The development of Broken Age was funded by people who loved the old 90s-era adventure games from LucasArts, and the end result is a game that certainly harks back to those times, but with a subtle sophistication and a personality of its own.

It stars two characters, both young teenagers who are aching to break the mould created for them by their doting parental figures. Shay is a spaceship-bound boy bored with his life aboard a vessel controlled by a slightly suffocating artificial intelligence, and Vella is a village-dwelling girl who has been chosen for a tradition she neither understands nor agrees with.

Players can choose which story they’d like to play, and can switch between Shay and Vella at any point as well. The interface is clean and uncluttered, and gameplay deliciously familiar – walk around, talk to whoever you can, pick up items used to solve puzzles and watch the story unfold. The puzzles themselves are straightforward for the most part, with only a few occasions where I found myself a little stumped. The enthusiastic community behind the game was only too willing to help, so I was never stuck for long.

Visually, Broken Age looks like a painting that has come to life, and the voice acting is top-notch thanks to some A-list talent that includes Elijah Wood, he of The Lord of the Rings fame. Not everything about the game impressed me right off the bat, though: I chose Shay’s story first, and I must admit to a little annoyance at the exasperating situation he found himself in: that of virtual prisoner in a spaceship, doing the “missions” prepared for him by the ship’s mom-like AI that appeared designed for a four-year-old. Every time he rolled his eyes and sighed at the inanity of it all, I joined him, thinking that my faith in Tim Schafer et al had been misplaced.

Fortunately, Schafer was just setting the scene for a boy fed up with doing what was expected of him, and after the initial irritating sequences were over the game shifted gears by taking Shay way out of his comfort zone, and into a far more interesting storyline.

Vella, his earth-bound female counterpart, had a much better start. She had been chosen to represent her village in a special event, that of being a ritual human sacrifice to a huge monster to ensure her village’s continued existence. Despite the other girls who’d also been chosen considering it an honour, it doesn’t sit right with Vella, who resolves to do her best to kill the monster rather than submit.

Even with its gorgeous hand-painted graphics and superb voice acting, it was Broken Age’s dialogue that really stood out for me. It was often laugh-out-loud funny, clearly evoking the spirit of Tim Schafer’s other work with its droll humour. A certain conversation with a tree – yes a tree – in which Vella had to use dialogue to encourage it to hand over its sap was particularly sharp, and I won’t be forgetting the woodcutter’s lines anytime soon, either. With such excellent writing, encountering new characters was a constant joy.

You may have noticed that this is a review of Broken Age Act 1. That’s because the scope of the game got out of hand and exceeded the $3.45m Kickstarter budget according to Schafer, and had to be split into two halves with backers getting the second half for free when it releases.  “Even though we received much more money from our Kickstarter than we, or anybody anticipated, that didn’t stop me from getting excited and designing a game so big that it would need even more money” he said in a backer-only Kickstarter update.

I was mildly annoyed at this news, but having played the game through to its conclusion and seen the incredible cliffhanger at the end and a twist I didn’t see coming, I honestly can’t wait to find out what Double Fine Productions has in store for us fans of old-school adventure in the second act.

If you in any way enjoyed the old Sierra and LucasArts games from back in the nineties, you should definitely give Broken Age a go. It’s only $24.99 (around R275) on Steam, it’ll take you about five hours to finish but it’s packed full of everything you loved about 90s-era point-and-click adventures, and should give you a good dose of nostalgia along with its own brand of humour and clever storytelling.

Summary:
Broken Age by Double Fine Productions
Available on PC-only via Steam, $24.99 (R275)
The good: Beautiful hand-painted visuals, great story, scintillating dialogue
The bad: Shay’s story gets off to a slow start, only the first part of a 2-part game
Rating: 8/10