an adventure that

involves the Knights Templar and

a whole lot of air miles.

In Cold Blood

2000

A post-Cold War thriller, In Cold

Blood puts players in control of the

MI6 agent John Cord. He has been

sent to investigate the leaders of

the fictional country of Volgia, after

a violent coup has destabilised

the region.

Beneath a Steel Sky

1994

Taking place in a dystopian vision

of Australia, where labour rights

have been all but stripped away, you

play as the outsider Robert Foster,

named for his discovery as a child

next to an old can of lager. Taken

from his home to Union City, Foster

must find out the truth about the

computer LINC (Logical Inter-Neural

Connection) and flee the city.

How Revolution survived the British games industry

Interface

BREAKING SWORDS
While both Lure of the Temptress and Beneath a
Steel Sky were moderately successful, however,
it would be Revolution’s next project that
would secure its legacy. Released in 1996,
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars
was an adventure game that combined
challenging puzzles, a globetrotting plot, and
conspiratorial intrigue.
Significantly, unlike Revolution’s earlier titles, it
also released on the original PlayStation, being
published under Sony Computer Entertainment,
as Virgin, the game’s original publisher,
thought 2D games wouldn’t sell on console.
This outcome saw the game reach an entirely
different audience than what Revolution was
normally used to, resulting in some incredible
sales on the platform.
With the game becoming a surprise success
and subject to immense critical acclaim, a sequel
followed shortly after, in 1997. Broken Sword:
The Smoking Mirror built on what The Shadow of
the Templars had done a year earlier, but shifted
the plot to focus on Mayan and Aztec culture in
place of Christianity. It turned out to be another
commercial success for the studio and

wfmag.cc \ 21